Work to begin on converting former Fort Des Moines barracks into apartments
KENT DARR Oct 12, 2016 | 3:38 pm
2 min read time
392 wordsAll Latest News, Real Estate and Development
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned this afternoon for the $41 million historic restoration of Fort Des Moines, a project that was delayed as two state agencies worked kinks out of a program designed to foster such projects.
Blackbird Investments plans to rehabilitate 10 long-abandoned military barracks into 142 units of income-restricted housing.
Among other things, the project will use a geothermal system and the apartments will have high ceilings and 6-foot, 5-inch windows. Thirteen acres of green space and trail systems will connect to the Blank Park Zoo and golf course, the Des Moines Area Community College campus at Southridge Mall, the Fort Des Moines Museum and the Fort Des Moines Conservation Park.
This is a project first submitted for City Council approval in 2013. Snags in the state program for awarding and distributing state historic tax credits prolonged the launch of the project.
Earlier this year, Blackbird partner Justin Doyle said the project could not go forward without the tax credits, which are part of a complex financing package that also includes $18 million in federal low-income tax credits and an estimated $2 million in tax increment financing. The project ultimately was approved for $8.2 million in historic tax credits.
In an effort to avoid other delays in awarding state historic tax credits, the program has since been placed under the control of the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. Read more 
Blackbird partners Doyle and Hugh O’Hagan emphasized the importance of developers negotiating the sometimes difficult tax credit terrain in order to bring more affordable housing to the Greater Des Moines market. Blackbird itself is expected to push for high rents at its 701 Walnut residential tower project at the site of the former Younkers building in downtown Des Moines.
On Monday, the City Council approved preliminary terms of a development agreement for the first residential project in the Market District, a project that will include both market-rate and income-restricted units.
Weitz Co. is the general contractor on the project, which will generate an estimated 400 construction jobs by the time the project is completed in late 2017. The Fort Des Moines barracks were among the first projects built by the company more than 100 years ago.
The project is billed as the largest investment in the city’s south side in 20 years.
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