The historic, 11-story Fleming Building, located at 218 Sixth Ave. in downtown Des Moines, has been sold for $9.2 million to an Iowa real estate management company, Polk County real estate records show.

KMC Properties, a family-owned business located in Council Bluffs, bought the property from Nelson Construction & Development in a transaction that was recorded Feb. 15.

Nelson Construction had owned the property since late 2008. The Des Moines-based company converted the property from office space to multifamily in a project that was completed in 2013.

The building, designed by the nationally renowned Chicago architectural firm of D.H. Burnham & Co., was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Daniel Burnham, the firm’s founder, supervised the design and construction of the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. Among the buildings Burnham designed are the Flatiron Building in New York City and the Union Stations in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

The Fleming Building was designed late in Burnham’s career. The building construction was completed in 1909.

The building “is an early example of the ‘skyscrapers’ which began to crop up during the first part of the 20th century, beginning in Chicago, and slowly moving outward toward cities like Des Moines,” according to the building’s nomination to the historic registry. The building was one of the first in Iowa to be built with a steel structural system.

Ninety-six market-rate apartment units are located in the third through 11th floors of the building. The first two floors include more than 11,500 square feet of retail and office space.

The property in 2021 was valued at $10.68 million.

MORE ONLINE: Read the nomination of the Fleming Building to the National Registry of Historic Places by clicking here.