Midwest City Scoop: Construction Starts in Des Moines

Before COVID-19 crisis, the value of new contracts had been expected to drop 2%

A steep drop had been forecast for the institutional sector, while commercial/ manufacturing was seen rising slightly.

City Grill

Andy Bates
Director of Operations
The Weitz Co.

“We’ve been fortunate, we’ve had to re-shift our focus with safety, but after doing that, we were able to keep almost all of our projects going,” Bates says. “We had one small project that paused for two weeks, but otherwise all our jobs are back up or have finished up on time. Our 2020 residential projects are still going. That’s the market that everybody’s hit pause on right now, to see what the next year brings. That would be the one product line out there that really has probably been hit the hardest. That and hospitality.”

Firm in Focus

The Weitz Co.
420 Watson Powell Jr. Way, Des Moines,
CEO: Kevin McClain
Employees: 1,450
Founded: 1885
Recent Project: Construction for the tower of the $180-million The Fifth development began this year, with completion expected by 2022. Weitz previously completed the complex’s garage.