For nearly a year, Kaleidoscope at the Hub in downtown Des Moines has sat empty.

A major skywalk corridor runs through the building, located in middle of downtown at 555 Walnut St. Because the public walkway goes through the building, vacant retail shops and offices are  easily accessed during off-business hours.

“The concern is that the building will be vandalized,” Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders said.

Blackbird Investments, a Des Moines-based real estate development firm, owns Kaleidoscope and has said it plans to raze the structure and build a tower with luxury and affordable apartments on the site.

The plans, though, have not yet materialized.

 

Shortly after midnight on Nov. 25, a small fire occurred on Kaleidoscope’s first floor, said Jonathan Lund, Des Moines’ fire marshal. The building’s automatic sprinkler system was activated, and the fire was nearly extinguished by the time firefighters arrived, he said. Damage was minimal and the sprinkler system was repaired and is now back in service.

 

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Lund said.

 

“Anytime you have a vacant building and you don’t have people in there constantly monitoring, it’s hard to catch something at its incipient stage,” Lund said.

 

Rachel Wegmann, Blackbird’s spokeswoman, said the company’s on-site building security team responded immediately to the fire. She said the team continues to provide security at the site.

 

About 5 1/2 years ago, a fire destroyed the former Younkers building at 701 Walnut St., west of Kaleidoscope. City officials don’t want to see another vacant downtown building destroyed by fire.

 

Access to Kaleidoscope can’t be blocked because of the public skywalk system that goes through it, Lund said.

 

“That presents some unique challenges,” he said. “From my perspective, you have to make sure all of the building’s systems are maintained and that the exists from the building are operational.”

 

Sanders said he doesn’t know when the building will be razed or when work on the tower will begin.

 

“There’s nothing new to report, which is concerning because it’s a vacant building,” he said.

 

Demolition of Kaleidoscope was to occur in March with construction of tower completed by mid-2021.

 

Blackbird cannot demolish the building until they’ve presented the city with a final plan for the property, Sanders said. “They have not offered that proposal to us.”

 

Wegmann told the Business Record that Blackbird’s “plans for the tower have not changed and the concept is still to provide affordable housing. The tower will be oriented on the eastern half of the site, with the west half also available for development. We continue to work on concepts for both pieces.”