The city of Des Moines is seeking proposals to redevelop the International Order of Odd Fellows Fraternal Hall building in Highland Park to meet the demand for commercial and residential space that is compatible with other redevelopment that is occurring in the neighborhood.

According to the request for proposal, the city is in the process of buying the building, which was built in 1907.

Carrie Kruse, the city’s economic development administrator, said the City Council has approved an agreement to buy the building from Ty Cawley for $500,000. The sale is expected to close next month, she said.

The city is seeking redevelopment proposals that include upper-story residential and ground-level commercial space. The residential development must include 51% of the units offered at fair market rates to tenants with incomes at or below 80% of the area county median income.

Kruse said the city created an urban renewal plan for the Highland Park/Oak Park neighborhood in 2020 that identifies areas that “are ripe for targeted investment and incentive programs.”

“So our focus in that area really started with that plan,” she said.

The plan will help preserve the history in the neighborhood, Kruse said.

“The historic building stock in that neighborhood, a lot of these buildings are 100-plus years old, and we had seen previous projects that had come in and had torn down some of that commercial and neighborhood fabric that we want to see preserved as much as we can,” she said.

The city decided to get involved after it issued a nuisance violation in 2023 and became familiar with structural issues with the building, Kruse said.

“When the opportunity to potentially buy the building arose, we thought what a great opportunity for us to step in and solicit private developers to come in and rehab the building, knowing though that the structural integrity of the building is the really the most important crucial part,” she said.

The deadline for submitting RFPs is midnight on Nov.  25.

The building, which was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, was included on the Des Moines Heritage Trust’s list of most endangered buildings in the metro earlier this year.

Tim Waddell, chairman of the Des Moines Heritage Trust, said redevelopment of the Odd Fellows site is an exciting opportunity that could result in the building being removed from the endangered list.

“I think it’s really important that the city of Des Moines recognizes that it’s not always in the best interest of the community to tear buildings down,” he said. “If we can save a building, if it’s economically feasible to do that, it improves the neighborhood.”

Waddell said the Odd Fellows building is in an area that was called the College Commercial District, which sat caddy corner from what was Highland Park College, which sat where Park Fair Mall now sits.

“It’s an exciting rebirth of an area that has seen some decline over a period of time, and now that Highland Park is becoming such an exciting area, it’s becoming the Valley Junction of the north side,” he said. “I feel the College Commercial District will create a bookend for the Highland Park neighborhood commercial district and will just do nothing but great things, and that’s important to the community.”

The three-story building, which is vacant, has about 3,500 square feet on each floor, according to the Polk County Assessor’s website. The website states that the building was last remodeled in 1996 but has since fallen into disrepair, listing it as being in poor condition with apartments that are uninhabitable.

The ground floors have been used as commercial space, the most recent being a pawn shop, with the upper floors originally used for office and community meeting space. Over the years, the upper floors were converted into 12 apartments. There are no current lease obligations, except for two cell tower leases held by GreenState Credit Union that will expire in 2027 and 2030.

The RFP states that city inspectors have found numerous deficiencies and that the building is unfit for occupancy. The deficiencies, if not addressed soon, threaten the long-term stability of the building, the document states.

Along with issuing the RFP, the city plans to repair the deficiencies before a developer is chosen and ownership of the building is transferred.

Kruse said the city’s vision is for a mixed-use redevelopment for the building.

“We envision the ground floor remaining for commercial use,” she said. “We’ve seen a lot of success in growing commercial businesses with that Highland Park neighborhood and that really is kind of the highest and best use for that ground-floor vibrancy we want to see in a commercial district. And the upper stories, we are seeing an increased demand and need for housing in the area, so we envision those upper stories being housing.”

Once the city chooses a developer to redevelop the building, the Des Moines Heritage Trust will likely remove the building from its endangered list, Waddell said.

He said the College Commercial District could become a vibrant district such as Drake University’s Dogtown and the Beaverdale neighborhoods.

“This is an area that can be meaningfully changed and really have ultimately a purpose in creating an even greater neighborhood,” Waddell said.