Ryan Cos. is slated to begin construction of a 30,000-square-foot office building in Johnston after receiving approval from the City Council Monday night.

Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. is the prospective tenant of the single-story building at 8700 Crescent Chase, which it will lease from Ryan as part of the seed company’s effort to accommodate a larger work force and develop a “mini-campus” away from its main complex at 7200 N.W. 70th Ave., said Mark Miller, Pioneer’s director of corporate services.

Pioneer is in the process of moving into Crescent Chase I, a recently completed 40,000-square-foot office building, also built and owned by Ryan, adjacent to the proposed site at 8750 Crescent Chase, which will house nearly all of the company’s finance group employees, Miller said.

Crescent Chase II, the proposed building, is expected to be completed and occupied by July 1, allowing Pioneer to streamline its move when several existing leases expire next year.

“Our research and information management areas continue to expand,” Miller said, adding that the company has not yet determined exactly which employees will move, but several groups or partial groups of Pioneer associates will be repositioned.

“We need the room for future growth,” he said.

According to Miller, Pioneer leases rather than owns most of its space away from its central campus, adding that leasing office space off-campus is less complicated.

“It gives us some flexibility,” he said. Miller also said the new buildings are “very efficient” and will allow Pioneer to “maximize the use of the facility(ies)”

Pioneer, which has approximately 1,900 full-time employees in Greater Des Moines, plans to add around 200 people to its work force between now and 2011.

Brad Schoenfelder, vice president of development with Ryan, said Pioneer has signed a five-year lease at Crescent Chase I and a 10-year lease at Crescent Chase II. Though the cost per square foot was not disclosed, Shoenfelder said “it is very competitive given the market conditions.”

The assessed value of the two buildings is anticipated to total approximately $9.4 million, said Dave Wilwerding, Johnston community development director.

The approval to go forward with the office building comes on the heels of four other Pioneer projects under way in Greater Des Moines, including a 13,000-square-foot building in which seed corn will be sorted and bagged and an attached 42,000-square-foot warehouse.

The City Council approved a site plan for those structures, which will be owned and occupied by Pioneer, on Nov. 3.

Pioneer is also poised to lease a 60,000-square-foot building under construction on Oralabor Road in Ankeny from Lauridsen Group Inc. The laboratory and office facility should be completed and occupied by March 1.

Miller said a 40,000-square-foot greenhouse at 7250 N.W. 62nd Ave. in Johnston, intended to be used as a corn research facility, is on track to be finished in early summer 2009.

All together, the six developments encompass an area of 225,000 square feet.

Miller said Pioneer appreciated how quickly the whole process has unfolded and the cooperation it has received from city administrators, economic development coordinators, architects, utility companies, contractors and the seller of the three-acre parcel for Crescent Chase I, which alleviated concerns that the footings wouldn’t make it into the ground before it freezes.

“This one went like clockwork,” he said. “We bought (the parcel), and the next day there was a grader there.”