As downtown Des Moines continues to grow, developers will likely target the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway corridor and some of the city’s many surface parking lots for future growth.

But there are some challenges that must be addressed, developers said.

Downtown Des Moines has grown from an area that all but shut down after 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to a district with an expanding restaurant and entertainment scene that has bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has evolved from a predominantly office and retail-based district a generation ago to a place where an increasing number of people live as new multi-family developments continue to sprout up and vacant office space is transformed into apartments and condominiums.

As Des Moines plans for the future, developers and city officials said they expect to see that evolution continue with an eye on the newly expanded corridor along Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway from the East Village to Fleur Drive, along with the potential to redevelop some of the downtown area’s surface parking lots.

The Business Record spoke with Tim Rypma, president of Rypma Properties; Jake Christensen, president of Christensen Development; Carrie Kruse, economic development administrator with the city of Des Moines; Kyle Gamble, chief operating officer and executive vice president; and Joe Pietruszynski, executive vice president of development at Hubbell Realty Co.

Here is what they shared about the future of development in downtown Des Moines, where that growth might occur and what they think is missing from the downtown Des Moines landscape. 

What areas are ripe for development in downtown Des Moines?

Rypma is one of the partners involved in developing the Market District, and he said that is his primary focus for the immediate future.

He’s marketing lots west of Southeast Fourth Street and focused on getting those sold first, Rypma said.

“Then we’ll jump Southeast Fourth Street at a later date and start developing those [lots],” he said.

There’s “huge interest” from out-of-town developers to develop in downtown Des Moines, he said, but land is hard to find.

“So that’s the thought process behind [the Market District Development],” Rypma said.

The district will feature multi-family condominiums, retail and eventually office. Rypma said he expects it to take 10 years to be fully developed.

“We’ve been in this for 10 years, and I think we have another 10 years to go,” he said. “We’re patient. We want to build it right the first time.”

Although the Market District is Rypma’s area of focus, he believes the MLK corridor will continue to thrive and increase traffic through downtown as the road is extended to the Iowa Highway 5 bypass near Pleasant Hill.

“I think there’s an opportunity there,” he said. “Buying land in downtown Des Moines is tricky. There is not a lot of areas to build up, so I think you’ll see in the 10 years, a lot of development along there.”

Christensen, whose firm has worked on a variety of downtown projects, including Jackson Crossing, an apartment complex south of Principal Park, the Iowa Taproom building on East Third Street, Center at Sixth, and SingleSpeed Brewing, said developers will be eyeing the surface parking lots in downtown Des Moines for future growth.

“Anywhere where there is a vacant parking lot where there used to be a building is a development opportunity,” he said. “I think we are overparked downtown.”

He said as buildings are repurposed or demolished, and as parking resources reach their lifespan, opportunities for future development will open.

“But we have a lot of vacant parking lots that in the meantime can be developed,” Christensen said.

He said areas in the East Village, Western Gateway, Ingersoll Avenue and Sherman Hill also have value for development that offers multiple options for residents and visitors.

The MLK corridor will open up several hundred acres of developable property, Christensen said.

“Starting to connect some of those components … more is more in that kind of urban development, so we’re looking for adjacencies where things are already starting to happen,” Christensen said. 

“So we’re trying to figure out where that development wave is occurring, because it isn’t the same all over downtown. I could point to one location and then four blocks another direction and I could show you how it might be 10 years before the next thing starts to develop,” he said.

Gamble and Pietruszynski also see the MLK corridor as a prime area for development. Hubbell is building out its Gray’s Station townhome development, a 75-acre infill project near downtown.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity there,” Gamble said. 

He cited Hubbell’s Gray’s Station development, the Market District and land recently put on the market by Lou Rizzuti that is just south of the Market District, as areas to watch.

Pietruszynski said development of the MLK corridor will “bring even more life back to downtown.”

“Since we made the major investment in connecting with Gray’s Lake to downtown and all the investment in Water Works Park that links to amenities, that is really going to spark major investment,” he said. “I do think that corridor is essential to sustaining and enhancing value in the downtown area.”

“There are small pockets here and there, but the opportunity really lies around that river corridor.”

Kruse said development will likely occur in areas closer to amenities.

“A lot of what we see trend-wise is you will see the areas that are more proximate to recreational amenities,” she said. “Those types of things are going to attract that private investment faster than other areas that aren’t close to those amenities.”

Kruse said those areas tend to be developed first as they are more attractive to developers.

She has heard from developers who have increased interest in sites adjacent to locations along the ICON Water Trail sites, particularly the Scott Avenue site.

Mixed-use will likely be the most likely development in areas where it will work, such as areas where there is a good mix of foot traffic and vehicular traffic.

“That’s not going to be the case everywhere downtown,” Kruse said.

The city needs to rethink its strategy of mixed-use development, she said.

“We’ve kind of forced mixed-use everywhere … so we have to kind of rethink and strategize how we do that and be more strategic about where we put it,” Kruse said. “I think next to an amenity like a water trails access point makes tons of sense because you’re going to have people coming and going.”

According to Kruse, that shift has already begun with more flexibility in city zoning codes.

“Now we want a design that has it built in a way that it can be that use, but doesn’t have to be commercial necessarily on the ground floor,” she said. “I think there’s more flexibility today than there has been in prior years and more just open-mindedness of what we put where.”

Kruse said people should watch for development along the eastern side of the riverfront over the next decade.

“This part of the riverfront with housing and then pretty much every building along the eastern side with the exception of Embassy Suites … all the way down MLK and that whole stretch over the next five to 10 years is really going to change.”

Part of that will include the city’s buildings — the Argonne Armory, City Hall and the police department — as the city vacates them and opens them up for redevelopment.

“I think I’m most excited about preserving some of these historic, grand architecture civic buildings and making them more of an amenity for the community,” Kruse said. “I’m excited about making them more of an asset for Des Moines and wondering what the highest and best use for that. It could be a multitude of things.”

What are some of the challenges facing downtown development?

Christensen said one-way streets west of the Des Moines River is one barrier.

“If you look at retail activity, it almost never is on a one-way street,” he said. “The other thing is the river. With the current requirements from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, I think the city has had to raise the levees at least two times and it starts to become a subtle barrier. Those little things really do influence the impact of urban development.”

He said there are “a number of challenges the average passerby might not realize.”

“A vacant parking lot on Grand Avenue or any street takes away from the energy and isn’t as welcoming to walk alongside as a line of retail shops or even housing,” Christensen said. “So I think we have a number of challenges that dissuade pedestrians and thereby impact the ability and viability of infill development.”

Christensen also said he is worried the widened MLK Parkway might be too wide and hinder pedestrian traffic to businesses to the south.

“That roadway is also probably, in my opinion, at least twice as big as it probably should have been built between all the activity on the northern portion of Martin Luther King east and west and what is beginning to be some activity on the southern portion,” he said. “So, it’s going to act like a big moat for a long time and it will be a really long time before it feels like the southern portion is connected to the northern portion.”

He said the viaduct system on the southern edge of downtown also acts as a “not-so-subtle barrier” to development.

“It’s uncomfortable to walk underneath them for whatever reason. They feel sketchy under there even when they’re perfectly fine,” Christensen said. 

While they still serve a purpose to raise traffic over passing trains, the number of trains passing through Des  Moines is fewer today than when the viaducts were first built, and he said he believes their purpose and function should be on the table for review as developers look to convert adjacent surface parking lots to residential, office and commercial space.

Gamble, with Hubbell Realty Co., said the viaducts stand in the way of “activating those parcels.”

“The viaducts really need to be moved to the surface,” he said. “The viaducts make development of those parcels more difficult. If you move the viaducts to the surface, it is going to activate the opportunities for those surface parking lots.”

Kruse said there have been discussions about the viaducts on Southwest Eighth and Southwest Ninth streets, but there are no plans to remove them at this time.

“While removing the viaducts could make a few of those underdeveloped lots adjacent to them more attractive for development, that infrastructure plays an important role in connectivity for police and fire services when we do have trains that stop and block traffic in this area of downtown,” she said in an email. “We’ve also recently made some large investments in maintenance costs for this infrastructure to help preserve the service life of those viaducts.”

What’s missing in downtown Des Moines?

Rypma: Pro soccer stadium
“There’s such a great opportunity. I’m hopeful that happens. I think that is such a great infill for the area and such a great attraction, a huge deal.” The nonprofit behind the proposed stadium project recently filed its final application with the Iowa Economic Development Authority in hopes of being awarded $23.5 million for the project. Organizers said the application should serve as a signal that the project is moving forward. 

Christensen: Greater connectedness
“I think we have all the pieces. We have a pretty strong residential component. We have a very strong corporate community and office occupancy. We have a really good food scene. We have an OK retail scene. I think the biggest thing we’re missing is I wish we could just delete the space in between those compelling areas and kind of scrunch them all together. That’s the piece that we’re missing the most, in my opinion, is the connections over the very cool and compelling parts of the city.”

Gamble: Pro soccer stadium
“It would be great if we could really activate the pro soccer stadium. That would be a catalyst for downtown Des Moines for generations. It would be a game changer for not only the MLK Parkway area but the city overall. It would be a feather in our cap to get that going.”

Kruse: Music venues
“We used to have so many music venues downtown and now we don’t have near as many anymore. I have concerns about that. I think that’s something we should try and focus on and try to attract additional music venues downtown as part of a vibrant and active nightlife. It’s what people look for when they are looking to live in a kind of urban setting.”