DES MOINES, Iowa — Construction for Des Moines’ first tower in over 30 years is making progress, and it will be a unique addition to the Des Moines skyline.

The 515 Walnut Tower is being built on the intersection of 5th Avenue and Walnut Street in downtown Des Moines, replacing the space for the old Kaleidoscope Mall.

The city broke ground in February, and the foundation of the building is now complete. Construction workers have now started to build vertically.

515 Walnut will be one of the tallest buildings in Des Moines when completed, and it will be the first-of-its-kind architectural landmark in Des Moines for a couple of reasons.

The first is that the building’s facade will be entirely made of glass. Also, it’s already the largest residential project in the city’s history.

The 515 Walnut Tower will be 33 stories with 309 apartment units. For context, the Ruan Building is 36 stories, and the Principal Building is 44 stories.

The city of Des Moines provided the rendering above to show what the new skyline will look like when the tower is complete. The 515 Walnut tower is the building pictured on the right of the photo with a gray tone.

“This is going to be a generational project for Des Moines,” said Whitney Baethke, the economic development coordinator at the city’s office of economic development.

515 Walnut will also reconnect part of the skywalk that has been missing since the Kaleidoscope Mall was removed back in 2023.

The project is on schedule to be completed by Spring 2027.