2010 is starting off with good sales so far, January was pretty good, but February not so much, but it could have been the horrible weather we had last month. Know one in their right mind would get out and look at places in that.

2010 Year-to-Date Downtown Condo Sales:

The City of Des Moines, Operation Downtown, and Skywalk Association are conducting a survey to gather information about downtown Des Moines’ skywalk system and its users and are currently reviewing possible improvements to the Skywalk System. Your input as a user of the Skywalk System is very important in identifying areas of improvement. Please take a moment to fill out the following brief survey by Wednesday, March 24th:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7XWWVHX
Signage mockups will be displayed in April in the Skywalk System for your feedback as well.

I found this online and thought readers might be interested in seeing some health stats on Iowa’s most populous county since it’s the home of the City of Des Moines.

Source: http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/iowa/polk

Here are just a few highlights from the article, you can read the full article online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/realestate/commercial/17desmoines.html.

…recent commercial, residential and retail development in Des Moines, where public and private cooperation has produced a robust urban landscape matched by few cities its size.

…Des Moines was one of a growing number of cities that recognize the potential of downtown development, as well as the urgency of changing economic and political strategies to encourage it.

Des Moines was able to find a nonpartisan formula for making decisions on taxes, infrastructure, parks and housing that support downtown construction. “Des Moines is one of those places that recognized that to pull off being a special place they can be proud of, people have to work together”

It’s hard to believe, but with a lot of downtown developments, developers are not maximizing a huge area of square footage that they have. I’m talking about the roof. Developments that have planned for and provide the rooftop terrace amenity generally sell faster than developments that don’t have a rooftop terrace. Buyers moving from the burbs miss their outdoor spaces. If you are downtown, you may be lucky to get a small balcony, but no true socializing and entertaining outdoor space.

A rooftop terrace should be contemporary in style, and be the ultimate extension of a modern interior. To fit into its urban environment, low-maintenance plants are ideal. I’m personally fan of light colored pavers, large planters, and nice modern loungers and tables, also there’s nothing like a water feature to help drown out noise and provide a beautiful backdrop at night. Here’s some examples of other properties around the country and what they have done.

There’s lots more examples inside… Read the rest of this entry »

2010 is starting off with good sales so far. Let’s hope our housing market turns around this year, last year was pretty dismal, only 33 units sold downtown. Our city leaders should be doing whatever possible to help recruit people to move downtown.

2010 Year-to-Date Downtown Condo Sales:

The Downtown Community Alliance (DCA) once again put their mind to an easy way to make something ugly beautiful. For the last few years, since Younkers moved out of the previous flagship store downtown, this skywalk area has been pretty dismal. Walkers were always greeted by a wall of black plastic covering the insides of the old main Younkers skywalk entrance, but as of last week, walkers now see a nice image of the city at night. Thanks again to the DCA!.

Would you like to submit a post or article for publication here on Living Downtown Des Moines.com? If you have a passion for living in downtown Des Moines or just experiencing the many things to do when visiting downtown, we’d love to hear from you. Sharing your own experiences with others can be very rewarding. William Shakespeare said it best, “What is the city but the people.”

So, the rules to be a guest blogger are really simple, a few article guidelines are listed below as well as the five-step process to getting your post published.

Article Guidelines

• Your post may be anywhere between 150 and 1500 words in length.
• Author bio should be no more than 50 words or 250 characters in length.
• Affiliate links to your own blog are encouraged.

Submission Process

1. Register for an account, if you don’t already have one or log in.
2. Write your post, you can write it in multiple sessions, saved as a draft.
3. Edit your post to your liking.
4. Submit your post for review when ready.
5. Your post is queued for review and for publishing.

We look forward to hearing from you and to sharing your experiences about Downtown Des Moines with our readers.

This was a big hit last year, so I thought I would share this cute little holiday video with you again that helps us realize what the world would be without the internet. For one, I guess you wouldn’t be reading this blog. I hope you enjoy!

With thanks to: http://www.itsawonderfulinternet.com/

2009 has been a pretty dismal year for downtown condo sales. In 2008 59 units were sold, and to-date we have only sold 31 in 2009. Let’s hope 2010 the downtown housing market turns around and our city leaders do whatever possible to help recruit people to move downtown.

2009 Year-to-Date Downtown Condo Sales:

I was invited to come shoot some nighttime photography as part of the local Des Moines area Flickr Group. You can see most of my shots from this outing at: Downtown at Night Photo Album.

You can check at all the participant’s photography by visiting: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1014797@N22/ or watching the slide show below.

This time, the 2009 MSN Real Estate Most-Livable Bargin Markets. From their site, here’s what they had to say about Des Moines.

Des Moines may be one of the best and most overlooked places to jump-start your career. The economy of this Midwestern state capital is solid, with a large number of well-paying jobs in the insurance, bioscience and agribusiness fields. Yet the median house costs just $150,000. Forbes has ranked it one of the best places for business and careers three years running.

It has some of the cleanest air in the country, its residents report low stress levels and there’s enough outdoor recreation, culture and fine art to keep most people happy (its Art Center was designed by I.M. Pei). “There’s so many things that are accessible here,” says Lauren Burt of the Greater Des Moines Partnership. “There’s a lot of volunteerism and ways to be engaged with the community.”

Cons: The extremes in weather might come as a shock to many relocating here. Winters are very cold, and there’s no shortage of tornadoes and floods. Moreover, it’s relatively isolated, with the nearest big cities — Omaha, Neb., and Minneapolis — an hour-and-a-half and three hours away, respectively. Plan on bringing your car; there’s not a lot of public transportation.

Population: 547,911
Affordability index: 2.70
Unemployment: 5.5
Job growth: -1.43%
Median home price*: $150,100
Home price appreciation**: -0.57%
Cost of living index: 85.4
Median household income: $55,545
Commute time (mins.): 21.6
% commutes greater than an hour: 2.63%

*All median home prices Q2 2009

**All home price appreciation numbers cover Q2 2008 to Q2 2009

Operation Downtown is conducting a survey to assess employees’ perceptions of downtown Des Moines. It only takes a few minutes and the feedback provides invaluable information to Operation Downtown; critical to employee retention and attraction, as well as recruiting new development to downtown.

Please click on the link below to share your opinions.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Lyg2q8buVnqoy2wB2a_2fUnw_3d_3d

For questions, please contact Amy Lego at alego@downtowndesmoines.com or 286-4962.