Posted April 27, 2011 by the Business Record

The Capital Crossroads long-term planning project is nearing completion.

The plan, part of an effort led by the Greater Des Moines Partnership and the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, is scheduled to be released in late May, with an implementation plan to be released in June or July.

A final public meeting last night presented a document to be implemented into the plan in the form of a target cluster and marketing analysis put together by consulting agency Market Street Services Inc.

The 102-page analysis was condensed into a few slides for the 50 or so people in attendance. It lays out six target clusters of economic activity for Des Moines to pursue: finance and insurance; information solutions; health and wellness; agribusiness; advanced manufacturing; and logistics.

Alex Pearlstein, director of projects with Market Street, noted that the clusters represent an evolution of what is already happening in the region, not an overhaul.

From the most recent assessment, along with a competitive capacity assessment released in January, research from Market Street, the plan’s steering committee and public input from nearly 5,000 people through surveys and focus groups, the final plan is starting to come together.

Pearlstein unveiled the plan’s three guiding principles of opportunity, talent and sustainability, which each have three “capitals,” or subsections.

  • Opportunity: Business capital, capital corridor, wellness capital
  • Talent: Human capital, social capital, cultural capital
  • Sustainability: Physical capital, governance capital, environmental capital

“Having a strategy (incorporating) issues of civility and wellness and diversity and some of the nontraditional pieces of this plan is completely unique to this region,” Pealstein said. “There’s some different kind of thinking that’s taking place here, and some different kinds of efforts and ways to bring people together in how they communicate.”

Attendees also voted on concepts related to the capitals, which will be taken into consideration for the final plan, along with the other public input, Pearlstein said.