INSIDER: Principal to take on Seventh and Grand parking ramp; Nelson to move luxury high-rise project across street
KENT DARR Jan 8, 2016 | 6:25 pm
3 min read time
773 wordsAll Latest News, Business Record Insider, Real Estate and Development
Principal Financial Group Inc. will take over the ownership and development of a parking ramp at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and Grand Avenue, lifting a $30 million development project from the city of Des Moines’ financial shoulders and returning the property to tax rolls.
Maybe you have followed the saga of the Seventh and Grand ramp that until recently spanned Seventh on the north side of Grand. Maybe you haven’t. It’s about as interesting a story as you can get out of a parking structure.
The current news is that the City Council will get a look Monday at a preliminary agreement that has Principal paying the city $2.4 million for the northwest corner of Seventh and Grand and covering the city’s cost of employing Substance Architecture for consulting services and design work for a six-story ramp that was to be topped by a luxury high-rise apartment building. The costs are estimated at $1 million.
That project was the second iteration of plans to redevelop the site. It also had Nelson Construction & Development building the high-rise and two architecture firms figuring out how to seamlessly blend the exterior of the ramp into the exterior of the apartment building.
The plan also had a time-hogging hitch. Once the ramp was constructed under a time frame that couldn’t happen soon enough to suit Principal’s needs — the city’s gargantuan employer needs the spaces the new ramp would provide and the skywalk connection it would restore to the Principal campus, which is undergoing a $250 million renovation — a crane would rise from the center to allow construction of the apartment building.
“This property not only connects our entire campus, but also connects other downtown businesses to the skywalk system,” A Principal spokeswoman said in an email. “The timing of the parking ramp development was critical to the re-establishing of those connections between our global headquarters building (at 711 High St.) and other downtown businesses. We stepped forward so the timing would align with the skywalk connectivity goals of both The Principal and the community.”
Safety officials wouldn’t clear use of the ramp with a crane slinging steel overhead. Opening of skywalk connections could have been delayed one to five years.
Assistant City Manager Matt Anderson said the solution appears to be to have Principal complete the ramp. Across the street at the northeast corner of Seventh and Grand, Nelson will construct an eight- to 12-story luxury high-rise apartment building with retail on the first floor and, possibly, space for offices and a parking component.
Plans for the high-rise are very much up in the air.
Nelson’s original development partner and architect for the structure first proposed to top the parking ramp was Exeter Group out of St. Paul. Exeter will not be part of the new project, said Alexander Grgurich, a development analyst for Nelson.
“We are excited to work on transforming the whole corridor along Grand with this new collaborative plan that replaces the transformation of just one block,” Grgurich said in an email.
Anderson and Grgurich said the new plan will bring some residential density and activity to the area at a faster pace than would have occurred under the previous development scheme, which would have left the city with a vacant lot on the east side of Seventh.
“This is going to help fulfill the vision of channeling the energy and success of the core of downtown Des Moines around the corner, west, along Grand,” Grgurich said.
Nelson also plans to work with the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines on a landscaping project for a courtyard that will border the Catholic Pastoral Center at 601 Grand Ave. and the new apartment building.
Anderson said the city plans to give Nelson the property for the high-rise — a section of the parking ramp still stands on the spot — along with a $1 million forgivable loan to cover its development costs to date. In addition, an economic development package of at least an additional $2 million is under consideration.
The city also will be responsible for construction of a skywalk across Seventh, he said.
“Eliminating the air rights development and jointly developing the two blocks greatly accelerates the construction timeline, provides certainty for skywalk connectivity and quickly puts both sites back on the tax rolls,” Anderson said.
The parking ramp alone should generate $250,000 in taxes.
Anderson noted that the ramp and skywalk provide important connections to the nearby Ruan tower and the Des Moines Marriott Downtown, as well as to the Principal campus.
Air rights considerations will not be a part of the Principal proposal.
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