An established New York City tech firm pulling up its Big Apple roots and moving to Iowa? Five years ago you might have said, “Yeah, right,” and we couldn’t have blamed you for doubting. But today, G-Commerce sits in its East Village headquarters – and New York City is minus one fast-growing software development company.

In fact, through a focused and cohesive effort to bring together a variety of public and private resources, the Greater Des Moines Partnership has achieved two extraordinary large-scale victories:

  • First, we have increased the name recognition of the central Iowa region among targeted industries and business site selectors. Greater Des Moines is now on the “short list,” along with cities like Dallas, New York City and Chicago, when companies within our targeted industries consider moving or expanding their operations.

  • Second, the achievement that proves we’re not just spinning our wheels: since 1999, the Partnership, working closely with city, county, state and local economic development officials, has helped bring over $988 million in new capital investment to the Greater Des Moines area. This only includes private projects such as the multi-million dollar expansions of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Allied Insurance and many others. It doesn’t take into account the millions more wrapped up in projects like the Iowa Events Center, Jordan Creek Town Center, downtown housing and others.
In 2004 we expanded our focus to include a broader look at how we can create an even better quality of life here in Greater Des Moines. Project Destiny, our visionary planning effort launched in 2003, identified areas where metro-wide community resources could have a greater impact by coming together-much like our economic development program strategies.

All of this has brought a bright and welcome spotlight on our region. Corporations, national and regional media and individuals at all rungs on the economic ladder have discovered what we’ve known all along: you really can find the work-life balance you’ve been seekinghere in Greater Des Moines.

As we close the first five years of the Partnership’s targeted economic development program, we recognize not only the unprecedented success of our regionally focused strategy, but also the commitment of our local investors which allows us to continue the effort into the future.

Our goals for the next five years are just as aggressive, as we continue to work toward becoming a truly world-class region. We will continue to champion the vision of Project Destiny, serve our membership with valuable opportunities to forge profitable relationships with each other and reach out to site selectors and business leaders in our targeted industries with the message that Greater Des Moines offers the best opportunity for growth – not only for companies, but for people.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT