downtown question

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by DSMGuy

C'mon El Rhino, you gotta admit the East Village (yes they could have come up with a better name) has come a long way. There are several new buildings with condo/retail and a lot of those biker bars in old rundown buildings have gone away now that they've been renovated. The ugly parking lot at the foot of the capitol has been replaced with an attractive garden. There is a nice outdoor ice skating rink there too. I don't know what you were hoping for, but it looks pretty transformed to me.

Also, except for the Smithson bars, Court Avenue is improving too. It isn't Old Market, but it is improving.

Yeah, I'll admit it's come along way... I just don't think it's really as cool as some of the hype it gets. The area has come a really, really long way since the 90's! A friend of mine owned Axiom Piercing which was down by Blazing Saddles and sometimes we would hang out at the Axiom and play Risk or something. Out the store window was some really great people watching because that area was extremely seedy.

The ice rink does look kind of cool. I've only been there during the summer (when there's no ice of course) for an ARL event with my dog though.

[Steve_W]

Sorry to change the subject but are any new downtown high rises in the works for Des Moines?

[El Rhino]

There's the Allied headquarters, but I don't think that's going to be all that high... Just a really big building. I see some construction downtown, but I'm not sure what's being put up.

[Stevie]

There is the Westgate Condomimium Tower that is under construction I believe. It's going to be 10 stories high.

[Steve_W]

Oh, I almost forgot. You can get all that information off of Emporis.com. It's a really cool website you should check it out if you havn't already.

[Stevie]

You can also find out lots of stuff going on downtown on this website (as well as other parts of Des Moines):

absolutedsm.com: Des Moines Development

[DSMGuy]

Hi Stevie,

The Davis Brown Tower is under construction right now at 13 floors. There are a couple of 10 story condo towers that have been announced for 2008 and a 14 story mixed use building, but who knows with the housing market.

Wellmark will be building a new headquarters, but it sounds like it will be 5 stories, so expect a fairly massive, but short building there. A lot of people were hoping Wellmark was going to go tall, but oh well, at least they will add to the infill.

[Stevie]

Thanks DSMGuy. I like the Davis Brown Tower renderings. It looked neat. I can't wait till it's finished!