Waukee Towne Center is open for errands right now. The parts that would make it a place to spend an evening are not. You can buy groceries at Target, pick up a frozen custard at Freddy's and now browse Marshalls at Hickman Road and Southeast Alice's Road. The 6-acre lake, the ice rink, the waterfront amphitheater and the restaurants that have never operated in Iowa are still under construction, and the developer has set the center's full grand opening for late spring 2027.
So the 62-acre site is running on two tracks. The everyday-shopping half has been arriving one store at a time since fall 2024. The destination half is being built toward that 2027 grand opening.
The errand half, open today
According to the Des Moines Register and the Business Record, these businesses are already operating:
- Target, the anchor tenant, with a Starbucks inside. It opened in October 2024.
- Marshalls, at 980 Southeast Laurel St., in a 23,700-square-foot store open 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. every day. The Register reported an Oct. 8 opening, and the Marshalls store locator now lists the Waukee location as "Now Open."
- Olive Garden, Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers and Hyper Energy Bar on the food side.
- LOF Xpress Oil Change, which the Business Record lists among the businesses already open.
Dutch Bros Coffee, Crisp & Green and Jersey Mike's were described in the August tenant announcement as expected to open "soon." None of the three had a published date.
The businesses open so far lean toward everyday shopping, quick meals and car care. That fits a site whose anchor opened two years before the rest. The Register describes it as a $132 million project planned for roughly 335,000 to 355,000 square feet of retail and dining. The open stores are a small share of that total.
The destination half, built toward 2027
Pierson Companies, the Burlington-based developer, says construction is underway on every phase and is aiming for a full grand opening in late spring 2027. Owner Mike Pierson described the goal in the developer's announcement as "a destination for the entire family," with "morning bike rides and dining by the water to scheduled entertainment at the amphitheater, and movie nights or live games on the big screen."
Here is what the developer has published about the shared spaces:
- A 6-acre lake with a fountain, plus a walking and biking path that connects to the regional trail system
- A winter ice skating rink
- Summer play areas with yard games, interactive water features and fire pits
- A 25-by-13-foot outdoor screen for movies and live sports
- An amphitheater on the water's edge for community events and summer concerts
You may see two different lake sizes in coverage. Pierson's announcement and WHO13 say 6 acres. The Register's September story says 8 acres and names the Raccoon River Valley Trail as the trail connection. We're going with the developer's number. No published source has named an operator or a separate opening date for the lake, rink, playground or amphitheater. The city's planned-development document says the amenity area "may include" an amphitheater, ice rink and playground, which is permission to build them, not a schedule. Until Pierson or the city announces dates, a first skate on the rink this winter isn't on any calendar.
The trips that may get shorter
The signed tenants matter most for a Waukee resident because of how far you drive for them today. The Business Record sorted the first wave of leases into two groups: brands new to Iowa, and brands that already have a metro location somewhere else.
| Tenant | What it is | Where it is in the metro today |
|---|---|---|
| L.L. Bean | Outdoor apparel | New to Iowa |
| Arhaus | Furniture and décor | New to Iowa |
| Hampton Social | Coastal-inspired restaurant | New to Iowa; has locations in Chicago and Nashville |
| The End Bar | Cocktails, shareable bites, sports viewing | New to Iowa; developed by Parker Hospitality |
| Game Show Battle Rooms | Live, immersive game show venue | New to Iowa |
| Noir Nail Bar | Nail and beauty services | New to Iowa |
| Williams Sonoma | Homewares | Jordan Creek Town Center |
| Pottery Barn | Home furnishings | Jordan Creek Town Center |
| West Elm | Home furnishings | East Village, downtown Des Moines |
| 30hop | Restaurant and taproom | Ankeny |
| Marshalls | Home goods and apparel | West Des Moines, now also Waukee |
Some of these are small, specific spaces. The developer's tenant announcement lists The End Bar at 2,000 square feet and Game Show Battle Rooms at 2,400 square feet. It pitches Game Show Battle Rooms for birthday parties, team-building events and nights out. The 30hop location will sit by the lake, overlooking the water and the planned amphitheater. That makes it one of the tenants that only works once the destination half is finished.
The list is longer than this first wave. Riley Hogan, senior vice president of leasing at CBRE, told the Business Record that about 85% of the available space has been pre-leased. The first announcement alone covers about 100,000 square feet, and Pierson said more "first-to-market concepts" would be announced.
Why the city wanted the second half
Waukee's leaders have said plainly what they want this project to change. In the same Business Record report, City Administrator Brad Deets said the city worked with Pierson on "an elevated model" that pairs big-box stores like Target with "plaza areas and the anticipated ice skating rink and playground area and amphitheater." He described the goal as becoming "a more complete community versus more of a bedroom community that is serving some of our neighboring cities."
Deets told the Business Record that Waukee has spent about $90 million on infrastructure over the past 15 years to support commercial growth between the Grand Prairie Parkway interchange and Southeast Alice's Road. That includes widening Alice's Road from a two-lane rural road to six lanes. He also said the property taxes the center pays will help provide tax relief for residents, and that the city has traditionally spent sales tax revenue on amenities like parks and trails. He did not have an estimate of how much new sales tax the center might generate.
The plaza, rink, playground and amphitheater Deets named are all in the half that hasn't opened yet.
Getting there between now and 2028
The road network around the site is also still changing. Pierson's project page cites a City of Waukee projection of more than 52,000 vehicles a day on the six-lane Alice's Road in front of the center and more than 25,000 on Hickman. Those are projections, not traffic counts.
East of the center, the Iowa Department of Transportation is rebuilding the I-35/80 and Hickman Road interchange as a diverging diamond. The $94 million project adds lanes on both Hickman and the interstate. The Iowa DOT project page says all ramps are open for 2026, the current traffic setup is expected to stay in place through fall, and the project should finish in 2028. The DOT ties that work to traffic growth across the area, not to Waukee Towne Center in particular. If both projects stay on schedule, the center's grand opening would come before the interchange work is finished.
Another project is moving across Hickman. The Business Record reported that a Walmart Supercenter is proposed on 34 acres north of Hickman Road. On Aug. 17, the Waukee City Council approved the preliminary and final plats and tabled the site plan so council members could get more questions answered. That proposal is still under review, and no construction timeline has been published.
For now, the easiest trips to the center are the ones you'd already make for errands. Marshalls is the newest one, and Dutch Bros, Crisp & Green and Jersey Mike's are next in line, with no confirmed dates yet. The lake path, the rink and the new-to-Iowa restaurants don't have their own opening dates, and the center's full grand opening is set for late spring 2027.
Our Waukee-based team at Ingrid Williams Real Estate Team keeps track of the corridors that are changing around our neighbors, and Hickman and Alice's is one of the biggest. If you'd like to know how the Towne Center and the roadwork around it could affect the part of Waukee you live in or are considering, reach out. Start Your Next Move with a local team that's following it.
