In development
He’s always looking. While construction continues at his landmark project, West Glen, veteran developer Tim Urban is considering various locations in the Des Moines suburbs as sites for the “village center” concept that strikes him as the best way to build right now.
He looked in Ankeny but didn’t find the right situation. Altoona hasn’t panned out, either.
But Urban has no doubt that more retail/residential buildings are in his future. “There could be three or four more projects in the next five years that we could be involved in,” he said.
They’re more likely to resemble the medium-sized Somerfield Village Center at 4800 George M. Mills Civic Parkway than the big blend of retail and residential going up a mile west at West Glen. Somerfield’s 65,000 square feet encompass a free-standing Walgreens drugstore and buildings that house apartments and executive suites as well as a variety of retail outlets, including Urban’s own office.
“A restaurant is an important part of this center, but it came last,” Urban said. “Walgreens was first; it brings people to the site for necessities.”
West Glen was conceived of and designed as a magnet for high-end shoppers although it, too, started with the basics – a SuperTarget store. But Urban said he doesn’t expect many similar developments in the area’s future. “The problem I see with commercial property right now is that too much of it is chasing the high-end purchaser,” he said.
“We’re pushing the limit at West Glen, with leases from $18 to $24 per square foot,” Urban said, “but we’re creating value with ambience. When people pay a million dollars an acre [land prices near Jordan Creek Town Center are at or near that level], the uses for that land are going to be limited to certain restaurants, banks and jewelers.”
Smaller village centers with stores aimed at middle-class customers can be sited almost anywhere, Urban said, but the key is finding a regional retail anchor. “People throughout the Greater Des Moines area have the same desire to shop, but it’s easier to be successful in an area where there’s more money sloshing around,” he said.
Urban has done many projects in Des Moines, and recently his Urban Development Group looked seriously into buying the onetime home of Wallaces Farmer magazine at 1912 Grand Ave. “We thought the price was too high,” Urban said, and last month Meredith Corp. sold the building to Nicholas Preftakes of Oklahoma City.
But Urban, who is a member of the Des Moines Plan and Zoning Commission, seems to have lost his taste for projects within the city after a couple of recent setbacks. In 2001, he lost the battle to save the AIB building on the southwest corner of Tenth Street and Grand Avenue, an experience that he calls “very disappointing.”
He also decided against partnering with Harry Bookey to revitalize the Court Avenue district. “I thought there was a lot of politics involved, and I decided life’s too short,” Urban said. Bookey and Jim Hubbell III are now working on that project.
One obstacle to Des Moines development, he said, is that too many people are given a say when projects are proposed. He cited a Gateway West development meeting at which the owners of surrounding businesses were invited to give their recommendations, and said neighborhood associations have acted as “gatekeepers” in other development efforts.
The resulting plans have been formulaic, Urban said, “because they’re driven by the consensus of the stakeholders. That would never happen in the suburbs. There the process is more laissez faire; it isn’t controlled by the stakeholders who are already there.”
He hopes that his future projects will evolve based on his past experiences and that others will introduce improvements, too. “As more commercial developers buy into new urbanism, they’ll bring their own solutions and ideas into the mix,” Urban said. “There’s no magic bullet; the key is always whether people who live within three miles of the development see it as their village center.”
SECOND OPINIONS
Veteran planner and developer Tim Urban shared some thoughts about downtown projects:
Riverpoint West: Urban contends that the area south of the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway extension can’t be successfully developed if the roadway remains lined with bland metal buildings. Some sort of opening is essential, he said.
The Arlington and Hallett apartments: Saving the building only to isolate it in Gateway West is shortsighted, Urban said. “Some additional residential buildings should be encouraged on the west side of the Arlington” to establish an enclosed service area – and to hide those parts of the building that were never meant to be on display.
Downtown loft projects: “Some will be a success, but not all,” he said. “The goal is admirable, but the city hasn’t focused enough on a specific management program.”