The developer who led the restoration of the Hotel Fort Des Moines has purchased the former LifeServe Blood Center building in Des Moines’ East Village.

Raj Patel, who also is the chief development officer of Coralville-based Hawkeye Hotels, said he believes the site at 431 E. Locust St. is “the most exciting intersection in our state.”

Patel said the purchase of the site for $2.85 million closed on Friday.

The total site is about 2.47 acres, or 108,000 square feet, and includes the entire city block other than the Beachwood Lounge and Bar. The building is about 66,000 square feet, with three above ground levels and a full basement.

Patel said the “ideal outcome” would be redeveloping the site for mixed use and would include razing the existing building.

“That would be part of the idea plan and outcome,” he said. “I’m looking at this as a redevelopment, which would include demolishing the building, but I’m not going to prematurely tear the building down and leave a void or blank space there. So the building will stay up because there is some inherent value of having a large concrete structure like that, so I won’t take it down without a plan. But when we do have a redevelopment and mixed-use project ready to go, that building will come down, but it will stay up until that occurs.”

LifeServe Blood Center relocated its laboratory, supply area and staff from its former facility the first weekend of June. It opened the new blood donor center in Johnston on June 10.

The nonprofit began talks about moving before the pandemic, but those discussions were put on hold when the pandemic began. They resumed in early 2021 as LifeServe found itself in need of more space.

According to its website, LifeServe began operating at the Locust Street location in 2002 under the name the Blood Center of Iowa.

Patel also spearheaded the restoration of the Hotel Fort Des Moines, which he purchased in 2015 for $4 million. The hotel, built in 1919, fully reopened in 2022 after undergoing a more than $40 million restoration.

Patel said the former LifeServe site is “an immense development opportunity.”

“That corner of our city, our downtown, is so historic, and to be able to have an entire city block right there is an immense development opportunity,” he said. “When you look at that four-block quadrant of East Fifth Street and East Locust Street, how much activity they have on those blocks, how many different uses and buildings and owners they have and then to have this block all under one assemblance, one property, is an immense opportunity for a developer and the city.”