The first of four buildings that will make up Hubbell Realty Co.’s Riverwalk Brownstones will be completed by the end of November, representing a slight departure in design and cost from their conceptual cousins, the Brownstones on Grand.

Both projects occupy the same block, located between Grand Avenue and Watson Powell Jr. Way and Second Avenue and Third Street, and are part of what Hubbell calls its Brownstones Community.

Hubbell received approval from the Des Moines City Council to alter its original plans for Riverwalk Brownstones, lopping them to two stories from the original three. The Brownstones on Grand are three-story units.

Original plans called for 25 three-story row houses within two eight-unit buildings and one nine-unit building. Instead, the company will build 16 two-story row houses within four buildings. The third phase, called Capitol View, will feature three-story units facing Second Avenue.

The Riverwalk units will have rooftop gardens – those were an option on the Brownstones on Grand. They will contain about 1,400 square feet, with a first-floor garage. They will not have geothermal heat, which was standard on the original Brownstones. Prices will run from about $193,900 to $198,900 – nearly $100,000 less than the least expensive unit at the Brownstones on Grand. The Riverwalk units also qualify for a 10-year property tax abatement.

“The cost of geothermal is almost double a conventional system,” said Steve Niebuhr, a Hubbell vice president. “They are wonderful as far as meeting the claims of energy efficiency, and, at a higher price point, it was an attraction to the buyer.”

Niebuhr said the changes were necessary to accommodate a changing condominium market – one that many builders are reluctant to enter.

“A little bit of what we learned in phase one is that it’s easier to manage the risk and interest cost by delivering fewer units to market at one time, both because of the lending and the sales environment,” he said.

Riverwalk Brownstones will be built in stages. One unit has been sold in a building that is nearing completion and two units have been sold in a building that will be under construction this winter, Niebuhr said. Sales are pending on two of six remaining units available at the original Brownstones.