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:

Date of Sale	Property Address	Sales Price	Condo Building
11-05-2009	119 4th Street #301	$324,000	4th & Court Condominiums
11-03-2009	300 Walnut Street #609	$100,000	The Plaza
09-29-2009	111 10th Street #318	$377,530	111 City Lofts
09-24-2009	300 Walnut Street #311	$100,000	The Plaza
09-18-2009	300 Walnut Street #2005	$133,000	The Plaza
08-26-2009	300 Walnut Street #1101	$130,000	The Plaza
08-10-2009	300 Walnut Street #1004	$109,900	The Plaza
08-06-2009	119 4th Street #105	$224,900	4th & Court Condominiums
08-03-2009	119 4th Street #202	$173,000	4th & Court Condominiums
08-01-2009	300 Walnut Street #1303	$200,000	The Plaza
07-31-2009	300 Walnut Street #2109	$360,000	The Plaza
07-30-2009	119 4th Street #104	$190,400	4th & Court Condominiums
07-17-2009	300 Walnut Street #1108	$178,000	The Plaza
06-26-2009	119 4th Street #503	$238,630	4th & Court Condominiums
06-09-2009	201 Grand Avenue #201	$325,000	Brownstones on Grand
05-28-2009	300 Walnut Street #1408	$246,500	The Plaza
05-28-2009	309 E 5th Street #505	$349,000	e5w
05-22-2009	119 4th Street #109	$198,900	4th & Court Condominiums
05-14-2009	120 SW 5th Street #306	$174,900	Whiteline Lofts
05-14-2009	120 SW 5th Street #203	$189,900	Whiteline Lofts
05-14-2009	120 SW 5th Street #208	$189,900	Whiteline Lofts
04-10-2009	300 Walnut Street #2303	$285,000	The Plaza
04-09-2009	300 Walnut Street #1101	$135,000	The Plaza
03-27-2009	119 4th Street #106	$176,500	4th & Court Condominiums
03-27-2009	119 4th Street #205	$212,000	4th & Court Condominiums
02-26-2009	119 4th Street #108	$182,000	4th & Court Condominiums
02-26-2009	119 4th Street #201	$225,900	4th & Court Condominiums
02-24-2009	112 11th Street #503	$166,860	Mulberry Lofts
02-16-2009	100 Water Street #404	$232,000	Water Street Brownstones
02-05-2009	300 Walnut Street #706	$103,500	The Plaza
01-02-2009	112 11th Street #605	$149,200	Mulberry Lofts

Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Condos | Downtown Core | Lofts

Next Tuesday evening, August 4th at Nollen Plaza, your local Downtown Neighborhood Association and the Downtown Community Alliance are hosting the 26th Annual National Night Out event.

This is an excellent opportunity to get out and meet your neighbors, listen to live music and sample some cuisine and services from downtown businesses. Some of this year’s sponsors include: Sbrocco, Splash Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar, Fong’s Pizza, Atelier Hairspace, Dos Rios Cantina & Tequila Lounge, and sandwiches courtesy of the Pork Producers.

I plan on attending and would love to meet some of my regular readers, so come join us.

Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community | Downtown Core | Festival | Neighbors

A recent article on The Big Money, by Jonathan Weber, discusses growth across the country moves away from suburban and exurban fringe and toward center-cities and close-in suburbs.

Here are few excerpts from the article that caught my attention:

What’s behind this shift? Empty-nesters don’t need the big house and don’t want to mow the big lawn. High gas prices are making long commutes less practical. The urban renaissance in big cities…and the revival of charming, vibrant downtowns in small cities…is making the bedroom suburb and the strip mall seem positively dull.

Retailers are the most obviously affected by these trends. For decades, locating a store in a mall on the fringe rather than downtown had a lot of obvious advantages: plenty of easy parking, tons of drive-by traffic from big-box neighbors, and newer buildings with better infrastructure.

These benefits won’t disappear overnight. Over the long run, though, they will diminish in importance, especially if more big retail chains and shopping-mall operators go out of business. Downtown shopping districts, meanwhile, will benefit from increased investment and more proximate residents. If we assume, as many economists do, that the country is “over-retailed,” some downtown development plans based on more shopping will stall, but the center will still prosper relative to the fringe — and more businesses might find the downtown storefront affordable.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Business Opportunities | Downtown Core | Neighborhoods

I moved downtown about a month ago, into the 10^th Street Lofts. Although I work in Urbandale and living downtown means a commute for me, I moved downtown for two reasons:

1. I live with my girlfriend and she works downtown at Wells Fargo. She can now walk to work. Color me jealous. Oh well, at least one of us gets to walk.
2. We found a beautiful loft – concrete floors, one huge room, brick walls, large windows – the type of place I’ve always wanted to live.

I’ve always been fascinated with urban living, despite growing up tossed back and forth between the country and the ‘burbs. I love the idea of hitting the street early in the morning, walking down to a coffeeshop to grab a drink, then strolling through my daily errands. Because I work in Urbandale (despite my attempts to convince my boss we need an office downtown, hint, hint, Boss), I only get to experience this on Saturdays, but that’s enough. A coffee and a stroll through the farmer’s market is a wonderful start to my weekend.

As much as I love downtown living (and have barely experienced the tip of the iceberg), there are a number of things I’d like to see improved to make the core of the city more livable for people like me. Please keep in mind, most of these suggestions are intended for the downtown core.

Longer business hours. This is the number one item on my list, and by far the most important. By the time I get home from work, almost everything downtown is closed except for restaurants and bars. There’s a small bookshop I’d gladly support if it was open by the time I got home, got settled in, and was ready for an evening stroll. But I can’t, because the store isn’t open.

I don’t blame the owner, downtown shopping is plagued by a “chicken-egg” problem – businesses aren’t open past five because no one shops downtown after five.  And no one shops downtown after five because businesses aren’t open. Chicken, meet egg. Egg, chicken.

The only way to break out of this cycle is for businesses to stay open longer, even if it means that they will be slow after hours for a few months. People will come when they hear that businesses are open. It can’t happen the other way around.

Retail variety. Downtown needs more retail stores to make it a viable shopping destination. The biggest problem, aside from complicated parking and business hours, is the lack of stores. Many of the office buildings don’t offer street level retail space – their businesses go all the way down to the street. This is a problem. Entire buildings aren’t going to be rebuilt to solve it, but downtown businesses need to do a better job of opening up their street level floors to retail.

Downtown could also use more exclusive and high profile stores – an Apple store, high end clothiers, specialty mom and pops, and other stores are needed. Of course, these types of stores won’t move in until downtown establishes itself as a shopping location. Better hours, events, lowered rents, and tax breaks are needed to encourage this. If Des Moines is serious about moving retail downtown, the city needs to make retail more attractive through powerful incentives.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Business Hours | Downtown Core | Retail | Suggestions | Technology

One of my favorite things about downtown are the beautiful flowers and plants that Operation Downtown plants every year in the downtown planters that line most of the downtown streets in the Downtown Core Neighborhood. I took this photo right outside the front doors to my building.

Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Downtown Core | Urban Gardens | Weather

Continuing our series on Des Moines Downtown Neighborhoods, today we will take a look at the Downtown Core Neighborhood. Des Moines is currently made up of to six diverse and distinctive urban neighborhoods. Each of the neighborhood’s rough boundaries appear on this map below.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Downtown Core | Neighborhoods

The Plaza

300 Walnut Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Neighborhood: Downtown Core
Website: www.theplazadsm.com

Pricing: $99,500+

Units in Project: 192
Floors in Building: 25

Property Features:
• Built in 1984/1985
• Association dues are based on square footage
• 24-hour gym
• On-site tennis and basketball courts
• On-site sauna, jacuzzi, and tanning 
• Heated roof-top pool
• Community party-room
• Underground parking

The Plaza was one of the first downtown condo offerings and offers the ultimate urban lifestyle conveniently located in the heart of downtown with premier skywalk access. Balconies on most units offer supreme city skyline views, Nollen Plaza Park and its beautiful mature trees, the river, Wells Fargo Arena & much more. The Plaza offers a convenient living style with all the amenities.

The reason this property is being featured right now, is because so far this year, it’s been one of the most sought after downtown condo buildings, just look at the sales results below.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Condos | Downtown Core | Property Spotlight

I grew up in the suburbs of Des Moines, and after too many long drives back to Waukee from a night out, I decided to move downtown. I’ve lived downtown since the fall of 2005, and haven’t regretted it.

While I work clear out on the western side of West Des Moines, I really don’t mind the commute. It’s a reverse commute that takes about 20 minutes.

Living downtown is awesome because there always seems to be things available to do that aren’t too far away from where I live. There are shops, dining, entertainment, and fitness opportunities available within the downtown area. Having these cultural amenities near me was a big selling point when I chose to live here. While living in the suburbs, everything was really spread out, and the houses were practically the same. I never really met the neighbors, and my car was a necessity to do anything outside of the home. Downtown offers interesting architectural elements and plenty of things to look at while going on a walk, jog, bike ride, or even just looking out the window.

Since moving downtown, I have lived in three neighborhoods: Downtown Core, East Village, and Western Gateway. Downtown Core offered me protection from the elements when I used the Skywalk system to travel around to my destinations. Living in the East Village was a blast, and I felt really connected to the city when I lived above locally owned shops and hung out with the shop owners. So far, living in Western Gateway has offered me quick access to Gray’s Lake, the public library, and Western Gateway Park. While each neighborhood has its own unique features and charm, they unite as downtown. Kinda weird but at times, I feel that downtown is a city within a city. Within this city I can find most of what I need on a day-to-day basis, and that’s why I live downtown.

Posted under Living Downtown, Moving Downtown
Tags: Downtown Core | East Village | Western Gateway