Koch Office Group, a longtime Des Moines business, has sold its downtown property in a transaction that will allow it to lease office and warehouse space in the two-story Grand Avenue building it has occupied for nearly a century, the Business Record has learned.

Knapp Properties, in a partnership with JSC Properties, acquired the property at 325 Grand Ave. as well as an adjoining surface parking lot for $1.8 million, Polk County real estate records show.

The acquisition expands the footprint of Knapp Properties and JSC Properties in the area, Chris Costa, president and CEO of Knapp Properties, wrote in an email. “We feel it’s a terrific area for future development. … Our long-term goal is to convert surface parking lots into vertical projects that enhance the entire area.”

Knapp Properties and JSC Properties own 10 parcels roughly located between Grand Avenue and Park Street and Fifth Avenue and Third Street, a review shows. The properties, many of which are surface parking lots, are just south of downtown Des Moines’ event and convention area. Included in the parcels is a five-story office building at 611 Fifth Ave. that Knapp Properties recently finished upgrading.

No immediate plans exist to raze the building occupied by Koch Office Group, Costa wrote. The company, previously known as Koch Brothers, will lease the building, he wrote.

The company’s origins date back to the job printing department of the former Iowa State Leader, according to a 1989 Des Moines Register article. When the Leader was sold, the job printing department became a separate business. Three Koch brothers bought the business in 1889.

The printing and office supply company moved from a location on Court Avenue to 325 Grand Ave. in 1925, according to the Register article. The parcel, which fronts both Grand Avenue and Fourth Street, includes a 24,538-square-foot, two-story building constructed in 1920.

The property is valued at $1.35 million, records show. The transaction was recorded March 31.

In other transactions:

Joel Hergenreter and Stacie Webster-Hergenreter paid Mathew and Desiree Severidt $1.3 million for property at 211 S.W. Woodside Court in Ankeny, real estate records show. The property includes a 3,237-square foot home built in 2005. The transaction was recorded March 27.

Aaron Moon and Joricia Taylor-Moon paid Kimberley Development Corp. $2.6 million for property at 11192 N.W. 108th Court, real estate records show. The 2-acre parcel includes a recently built home. The transaction was recorded March 27.

Hope Development & Realty LLC, located in West Des Moines, paid Timbercrest Homes LLC $2.3 million for undeveloped land in Johnston, records show. The property includes 58 residential lots in Ridgedale Heights Townhomes Plat 2. The land is about a mile east of Iowa Highway 141 and south of Northwest 70th Avenue. The transaction was recorded March 28.

IA10 Windsor Heights LLC, located in Sioux Falls, S.D., paid QuickTrip Corp. $950,000 for semi-improved property at 6300 Hickman Road in Windsor Heights, records show. The transaction, recorded March 31, includes just over 2 acres.

Megan Reiter and Edwin Reiter paid William Kimberley Development Corp. $1.15 million for property at 6006 N.E. Terrace Ridge Drive in Ankeny, records show. The property includes a recently built home. The transaction was recorded March 31.

C&A Investors LLC, based in Ankeny, has purchased nearly 12 acres of undeveloped ground in the Elkhart Industrial Park, Polk County records show. The transaction includes the purchase of 6 acres at 1407 N.W. Laurel St. in Elkhart and the purchase of 5.9 acres at 1409 N.W. Laurel St. The purchase price of the two parcels totaled nearly $1.7 million. The seller was Tanam LLC, located in Des Moines. The transactions were recorded March 31.