City on Track for Fourth-Best Year Ever for Development

City officials in Urbandale expect an increase in $137 million in property valuation by the end of 2013, putting the city on track for one of its fourth-best years ever for new construction.

Already this year, valuation has increased $110 million, the Des Moines Register reports.

The city has issued about 315 new residential building permits this year, Community development manager and chief planner Steve Franklin told the Urbandale Planning and Zoning Commission at a recent meeting. In 2003, the city’s best year ever for residential development, 541 permits were issued.

Most of that residential development is occurring north of Meredith Drive between 142nd and 170th streets.

Franklin said that his sense from speaking from developers is that both Urbandale and Ankeny are “hotbeds for residential development.”

Urbandale should have about $45 million in commercial development, about $24 million of which is related to the Life Time Fitness center construction near the Interstate 35/80 interchange with Hickman Road.