Wells Fargo will move offices, retail bank out of the Financial Center in downtown Des Moines

After decades in the Financial Center in downtown Des Moines, Wells Fargo announced it will not renew its lease — leaving a large, difficult-to-fill void in one of the city's most iconic office buildings. 

The San Francisco-based bank will move 300 employees and its retail bank away from the 25-story tower at 666 Walnut St. 

Wells Fargo spokesman Steve Carlson said some employees will move to bank offices in West Des Moines. But many will move to the company's nearby building at 801 Walnut St.

The retail bank will also make the one-block move to 801 Walnut, which Wells Fargo owns. 

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Wells Fargo has open space in that building now that Federal Home Loan Bank has moved into the former Voya Financial building at 909 Locust St. Federal Home Loan bank bought that six-story building for $16.2 million in 2017.

Wells Fargo is the largest tenant at the Financial Center, which is owned by Canadian investment firm Lawmark Capital. The tower, at Seventh and Walnut streets, was Iowa's tallest building when it was built in 1973. The bank, or its predecessor companies, have been tenants since the Financial Center opened. 

The bank's departure will add to the tower's existing inventory of vacant space. Lawmark currently advertises 20 available spaces for lease totaling nearly 120,000 square feet. Dwolla also recently vacated the 361,000-square-foot tower to lease space at Federal Home Loan Bank's building at 909 Locust. 

“Lawmark is well positioned and Financial Center will always be a contender in the Class A downtown market," Lawmark CEO Mark Buleziuk said in a statement. "Since our acquisition of this property, we have implemented our plan to establish this asset as a premium business address in downtown Des Moines."

The company acquired the tower in 2014. It also owns the ARAG Building at 500 Grand Ave. and the Partnership Building at 700 Locust. Buleziuk said both are "examples of our collaboration with A class tenants creating strong bonds and commitments resulting in premier work experiences."

"We understand people are sometimes adverse to change," Buleziuk  said, "but we stand tall within the Greater Des Moines Business District and as the future arrives with all its complexities we will adapt and embrace the challenge."

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Harrison Kruse, senior associate with CBRE/Hubbell Commercial, said there aren’t many tenants in the Des Moines metro looking to fill large, contiguous amounts of office space like the bank currently leases at the Financial Center.

That may make it difficult to fill the building’s openings. As a result, Lawmark may need to invest money breaking up the space into smaller areas for lease and making other tenant improvements to make the building more attractive.

But, the Financial Center boasts plenty of advantages: It’s one of the only buildings downtown with underground parking, it has access to the skywalk, and features several shared conference rooms for smaller companies that don’t want to build their own.

"I don’t know if I would describe it as challenging," Kruse said, "but it's just going to take some time."

In 2016, Wells Fargo opened a 5,500-square-foot museum in front of its retail bank in the Financial Center. It includes an 1864 stagecoach like those featured in the company's logo and interactive displays showcasing the history of Wells Fargo and Des Moines.

Carlson did not say what's in store for the museum. 

"We are in the early planning stages of this move," he said, "so additional details will be worked through in the coming months."

With about 14,000 workers, Wells Fargo is the single largest private employer in the Des Moines metro area. Iowa's capital city is home to the bank's home-mortgage division and the company's third-largest concentration of workers, behind only Charlotte, North Carolina, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Aside from downtown offices, the bank houses corporate employees at complexes on Jordan Creek Parkway and Westown Parkway in West Des Moines.

As part of a national effort to cut as many as 26,000 employees, Wells Fargo announced in November plans to cut 400 positions in the Des Moines metro area.

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