An important early chapter in downtown housing will be written over the next 12 months, as several Des Moines projects begin to open their doors and find out how many tenants want to walk in. Here’s the latest on a few of those efforts.

At the 12-story Liberty Building, 418 Sixth Ave., project manager Jake Christensen of KC Holdings VIII expects three model units to be ready for would-be buyers to examine by the end of the year. He said condo units on the 10th and 11th floors will be available for occupancy in February.

The health club, which will occupy the first and second floors, is scheduled for completion by the end of March.

The 46 condo units being constructed in the building are priced between $177,000 and $500,000, and Christensen said 15 buyers have made a commitment. He said he expects the sales process to last up to two more years.

Renovation of the former Harger-Blish Building at 112 11th St. into the Mulberry Lofts is about half complete, according to developer Dick Sontgerath of Heritage Affordable Housing in Seattle. He said buyers have reserved 21 of the 48 condo units and can expect to move in by June 1. The units are priced between $100,000 and $300,000.

A block to the east of Sontgerath’s project, Ed Massman’s rehab of two former commercial buildings into the Tenth Street Lofts was completed this year. Together, the buildings 110 and 112 Tenth St. have 92 apartments; manager Sunny Dainty-Dixon said just six remain vacant.

Demolition work is complete in the Whiteline Lofts project at 120 S.W. Fifth St., and now construction workers are adding two floors to the former six-story warehouse. When complete, the building will be clad in glass and contain condo units ranging in size from 700 to more than 2,000 square feet.

Demolition continues at 111 City Lofts, the former Look magazine building at the corner of 10th and Mulberry streets.

Not all of the downtown housing projects involve renovation of existing buildings. A good deal of new construction is under way or scheduled for 2006.

The East Village Square Apartments are steadily rising as new construction on E. Fourth Street between Grand and Locust.

Jack Hatch, speaking for Hatch Development Group and Neighborhood Investment Corp., said the project is on schedule for Oct. 1 occupancy. “We’ll probably be getting the lease-up program ready by June 1,” he said, adding that four artists are on a waiting list for the live/work lofts that will occupy the ground floor.

“We’ll be targeting artists and the creative class,” Hatch said. “We’re involved with their coalitions, and we’re going to start sending our management staff to their meetings in the spring.”

One residential development has yet to advance beyond the hole-in-the-ground stage, but construction is slated to start in March. Metro Lofts is the next Des Moines project for Sherman Associates of Minneapolis, and will stand at 100 Second St., directly west of that company’s successful Waterstreet Brownstones/Vine Street Lofts development.

At the west end of downtown, developer Nicholas Preftakes of Oklahoma City is waiting for warmer spring weather to begin the foundation work for Gateway Lofts, a three-story apartment building, on the former site of the Meadow Gold dairy plant, 1719 Grand Ave.

He’s still in the planning stages for the building at 1912 Grand Ave. that he purchased from Meredith Corp. The onetime home of Wallace’s Farmer magazine eventually will be converted into about 100 condo units.

Hubbell Realty Co. has both renovation and new construction on its 2006 schedule downtown. Construction is nearing completion on the Hubbell Tower Apartments at 904 Walnut St., and leasing is well under way, according to spokeswoman Rachel Flint. The 10-story building was constructed in 1913; floors two through 10 are being converted into 73 affordable-housing apartments that range from 600 to 750 square feet.

On Court Avenue, lead paint removal is proceeding in the upper stories of the Spaghetti Works building. General construction is scheduled to start in January, and apartments are expected to be available next December.

Plans are under review for two new buildings Hubbell will construct west of the Spaghetti Works on Fourth Street that will include retail, condo units and apartments. Flint said the developer expects to submit a proposal to the Urban Design Review Board in mid-January. “We plan to remove contaminated soil from the site in March, break ground on the new buildings mid-summer and complete the project in late fall 2007,” Flint said.

Drawings for Hubbell’s proposed Brownstones on Grand project are being reviewed by the city, and landscape designs were to be submitted to the Plan and Zoning Commission last week. “We expect to break ground as soon as weather allows,” Flint said. “The first phase of construction should start in April, with first-phase units available in October 2006.”