Iowa Lands a Big One

Spurred on by $56.5 million in state and local incentives, Wells Fargo is riding into West Des Moines, Iowa, with as many as 5,300 jobs in a $118-million, 900,000-sq.-ft. (81,000-sq.-m.) expansion.

The project is the largest job-generator in Iowa's economic development history, according to state officials. Of the 5,300 jobs that Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Consumer Credit Group could position in its new two-building complex, 2,000 will be new positions, company officials said. The San Francisco-based unit of Wells Fargo & Co. will transfer as many as 3,300 other existing jobs to the new office facilities.

Even so, central Iowa didn't automatically have the project snugly buttoned in its back pocket. Wells Fargo Mortgage earlier this year made it known that it was considering other states as well, including Arizona, California, Illinois, Minnesota and South Carolina. And incentives were one part of what it was considering, the company said.

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