Kum & Go Picks Italian Architect to Design HQ

DES MOINES, Iowa — Kum & Go LC hired Italian architect The Renzo Piano Building Workshop to design its new headquarters in downtown Des Moines, CEO Kyle Krause told The Des Moines Register.

Renzo Piano designed The New York Times Building, The Art Institute of Chicago's modern wing, the California Academy of Sciences and The Shard, an 87-floor London skyscraper.

Krause selected Renzo Piano after narrowing the list down to six architectural firms last month. Kum & Go's chief told the news outlet he chose Renzo Piano because of its ability to emphasize collaboration, transparency and light.

Kum & Go's new $92-million, 120,000-square-foot headquarters, to be situated along Grand Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets, is expected to be completed in 2017. 

"What we want to do is create the best environment for our associates," Krause explained. "Architecturally, sure, they'll do a great job, but it's really about that inside space and what you can create inside the building that is best for our people."

Krause said he was also personally impressed by Renzo Piano himself. "We had a chance to meet Renzo, talk to him," he recalled. "He's a great down-to-earth guy who we think can create the space that creates the transparency, the collaboration, the openness for our people to have a nice work space."

Kum & Go announced earlier this year it planned to vacate its current West Des Moines-based headquarters. As CSNews Online previously reported, the convenience store chain has said it wants its new headquarters to be "iconic."

Kum & Go LC is the fifth largest privately held, company-operated convenience store chain in the United States. Its business consists of more than 420 c-stores in 11 states: Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.