W.D.M. officials say Holmes Murphy is headed to Waukee, where new incentives being considered
KENT DARR Jun 20, 2016 | 8:32 pm
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Holmes Murphy & Associates has decided to move its operations to Waukee, according to city officials in West Des Moines, where the company currently is headquartered.
Though the Waukee City Council has two votes on its agenda for today’s meeting that seem to point in the direction of a corporate relocation, city officials are mum when the conversation turns to Homes Murphy.
And it has been that way for the past year as word spread that Holmes Murphy was planning a corporate campus on land now owned by Knapp Properties Inc. in Waukee’s Kettlestone development area. For its part, Knapp Properties hasn’t acknowledged that it has a potential user for the land. Holmes Murphy CEO Daniel Keough could not be reached for comment.
West Des Moines Mayor Steve Gaer and City Manager Tom Hadden said they have been told by Holmes Murphy officials that the company plans to move to Waukee.
West Des Moines officials offered the company incentives to stay in the city.
“I’m under the impression that incentives weren’t the issue,” Gaer said.
Gaer said he has not been directly involved in discussions with Holmes Murphy because doing so would have created a conflict of interest resulting from his position as general counsel for R&R Realty Group. Holmes Murphy had been asked to consider an R&R property in West Des Moines.
Hadden said the incentive package offered by West Des Moines went a little beyond the normal program of tax increment financing based on a predetermined assessed value for the property.
As a result, West Des Moines and Waukee officials have attempted to work out what would have amounted to a non-compete agreement for companies wanting to relocate between the neighboring communities.Read more in this Business Record Insider article.
Negotiations for that agreement have hit a snag, Hadden said.
In the meantime, the Waukee City Council will vote today on whether to become the ninth city in Greater Des Moines to adopt a 16-year-old “fair play” agreement that essentially says the communities will not try to steal business. The cities of Des Moines, Altoona, Clive, West Des Moines, Urbandale, Indianola, Ankeny and Johnston have signed on to date.
When the agreement was drafted, Waukee received scant attention from companies moving into the area or across local boundaries. These days the city is a cliche for explosive growth, and its potential to draw new businesses has been enhanced by creation of the Kettlestone development area.
According to the document, a company must sign a letter saying that it has made an “irrevocable decision” to move before communities can offer incentives to attract the business.
West Des Moines has not received such a letter, Hadden said. Instead, the West Des Moines City Council will be asked to approve Holmes Murphy’s expected request for state of Iowa development incentives, a process that is required by the state when a company moves within the region where it is located.
The Waukee City Council also will be asked today to expand a financial incentive package it first adopted in 2014. Two new provisions, one for businesses wanting to expand or locate to the city and another for companies wanting to develop an office park, would extend the city’s standard tax increment financing and tax abatement programs to 10 years from five.
“We’re trying to stay in line with what we think is reasonable,” said Dan Dutcher, Waukee’s economic development director. The incentives would be granted on a case-by-case basis, and what is offered to the inaugural user might not be offered to the next in line, he said.
Kum & Go LC recently became the first retailer to open in Kettlestone, and the city of Waukee is eager to have a large office user set the pace for office development. Read more in this Business Record Insider article.
Meanwhile, Hadden said he has asked the Greater Des Moines Partnership to examine the existing fair play agreement and determine whether it needs to be updated.
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