Des Moines, IA- State officials have approved the purchase of an industrial property about two miles northwest of the Iowa Capitol, to consolidate Iowa Department of Public Safety facilities.
Radio Iowa reports that once the two building complex is occupied, two district offices for the Iowa State Patrol in Des Moines will be closed. A vehicle storage facility, a warehouse for supplies and the shop where squad cars are put together will also be relocated to the new site.
Governor Kim Reynolds and other statewide elected officials who serve on the state’s Executive Council approved spending $10.8 million to buy the centrally located property. This is one of several moves over the past few years that are changing the footprint of state government operations in Iowa’s Capital City.
Last year, the executive council spent $21 million to buy an two-story office building on the south side of Des Moines for staff from two state agencies who’ve been working in the Wallace Building across from the statehouse.
In 2019, the state acquired an office building near the Des Moines Airport where the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Finance Authority are located.
This spring, the Iowa Legislature approved spending $5 million to complete renovations of the Lucas State Office Building, located east of the Capitol.
The 4500 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services will work in the building once the project is done.
In 2011, the Iowa Utilities Board moved into a new building on the southeast side of the Capitol Complex, and in 2007, a restored building to the southwest of the Iowa Capitol became headquarters for the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
