Kurt Mumm, president of Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial Co.’s West Des Moines office, and Tom Knapp, a Ruhl & Ruhl property manager, have purchased the former Silver Cinema property with plans to renovate the building.

Referring to “demolition costs not usually necessary in an ordinary building,” Des Moines Economic Development Administrator Matt Anderson said the City Council last month approved preliminary terms of a $70,000 economic development grant to assist the developer in repurposing 35,000-square-foot of the building for commercial office/warehouse or retail/warehouse use.

“It’s really tied to the cost of really unusual circumstances of having to demolish those sloped floors” and the removal of soundproofed theater walls, Anderson said. The Silver Cinema space, located at 6000 Aurora Ave., is “completely unrentable until that is remedied,” he added.

Though the property’s land value has continued to rise in the last decade, to $1.48 million from $861,300 in 2000, the assessed value of the 98,000-square-foot building has dropped to $170,000 from $2.38 million in the same period. According to the Polk County assessor’s Web site, 6000 Aurora LLC paid $1.4 million for the property in February.

According to city documents, the building’s condition has essentially halted its ability to command retail rates, but that could be remedied with the new investment. The grant, Anderson said, will help offset the developer’s estimated $700,000 cost of renovation and “help the building appeal more to what the market is asking for.”

“Obviously, getting a tenant in there is going to increase the value of the property,” Mumm said, adding that the demolition is well under way and Hockenbergs Food Service Equipment and Supply Co., an Omaha-based industrial kitchen supplier, intends to begin occupying 25,000 square feet of the remodeled space on Nov. 1.

“It is consistent with the approach we have taken in that area,” which includes the rehabilitation of Merle Hay Mall and “revitalizing functionally obsolete properties” in the Merle Hay Urban Renewal area, Anderson said.

The city is “glad to see them step up and take it over,” he said. “I think in the end it’s going to be a really great addition to the area.”

The council will consider final approval of the grant within two to four weeks, Anderson said.