DEVELOPMENT

Developer of Des Moines skyscraper wants to break ground this fall

Joel Aschbrenner
jaschbrenn@dmreg.com

The development firm that owns the former Younkers building site has reworked its plans and now wants to break ground on a 26-story apartment tower before winter.

Blackbird Investments revealed several new details of the project Friday, including a new partner, a tweaked design, an updated cost estimate and plans for a skywalk level park. The most eyebrow-raising detail is a pool that juts out from the top floor, hanging hundreds of feet above downtown.

Des Moines developer Blackbird Investments wants to break ground this fall on a 26-story apartment tower at Seventh and Walnut streets.

The proposed building would stand at Seventh and Walnut streets, the site where the former Younkers department store was destroyed in a massive 2014 fire.

Officially named 701 Walnut, the project is scheduled to go before the city of Des Moines’ Urban Design Review Board on Tuesday, a preliminary step toward approval by the City Council.

Blackbird Investments, a firm owned by five local businessmen and engineers, created a stir in May when it first announced plans for the apartment tower. It would be the first 20-story building constructed downtown in more than two decades.

Architecture buffs and downtown aficionados have been eager to see if Blackbird can pull off the feat.

Justin Doyle, a partner in Blackbird Investments, said he is "100 percent" confident the tower will be built.

“It’s already in the bag,” he said.

Here's what's new:

The size of the tower

The proposed building is shorter; it will rise 26 stories instead of 29 as originally planned. But it will be larger overall, because it will have a wider footprint.

Made almost entirely from concrete and glass, the building will include more than 300,000 square feet, up from the roughly 250,000 square feet in the original proposal, and include roughly 276 apartments, according to Blackbird.

More on the Younkers site:

A new partner

Blackbird Investments has added CA Ventures, a Chicago real estate developer, as a partner in the project. With experience developing numerous large-scale projects like the tower, CA Ventures helped secure loans for the project.

Finding lenders was one of the trickier hurdles. “Everyone wanted to finance it, but no one wanted to finance the whole thing,” Doyle said.

CA Ventures has not previously invested in Des Moines, but the company recently caused a stir when it made a play for the Riverfront YMCA site in downtown Des Moines. The firm released unsolicited drawings showing what it would build at the site.

The move ruffled feathers in Des Moines real estate circles.

Hubbell Realty Co., metro Des Moines’ largest real estate developer, has a contract to buy the Y site and is finalizing its own plans for developing the property. Officials at Hubbell said it was unorthodox for CA Ventures to publicize plans for the site that someone else has under contract.

The price

Blackbird estimates the project will cost $85 million, up from an original budget of $60 million.

The construction schedule

The developers want to break ground by the end of November, but the schedule will depend on receiving approval from the city of Des Moines. First, the Urban Design Review Board will examine the design of the project and the tax breaks the city plans to offer, and then the project must be approved by the City Council.

Construction is expected to take 22 months, so the building could open as early as mid-2018, according to Blackbird Investments.

Get a look at the hanging rooftop pool planned for the 701 Walnut tower:

The hanging pool

On the 26th floor, the building will feature a cantilevered pool that hangs over the edge of the building.

It will jut out about 11 feet from the building's west edge. The pool walls will be constructed with glass, so brave swimmers can look through the water down at the city below.

Hanging rooftop pool will let you look 26 stories down

Skywalk-level pocket park

Blackbird wants to build a small elevated park on Walnut Street, sandwiched between 701 Walnut and the Wilkins Building (the salvaged half of the Younkers building that Blackbird is already renovating into apartments).

The park would be open to the public but managed and maintained by Blackbird. Designs feature outdoor seating, tables and a lawn on the same level as the skywalk.

Luxury finishes

The apartments will feature polished concrete floors and floor-to-ceiling windows. A concierge will man the lobby. The building will include a business center that will offer office space and conference rooms that tenants can reserve.

Along with the cantilevered pool, the building’s top floor will feature a rooftop patio, a gym and yoga studio.

Doyle says the building will raise the bar in the Des Moines apartment market. Other downtown buildings marketed as luxury apartments feature amenities like stone counters, stainless steel appliances, club rooms and heated parking. Doyle said such buildings would not pass as luxury housing in most larger cities.

“I think the Des Moines concept of luxury is not luxury,” he said. “People have grown to accept a lower product.”

Rental rates

Blackbird Investments plans to charge rental rates of about $2 per square foot. That equates to $1,500 a month for a 750-square-foot, one-bedroom unit.

That would be on par with the most expensive apartments available today in downtown Des Moines.

More than 2,300 units planned in downtown Des Moines

Meet the team building the tower

The Developers: Blackbird Investments (Des Moines), CA Ventures (Chicago)

The Architect: Neumann Monson (Des Moines)

The Engineers: Raker Rhodes Engineering (Des Moines), Modus Engineering (Des Moines)

The Landscape designer: Confluence (Des Moines)

Blackbird working on several Iowa projects

Blackbird Investments has broken ground on several projects around Des Moines since 2013: