Work has begun on the planned 33-story 515 Walnut building with crews digging holes for the foundation that will support the towering structure that those involved in the project say will not only change the downtown skyline but help drive activity that will add to the growing sense of vibrancy in the city.

Joe Teeling, head of development for St. Joseph Group, and his partner Seth Sojka, are working with Beal Derkenne Construction and its founders Andrew Beal and Michael Derkenne on the project.

The estimated cost of the project is $148 million, with completion expected in 2027. Once complete, its estimated assessed value will be more than $69.5 million.

It will be the largest residential project ever built in downtown Des Moines and the most significant change to the downtown skyline since the construction of 801 Grand in 1991.

The Business Record sat down for separate conversations with Teeling and the founders of BD Construction to learn more about the project, what it could mean for downtown Des Moines and the region, and what residents should expect to begin seeing at the site in the coming weeks and months.

Teeling was in the insurance industry for 41 years before entering the real estate development sector. The 515 Walnut project is the first project he’s done and he believes that maybe gives him a different perspective.

Teeling, 69, said crews began digging at the site on Jan. 6, going down around 100 feet to pour the footings that will support the building. That work will be ongoing for at least a couple of months before vertical construction can begin, he said.

“It’s a poured concrete tower, so it will be poured in levels,” he said. “It will have ceiling-to-floor exterior glass, which is going to be pretty neat.”

Once complete, it will have 390 residential units, ranging from studios to two-bedrooms. There will be a fitness center for residents, a coffee shop for those who live there, and the top floor will be a combination of open air and enclosed areas with a kitchen and seating that residents can use for gatherings.

And the location is “dynamite,” Teeling said, citing its proximity to downtown amenities, such as the Civic Center, the Court Avenue District and Wells Fargo Arena.

“It’s close to everything,” he said.

The Des Moines City Council approved the development agreement for the project in late December.

Beal, of BD Construction, said a drilling company is drilling deep into the ground building caissons, which are anchors that will support the building. He estimated that work will take up to three months or so before vertical construction can begin.

When that happens, residents will begin to see concrete decks, columns and walls being poured.

“That structure will go floor by floor by floor and when we get to a certain point, we’ll have an exterior hoist on the side of the building that will transport workers up and down the building,” Beal said. “When we’re at around level seven or level eight, we’ll start the exterior skin on the lower floors and everything will kind of cycle up through the building.”

Beal and Derkenne are no strangers to building high-rise buildings. They have built similar buildings, 10 in Arizona and a 15-story student housing project in Iowa City.

The 515 Walnut tower is the tallest tower of the projects they’ve been involved in, although it has a smaller footprint than some of the buildings in Arizona, the tallest of which is 24 stories.

Beal said going taller doesn’t create any specific challenges.

“Once you get in the flow, there is a degree of rinse and repeat as you go up,” he said. “There’s obviously challenges working at heights, and safety is a big issue, but once you get past eight to 10 floors it’s kind of the same.”

Derkenne said it’s exciting to be involved in the project.

“We have a lot of apartments downtown, but nothing like this type of apartment building, nothing that’s a glass tower that has the ability to live on the 32nd floor and see 360-degree views,” Derkenne said. “It’s going to change the expectations of what people can have in Des Moines. The type of amenity and situation that’s going to be provided is non-existent right now. It’s going to change that forever.”

Teeling talked about his foray into development and the start of the project, including an offer that came to buy the land and being told by investors to continue with the tower project.

“There were a bunch of investors that put money into that and we had someone come and offer to buy that land from us, and I went back to the group and they said, ‘No, build the tower,’” he said. “I said, ‘What? You know I don’t know how to build a tower.’ And they said, I remember this distinctly, one of the guys put his hand on my arm and said, ‘Joe, you can learn.’ And that was it.”

Teeling said that was three years ago and that he and Sojka have worked since then to figure it out, including making it work financially.

“We thought we had it solved two different times and then the third time we finally did,” he said. “That was our biggest challenge, I believe.”

Teeling said he was forced to rely on others, including BD Construction, the architect, the legal team, and various engineers working on the project.

“I surrounded myself with experts so I sat around and soaked it all in,” he said. “This is a big project that’s very complicated and I can’t pretend to anyone that I knew anything about it, but I learned. But I’m very confident in the team and that’s how this thing has been flushed out. We’ve come a long way.”

Teeling, a Dubuque native, worked for Marsh & McLennan Cos. until 2005, when he started his own agency with a friend until they merged with a larger company in 2018 and he left.

He did some consulting work on some other projects, including his involvement with Blackbird Fund Management, which wanted his help raising money for different church projects.

“I was really intrigued so I got involved in real estate,” he said. “That was in 2018 and it’s just matriculated to where I am today. I’m having the time of my life.”

Teeling has also been involved with Iowa Catholic Radio for the past 20 years, where he serves as chief mission officer, according to the organization’s website. He also is working with a startup that began around the same time he got involved in real estate that is working on the opioid crisis across the country. It uses an artificial intelligence tool to determine who might be at risk and then reaches out to prescribers and pharmacists to help people get off the drugs.

He also still does a little insurance consulting from time to time.

“But most of my time now is consumed by the tower,” Teeling said.

The tower only uses about one-third of the former Kaleidoscope site, leaving the rest of the site available for development, he said.

“There’s all kinds of opportunities to do something cool [there], but we need to build this building first,” Teeling said. “Anything is possible and it comes back to what’s needed downtown. Can that land facilitate that need? We have time to think through that. We can always sell that land or do something else on it. I’m sure people will give us ideas.”

Teeling said he believes the city needs something like the 515 Walnut tower.

“The city has really grown and it has nothing like this,” he said. “Cities of importance have these things and Des Moines is going to have one. So I think it puts us on the map in that respect.”

“I think it’s going to change the way people look at what can be done here,” Teeling said.

He said being involved in the project for him reinforces the lesson his parents taught him growing up that anything was possible.

“So it’s happening,” Teeling said. “Quite frankly, I never really ever dreamed I’d do any of this. It’s just great to be part of something that will be good for the city. Most people like to be part of something bigger than themselves and that’s kind of the feeling I get, that I’m contributing to something a lot bigger than me. So, it’s fun.”