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Pleasantville-based Smokey Row Coffee House is in the process of gutting the historic building on the corner of Cottage Grove Avenue and 19th Street in the Sherman Hills neighborhood to make way for its first coffeehouse in downtown Des Moines.

The company bought the building approximately four years ago, but just recently began the reconstruction phase.

“The moment we purchased it, it wasn’t a great location, but it had great potential and it was a great investment,” said Barat Smith, district manager. From then on, the company “slowly started inching forward and we’ve really started to pick things up.”

Currently, the building is without windows and concrete is being removed on both the east and west sides to make room for planned expansions. “We are taking out the concrete on the west side of the building so we can put in a drive-through, so everything has to be leveled,” Smith said, noting that the store’s owners would like to eventually have outdoor seating, a bandstand and a grassy area on the east side of the building.

On the inside, the walls of the building have been stripped of plaster so that the original brick is exposed, Smith said, adding that it will have the “same feel of all the other stores, refinished brick walls, exposed rafters.”

“We try to keep the old vintage feel of the building,” he said.

However, unlike the other Smokey Row Coffee Houses across Iowa that have original hardwood floors, the Des Moines store will have concrete floors. Smith said the original building didn’t have hardwood floors and that installing them would be too costly.

“We’re just going to go with a concrete floor, an old-fashioned look with an old-fashioned soda fountain,” Smith said, “with booths that line the walls, open tables scattered about, and a meeting room which will probably seat 20 to 30 people.”

The coffeehouse is slated to open in late December, with the drive-through open and fully functional at the same time.

“Winter season is the best time to open for coffee,” Smith said. “So we’re hoping to open before Christmas, but I’m not sure if that is going to happen.”

Smith said that even though other Smokey Row locations are in small towns – Pleasantville, Oskaloosa and Pella – the Des Moines store will have the same small-town, vintage feel. He even suggested that the company might be looking at more retail locations throughout the metro area.

“Who knows, there might be a few more locations popping up in Des Moines,” Smith said.