Community State Bank wants to build a new headquarters in Ankeny, and the Ankeny City Council on Monday took a step toward making the bank’s vision become a reality.

The council set a public hearing date on a development agreement with the bank for July 1. It will consider the agreement at that same meeting.

According to city documents, Community State Bank will make the financial investment and expand employment. The city will provide property tax rebates as financial assistance.

Before Monday’s council meeting, the Business Record sat down with Kurt Gibson, CEO of Community State Bank, to learn more about the bank’s vision and what it will mean for bank employees, customers and the community.

The bank is in the process of purchasing 5 1/2 acres at the corner of Northeast 36th Street and Northeast Four Mile Drive in Ankeny, near the Costco store.

Gibson said the location makes sense for the project because of its access to Interstate 35 and because of the growth that is occurring in that part of the city.

“There weren’t as many spots that had high traffic and great growth potential, and this is the ideal spot for that,” he said. “There’s a lot of other development planned in that area, so I think it’s going to be a great area.”

Gibson said he hopes to close on the acquisition of the site in a couple of weeks, and if plans stay on course, ground could be broken on the site in August.

Although it’s too early to share details of what the interior of the new building will look like, Gibson said the plan is for a four-story, 71,000-square-foot building. Community State Bank is working with Simonson + Associates Architects on the design of the building.

Community State Bank has nine locations, and Gibson said it is out of room to expand, so when the time came to begin planning for a new headquarters, Ankeny was the natural choice.

“This has been years in development,” Gibson said. “To think about building a space that represents our mission, which is to connect, serve and build communities, that supports a good space for employees, a great space for our clients, and space that’s available to the community. We’re the only bank chartered in Ankeny. We were founded in 1902. Based on that foundation, we believe Ankeny is a great spot to be.”

The space will not only create a good space for employees and customers, it also provides space for collaboration, he said.

“So rather than having people spread throughout nine buildings, we need a space to collaborate,” Gibson said.

The new building would include a Community State Bank branch, but not consolidate any of its existing nine branches, Gibson said.

It would consolidate some of the bank’s approximately 150 employees and another roughly 40 employees of a multibank holding company called QCR Holdings, which Community State belongs to. That entity operates three banks in Iowa and one in Missouri, and the new headquarters would bring more of those employees under one roof, Gibson said.

“This gives us a great opportunity to integrate the company as a whole into one location, which would help efficiencies,” he said. “Day one, it’s going to be north of 130 spaces available with room for growth.”

The vision for the new headquarters is for it to be open and collaborative and provide amenities that are important for employee attraction and retention, Gibson said.

“We know that amenities are going to be important to our employees, but we also know there’s going to be a lot of amenities adjacent or in that area that we can leverage, too, and that’s part of the value of that area,” he said. “Balancing what amenities make sense, we’re working on that now.”

The design will also incorporate community space, Gibson said.

“We think that it meets all the criteria of accessibility, and with the growth that’s happening, it’s going to help meet clients’ needs, and we think that’ll be a center point for the community as Ankeny continues to grow,” he said.