Kum & Go Wants New HQ to Be Iconic
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Kum & Go LC is looking to go big with its new, estimated $92-million headquarters.
As it prepares to build a new home in downtown Des Moines, the West Des Moines-based retailer has narrowed its search for an architectural firm down to six, according to the Business Record.
Kum & Go hopes to make a final selection by the middle of November, and plans to have a local architect and general contractor selected by the end of the year, spokeswoman Traci Rodemeyer told the news outlet. The project architect will assist in selecting the local design firm.
The convenience store operator assembled its short list of potential architectural firms after it "undertook a comprehensive visioning exercise to develop a list of premier architectural firms that design internationally acclaimed iconic buildings," Rodemeyer said.
The company "was pleased by an amazing response from arguably some of the best architectural firms currently practicing in the world today," she added in her email.
The six finalists are:
- Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, which designed the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City;
- Renzo Piano Building Workshop, which designed the London Bridge Tower in London;
- Safdie Architects, which designed the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark.;
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, which designed the Al Hamra Tower in Kuwait City;
- Morphosis, which designed the new U.S. Embassy in London; and
- Bjarke Ingles Group, which designed the Vancouver House in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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.