It has been a long road for the former Eastgate Plaza.

The 50-acre shopping center, near the corner of East 14th Street and Euclid Avenue, opened in the early ’70s and once featured a Younkers department store, a nightclub, a discount grocery store and a movie theater. But Eastgate suffered under competition from large shopping malls and the inability to secure large retailers such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

Florida developer Norman Weinstein bought the property more than eight years ago, changed the name to “Shops at Eastgate,” constructed a 20,000-square-foot strip mall along East 14th street and demolished the remaining vacant buildings.

“We’re taking baby steps right now,” Weinstein said. “It’s a tough environment, but it is going to work.”

Weinstein said the area has developed a negative stigma that scares off potential tenants. He hopes the success of Eastgate will prove to the city that the idea that businesses cannot survive on the East Side isn’t true.

“I’m going to prove that is an unwarranted label,” Weinstein said. “This is one of the best demographic areas in the city, as far as I’m concerned.”

The area does have a heavy traffic flow, said City Councilman Bob Mahaffey, who represents the neighborhood around the property. He said from reports that he’s seen, East 14th and Euclid is the second-busiest intersection in the city.

Weinstein said more than 70,000 people live within three miles of the Eastgate site compared with 56,000 who live within the same distance of 50th Street and University Avenue in West Des Moines, yet the Eastgate trade area has only 17 square feet of retail space per capita compared with 73.4 square feet per capita at the West Des Moines site.

“The consumers are here, but retailers have overlooked the area for far too long,” Weinstein said. “Shops at Eastgate represent a true coming together of the community to achieve a common goal of re-energizing and rebuilding northeast Des Moines’ retail base.”

Mahaffey said there is no reason retail businesses can’t survive in the area.

“It is an area that can easily support retail,” he said. “We just have to work to get businesses into the area again. The problem is that it’s been sitting for so long and deteriorating that people are real reluctant to move in.”

Mahaffey said the project is important enough for both the city and Polk County to get involved. A detention basin was put in due to the area’s propensity to flood, which along with other improvements to the area, cost around $4 million. Weinstein also received around $350,000 in interest-free loans from the city and county for assistance in demolishing vacant buildings.

“Making the site more presentable will only help attract business,” he said. “People see that we’re spending money and want to see progress, and progress is slow. But anything worthwhile takes time.”

A Subway sandwich shop and a Tires Plus store moved from other spots at Eastgate to the new strip mall, and a Papa Murphy’s Pizza recently opened there as well. Weinstein said all three report record sales.

“People are lined up outside the door at Subway during lunch time,” he said. “You can’t argue with the success these businesses are having.”

Mark Neiman, owner of the Subway store at Shops of Eastgate, said he has been impressed with the enthusiastic response to his new store.

“I don’t know why any retailer would not want to be at this location,” he said. “We were doing well at the old location, but business has boomed since we’ve moved here.”

Neiman said the new overall appearance of the area is a big help, making the businesses that do move in more inviting to potential customers.

“For me, it’s a no-brainer,” he said. “This is a very desirable spot for any business, and I’m very hopeful that the entire center can fill up. That can only help business more.”

Parking may become an issue once new tenants are found, Neiman said, because his shop already uses a substantial number of spaces now. But he understands that businesses surrounding his shop will pay off in the long run, and said he is confident any issues that do arise will be dealt with.

“It has been a very good situation for us,” he said. “And I don’t see any reason why that won’t continue. The area is hugely populated and doesn’t have many options when it comes to retail.”

Weinstein said he is currently in negotiations with at least four prospective tenants, and expects full occupancy by the end of September.

“There are some national businesses, some regional and some local,” he said. “We want to attract tenants that will complement each other. But we are just a few months away from filling up.”

Mahaffey said he is more encouraged now than at any time since he joined the council and has received a lot of positive feedback from his constituents.

“Things are being done differently now, and we are really starting to see progress,” he said. “I think people will be really excited once it’s complete.”

Critics of the project have said that too much taxpayer money has been invested already with too few results. Weinstein said the project is starting to turn a corner, and all of those doubts will be washed away.

“When people look back at this project in 20 years, they aren’t going to ask why the government spent money on it; they are going to ask why it took so long to get people involved in turning this property around,” he said. “It is going to be a credit to everyone involved when it is all over. I guarantee it. Everyone will be proud of this.”

Weinstein said he expects to make an announcement soon about the plans for the rest of the property at the site.