Reach Church Reinvests in Des Moines Location With Renovation

This June the Story Construction team completed a full remodel of the facilities at Reach Church in Des Moines. The church hired Story as its general contractor in November 2022 and construction began in May 2023, lasting about a year until opening in time for Easter service this spring.

Story Construction was originally hired in the early 2000s to build a brand new facility for the church at a plot of land the church owned elsewhere in the Des Moines metro. Those plans never came to fruition, and the church ultimately decided to sell the land, stay at its existing building and embark on a full renovation. A big part of this decision was the church’s appreciation and dedication to the community it was already serving.

“The vision for this project was creating a facility that would serve our community not only on Sunday but every day of the week,” said Executive Pastor Jeff Ostrander.

The project included painting the building’s brick exterior, renovation of the expansive lobby space, renovation of the auditorium, and remodeling finishes in the youth and office spaces of the building.

“Story provided the team with several cost iterations throughout the design phases of the project, which facilitated the alignment of the church’s budget with the desired scope of work,” said Skyler Phelps, president at Mantel Teter, the architecture firm hired by Reach Church for the renovation.

The project was planned in two phases to allow for concurrent use of the facility by the church. The first phase involved relocating worship space and some offices into the gymnasium, where all church services were held during construction. Once the new auditorium and lobby were completed in time for Easter service, work in the other office and youth spaces was completed.

During the project’s beginning stages, the team identified early the importance of understanding the building’s existing conditions. Documenting previously unidentified structural elements allowed the team time for additional planning, which in turn allowed crews the ability to continue the demolition and renovation.  

Pastor Ostrander and the other pastors at Reach Church were heavily involved in planning the project. Pastor Ostrander highlighted the extensive pre-construction process, saying “it really helped us as we got into the construction phase of the project.” 

“We loved the whole process and we loved and the whole team. Carter and Mike were there every single day, making stuff happen.”