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Ancient warehouse could anchor East Village entry

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When Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway jumps across the Des Moines River, perhaps in the next year or two, Mike Kinter and Jeffrey Morgan will be right there waiting. Figuring it’s better to be early than late, the builder and the architect bought a very old warehouse at 118 S.E. Fourth St. and hope to lease the space for offices and specialty retail.

They purchased the 1874 building from the Coppola family for $210,000, and Joe Coppola retains an interest as a minority partner.

“Once MLK comes over the river, its first access to the East Village will be Fourth Street,” said Morgan, a practicing architect in Des Moines since 1983 and owner of Jeffrey Morgan Architecture Studio since 2001. “This sets up nicely as a mixed-use corridor” leading directly to Soho Lofts and the nearly complete East Village Square.

Their building adjoins The Garden nightclub and sits across the street from a city-owned lot used to store street maintenance equipment. Morgan said city officials have said they want to clear the lot and sell it for development.

Morgan and Kinter, who has owned and operated Kinter Construction Services Inc. since 1975, have spent $150,000 to clean and stabilize their two-story brick building.

Fixing the roof required removal of layers of material adding up to 60 tons. That was replaced with insulation and a rubber membrane. Workers have installed new windows matching the old ones in appearance and sandblasted the support columns that go on, row after row, in the vast interior.

The first floor was packed with all kinds of materials, including architectural elements – doors, railings and so forth – when Kinter and Morgan bought the building. They auctioned the architectural salvage last May.

The second floor held 11 automobiles — at some point, the building was home to “a legal chop shop,” Morgan said. It also has housed a window manufacturer and a casket company.

The ground floor and second story contain 34,000 square feet, and the partners have contemplated using the 16,000-square-foot basement, too. They probably would cut an atrium into the middle of the building first, with skylights above to illuminate the building’s interior and basement.

The old structure hasn’t been used as a business location for perhaps 20 years, the owners estimated. Kinter plans to become the building’s first 21st-century occupant by moving his office there after 17 years at East 27th Street and University Avenue.

The next steps depend on who signs on as a tenant and what their space requirements are. “If somebody wanted a large enough portion of the building,” Morgan said, “we would almost build to suit.”

The two men have talked to potential tenants and have been contacted by real estate agents about the space, but no agreements have been reached.

“We’ve been told that we’re a year or two ahead of the city’s planning,” said Morgan, who sits on the Urban Design Review Board and has taken part in planning the revival of the East Village and of Court Avenue.

Kinter said, “We’ll let the building become what it wants to become.”

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