Urbandale could become the site of Iowa’s first, and possibly only, location of the Buc-ee’s travel center chain.
Urbandale’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved Monday, Aug. 10, a petition to amend the city’s comprehensive plan to accommodate “corridor commercial” development at the southeast corner of 100th Street and Northpark Drive. That’s a more than 20-acre piece of land just north of Interstate 35/80 at Exit 128 that’s tied to Buc-ee’s and a local realty company associated with a former Des Moines mayor.
What does all that mean, and how soon might there be a Buc-ee’s in Urbandale with its long line of gas pumps, famously clean restrooms and beaver-themed merchandise?
What are the plans for an Urbandale Buc-ee’s location?
The vacant piece of land in Urbandale that’s currently zoned for agricultural purposes is owned by Macon Realty Co., based in Des Moines.
Texas-based CSMS Management is a contract purchaser with Macon Realty for the land. CSMS also shares its Texas address with Buc-ee’s’ offices, and in Urbandale city documents dated July 13, Buc-ee’s’ real estate and development director — Stan Beard Jr. — was listed as CSMS’ contact. The city documents also used Buc-ee’s letterhead with its beaver mascot logo.
Beard Jr. wrote in the documents that the included petition was a first step “required for a Buc-ee’s Travel Center project.”
The city documents also noted that the land’s direct access to the Interstate is a “significant, if not singular, reason that Buc-ee’s Travel Centers is proposing this site for its first, and possibly only, Buc-ee’s in Iowa.”
Beard Jr. told the commission Monday evening, “We are not a truck stop,” and like all other Buc-ee’s, semi-tractor trailers would not be served or allowed on the property.
Instead, he said the experience of Buc-ee’s is to get people to come inside the store and spend money there, not just at the fuel pumps.
The Urbandale Buc-ee’s would be about 74,000 square feet of store, Beard Jr. said.
Macon Realty is led by the Cownie family, including former Des Moines mayor Frank Cownie, who signed the Urbandale documents as Macon Realty’s director and also spoke Monday before the commission.
Cownie said there have been many offers over the years for the property, including from fast food restaurants, gas stations, coffee shops and pharmacies. “We wanted to see something different,” a regional attraction — and that is Buc-ee’s, he said.
Designation change allows for commercial focus over residential component
The petition Cownie and Buc-ee’s requested and that the commission approved Monday shifts the land’s designation in the city’s long-term comprehensive development plan from mixed-use to corridor commercial.
Mixed-use would mean a combination of commercial and residential development, such as with the proposed redevelopment at Valley West Mall or at the planned The Grand Experience waterpark and hotel project, both in West Des Moines.
But a corridor commercial designation drops the residential component and allows for larger commercial developments with a regional draw and large parking areas.
Buc-ee’s expects its travel center would also spur development of more retail and restaurants on vacant land north of the proposed site, across Northpark Drive.
“We’ve seen everything from Target centers to movie theaters” follow Buc-ee’s, Beard Jr. said. Hotels and sit-down restaurants are also typical — less so fast-food restaurants, he said.
The 24-hour Urbandale Buc-ee’s would employ at least 200 people full-time, who would earn a minimum wage from $19 to $22 per hour with benefits, Beard Jr. said.
An Urbandale Buc-ee’s is still years away, if approved
Any future development of the property will still require approval of documents including rezoning, a site plan and building permits.
And, “There have been no additional submittals” related to the petition, city spokesperson Derek Zarn said Monday.
Katie Cownie, Macon Realty’s president, said Buc-ee’s could be three years away in Urbandale.
Beard Jr. said there is an “intense planning process” ahead, including for the company to show its stewardship of surrounding land and water.
Kari Carney, executive director of 1000 Friends of Iowa — a statewide nonprofit focused on promoting “responsible and equitable land use, transportation, and sustainability,” according to its website — spoke against the proposed Buc-ee’s at Monday’s meeting.
Carney said she loved visiting a Buc-ee’s in Alabama, especially the jerky bar, and she would go back again. But she had concerns about the climate change message sent by Urbandale’s support of a more than 100-pump gas station, whether a Buc-ee’s would really attract as much surrounding development as claimed, and how she alleged Buc-ee’s has treated established community businesses in copyright disputes over its logo.
Beard Jr. said the Buc-ee’s in Urbandale would have 120 fueling positions and 20 to 24 electric vehicle charging stations. He declined to publicly address at Monday’s meeting the other concerns.
Urbandale seems to have won with Buc-ee’s over Norwalk
Buc-ee’s was the second-most requested store in the Des Moines metro, according to a Register survey from November 2025.
“The Des Moines and Iowa market is primed to support the unique brand and loyal customers that makes Buc-ee’s more than a travel center,” according to Urbandale documents.
In July 2025, Norwalk Mayor Tom Phillips and other city officials championed an online petition to have the first Buc-ee’s location in Iowa be in Norwalk. The petition attracted more than 3,500 signatures as of late September 2025. Phillips told the Register in November 2025 that the city sent a proposal to Buc-ee’s officials.
“They responded and said the location isn’t ideal, but that it’s certainly not off the table,” Phillips said. “One thing they would require is having an interchange here for the interstate, and we’re working on that, so at some point in time, we’re gonna have Buc-ee’s [officials] up here to look at the area, and see what they say.”
The closest Buc-ee’s to Des Moines is currently in Springfield, Missouri. The store, about 361 miles away, opened in December 2023 after more than a year of construction. A Buc-ee’s in development in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, scheduled to open in 2027 would be closer.
Buc-ee’s has been expanding north and west, and locations are coming soon near Kansas City and Omaha that would be closer still.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at PSitter@usatodayco.com. Find out more about him online in the Register’s staff directory.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Could Urbandale land the first Buc-ee’s location in Iowa?
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
