Floating café, ferry proposed for Des Moines River

• Local businessman Michael LaValle wants to build a dock downtown on the Des Moines River.
• Called the Port of Des Moines, it would feature a café and would offer bout tours.
• He says state and federal regulators have approved his plan.
• But LaValle still needs finalize funding for the project and gain the city's approval.

Michael LaValle steered his 20-foot aluminum motorboat under the arch of the Court Avenue bridge.

The golden Capitol dome gleamed in the afternoon light to the east. Downtown’s skyline loomed over the levee to the west.

“This is a view not many people see,” LaValle said.

But it’s a view he wants many more people to experience.

LaValle, the owner of several Des Moines hospitality businesses, has a new plan: He wants to build a dock on the Des Moines River near Court Avenue. It would be attached to the recently completed Principal Riverwalk and would feature a cafe that serves drinks and simple food.

From the dock, LaValle would offer ferry rides. He wants to buy a 50-seat boat that could take passengers from the Iowa Events Center to Court Avenue or Principal Park. He envisions the ferry offering architecture and history tours and school field trips. There could also be smaller excursion boats that zip around the river.

He would call it the Port of Des Moines.

The Des Moines River has drawn greater attention in recent months. Elected officials, downtown advocates and water lovers are studying ways to improve access to the river.

They want to replace the dangerous lowhead dams and build entry points so people can swim, kayak and raft on the river.

The completion of the riverwalk and other new developments along the banks has brought more people to the water's edge. But LaValle’s plan — if he can pull it off — would be the first improvement that actually puts people on the water.

“I’m excited for anything that can activate our waterways,” said Teva Dawson, a senior planner with the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. “It’s another step toward opening up the rivers for more people to enjoy them.”

LaValle thinks the timing is right. Politicians and corporate leaders are touting the need to clean up the river and encourage recreation on the water.

"Now, I think politicians look around and say: 'Oh, people care about the river,'" he said. "Everyone feels it is time to do something."

But LaValle faces several hurdles before he can build the Port of Des Moines. He not only needs approval from the city of Des Moines, but he also has to figure out how to pay for it.

LaValle said he doesn’t know how much his project would cost. He already has the material for the dock; it would be created from Navy-made blocks called causeways that hook together to form a floating platform. But he doesn’t have bids for installing the dock or buying the ferry boat.

The main dock would be installed right below the Riverwalk Hub Spot, a café that LaValle operates just north of Court Avenue.

The dock would remain in the river year-round, designed to move up and down with the water level. The boats would operate seasonally during the warmer months.

He wants to install smaller docks at other locations, such as Wells Fargo Arena and Principal Park, where ferry riders could get on and off.

LaValle, a longtime river advocate, said he doesn’t know if the Port of Des Moines would operate as a business or a nonprofit. In any case, he doesn’t expect to make much money.

“It would be nice if it was profitable, but that hasn’t been the motivation,” he said.

Questions about project remain

If he had his way, LaValle said he would like to launch the port next spring. But city officials expressed skepticism that it could be ready so soon.

The city owns the bank of the river, and to attach a dock to it, LaValle would need approval from city engineers, the Plan and Zoning Commission and ultimately the City Council, according to city engineer Pam Cooksey.

Another unanswered question is: How would LaValle’s ferry operate around a flurry of planned bridge construction downtown?

The city plans to remove and replace the Grand Avenue bridge, starting this fall. The Locust and Walnut street bridges also are slated to be replaced, while the Court Avenue bridge and downtown's red pedestrian bridge are scheduled for repairs.

Downtown’s lowhead dams at Center Street and Scott Avenue are also question marks. River advocates want to replace them with a series of smaller barriers that would allow people to safely navigate the river on kayaks or rafts.

To operate a ferry downtown, LaValle needs the pool of water created by the lower Scott Avenue dam. But he said replacing the dam with smaller, safer barriers like river advocates want would still create a deep enough pool for the ferry to operate.

The plan also could face opposition (or at least questions) from preservation advocates, who treasure the historic stone balusters that line the river, and from fisherman who cast lines from the downtown bridges.

Perceptions of the river could be another hurdle. Will customers mind the brown water, fishy smell and logs floating with the current?

These days, boating on the downtown segment of the river is so rare that authorities have hassled LaValle about having his aluminum boat in the water.

Major hurdles cleared

LaValle says he has already cleared some of the biggest hurdles.

He said he has a conditional letter of permission from the U.S. Corp of Engineers, and he has received approval from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Those approvals took two years of paperwork and persistence, he said.

The Port of Des Moines would not be LaValle's first local business. He is the president and CEO of the Des Moines Embassy Club, the swanky, members-only restaurant and club on the top floor of the Ruan Center.

He and his wife own Trellis Café inside the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden and the Hub Spot. They are part-owners of Centro and Gateway Market.

LaValle also owns the Spirit of Des Moines, a historic paddleboat. For years, he gave tours on the Des Moines River above downtown, but flooding continually posed problems (the boat once floated into the Center Street dam during a flood) so LaValle recently moved the boat to Rathbun Lake.

LaValle admits it won't be easy for some people to see his vision. He is giving a presentation Friday to city leaders, media and other officials to try to drum up support for the plan.

“I think the hard part will be getting people to take it seriously because it will just be so far out of left field, it will be hard to get their heads around it,” he said. “But every other river city in the country has been able to figure it out.”

Local leaders express support

City Council member Christine Hensley said she loves the idea, but she thinks LaValle has a lot to figure out, such as ensuring the dock is safe and acquiring the proper insurance.

“I believe that he can do it, because Mike is a very tenacious guy,” she said.

Hubbell Realty CEO Rick Tollakson, who has been an advocate for mitigating the downtown dams and encouraging more recreation on the water, said: “Anything that brings our population down to the river so they can enjoy it is good.”

About LaValle, Tollakson added: “He’s a creative guy. He’s willing to take a lot of risk, and he has a strong interest in the river.”

The dock and ferry plan also emerges at a time when Iowans are focusing more on water quality. Des Moines Water Works is suing three rural counties, alleging farm runoff contributes to high levels of nitrates in the city’s drinking water source.

LaValle thinks the Port of Des Moines will bring more attention to Iowa's water quality.

A native of Webster City, he grew up near the Boone River and spent much of his childhood on the water. He wants future generations to have the same opportunity.

“I think a lot of people don’t see the importance of water in Iowa,” he said, “because they don’t have any interaction with it except for what comes out of their tap.”