The founder of a real estate, investment and construction company that buys homes for cash plans on consolidating his firm on property at 2707 Garden Road in Des Moines.

Mitch Coluzzi, who founded Sell Now Iowa about 10 years ago, is proposing construction of a 7,100-square-foot administrative and field office building and 9,260-square-foot bulk equipment storage facility on the property, which is currently owned by the city of Des Moines. The company has offices and warehouses throughout Central Iowa.

“This expansion allows us to centralize our locations, bringing everything to one location,” Coluzzi told members of Des Moines’ Urban Design Review Board this week.

The proposed buildings will include girt metal building siding with 4-foot-high brick base along all sides of both buildings.

The Des Moines City Council in June 2022 approved an agreement to sell the property to C-Build LLC, the parent company of Sell Now Iowa, for $133,560. The sale, which has not yet been finalized, includes properties at 2617, 2701, 2705 and 2707 Garden Road, the first street south of George Flagg Parkway. 

The city acquired the property in 1994 as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency flood mitigation buyout program. Restrictions initially placed on the property prohibited its sale, according to information provided to the board. FEMA removed those restrictions in 2017, allowing the property to be redeveloped.

The board approved the design of the proposed project.