Philanthropists Nix and Virginia Lauridsen have pledged to donate up to $1 million to help pay for the final phase renovations at Mainframe Studios, which houses affordable workspaces for artists and low-cost office space for nonprofit arts groups. The Lauridsens’ pledge, which will match dollar-to-dollar other donations from the community, will be used to pay to renovate the last floor of the five-story building, located at 900 Keosauqua Way in downtown Des Moines. Renovations on the building’s other four floors have been completed and now have 131 studios, all of which are occupied. Renovations of the final floor are expected to begin by the end of the year. “Des Moines has been very good to me and it’s important to me to
give back and support local artists that are helping to put Des Moines on the map as a world-class art city,” Nix Lauridsen said in a prepared statement. The Lauridsen family has donated millions of dollars to Des Moines-area groups and causes including the recently opened Lauridsen Skatepark in downtown. Nix Lauridsen owns Lauridsen Group, seven independent companies that produce products to enhance the health and nutrition of people and animals. The Lauridsen Group’s headquarters is in Ankeny.