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 with a vision to incorporate a hotel, restaurants and housing into his plans for its future.

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.”

Redeveloping the site will add to the energy that is being seen in the East Village and downtown Des Moines, he said.

The sale of the property for $2.85 million closed on Friday.

“When you look at the East Village it’s not all that large, and when you put all that together it makes for what the East Village is and what people love about it,” Patel said. “There’s something about that to cherish … and I hope to continue that momentum of bringing additional foot traffic, bringing transitory guests to the area, adding more restaurant and bar space and housing units. It’s a perfect mix of uses and businesses that exist in the East Village that I hope to be able to put together on all one site.”

Patel, 33, said how many hotel rooms or housing units may be built has yet to be determined. He said he expects that vision to become more clear in the coming months.

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.”

He said he won’t rush redevelopment of the site.

“You only get one chance at tearing the building down and redeveloping the site, so I want to make sure I do that right,” Patel said.

The corner is ideal for adding a restaurant or bar with a patio and outdoor seating, he said.

Patel said continuing development downtown can help keep people in the area who may otherwise be drawn to the suburbs for shopping and recreation, and bring people who live in the suburbs downtown.

“The more we bring exciting uses to downtown, I think we can create a really mutually beneficial relationship with the suburbs,” he said.

The more people who live downtown will draw more businesses, such as retail, restaurants and entertainment, to the area, Patel said.

“You can spur some of that additional business activity and economic activity by putting some of those people right there [downtown] if you’re building a type of housing for them,” he said.

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 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.

Carrie Kruse, economic development administrator with the city of Des Moines, said the former LifeServe site is important to the East Village neighborhood and community, and that the city supports a high-density mixed-use redevelopment of the property.

Adding more housing will help further support commercial, retail and hospitality businesses in the area, she said.

“So we really like projects that can incorporate those mix of uses to further the vitality of the area but also increase the number of residents living in the area,” Kruse said. “The spin-off success from that, we’ve seen through that throughout downtown with these opportunities to redevelop city blocks in a mixed-use type of fashion.”

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.”