An Ohio company that specializes in developing affordable housing projects is proposing the construction of an 80-unit apartment complex on the site where a popular bowling alley once stood, information provided to the Des Moines City Council shows.

The $12.7 million project would be built in two phases at 2710 Douglas Ave., council information shows. Construction of the first phase would begin in late 2023 and be completed by late 2024. The project’s two four-story buildings would include a total of four one-bedroom units, 21 two-bedroom units, and 15 three-bedroom units.

The council at today’s meeting is being asked to authorize city staff to negotiate a grant agreement with Alley Landing Limited Partnership, managed by Columbus, Ohio-based Woda Cooper Cos. Inc. The agreement would include providing Woda Cooper $175,000 from American Rescue Plan Act affordable housing funds at the completion of the first phase, council information shows.

The project is proposed on the site of the former Plaza Lanes bowling alley. In December 2017, the building was leveled by a raging fire caused by the spontaneous combustion of oily rags in the kitchen.

The bowling alley opened in the late 1950s. For decades, the roof of the bowling alley included a neon sign of a bowler throwing a ball for a strike. The ball lit up as it made its way to the pins. The sign was destroyed in the fire.

The remnants of the building were razed after the fire and the site was cleared of debris.

Randy Thompson, the property’s owner, had said he would rebuild the bowling alley but later said it would be too expensive, according to news reports. Thompson still owns the 3.6-acre parcel, which is valued at $693,000, Polk County real estate records show.

A workforce housing study released in 2019 showed that Polk, Dallas, Warren and Guthrie counties need to add 33,592 owner-occupied housing units of all types as well as 23,577 new rental units before 2038. The study also showed that about 18,250 of the rental units need to offer rents below $1,250 a month. That’s because nearly 50% of the area’s new working households will have incomes between $25,000 and $49,999, the study showed.

Woda Cooper is proposing that 39 units in the first phase of the development be rented to people with incomes at or below 60% of the area median income. A two-person household with an annual income of $47,280 would qualify to rent one of the units. One unit would be available to people with an annual income at or below 40% of the area median income, or about $33,000 for a two-person household.  

Six units would be set aside for homeless veterans, council information shows.

The units would be rented at the affordable rates for at least 15 years, council information shows.

The development would include community plazas with benches and grills and two fenced areas for dogs.

Information on when the proposed project’s second phase would begin was not included in information provided to the council, which meets at 5 p.m. today in the council chambers at City Hall, 400 Robert D. Ray Drive. To watch the meeting, click here.