When you set out to buy a building, you usually look for something with four walls and a roof. But not always.

Steve Logsdon paid $50,000 for the remnants of a building that was constructed in 1880, eventually became a pool hall and then sat empty for 15 years. All he wanted was the East Village address (420 E. Locust St.) and the distinctively aged brick walls. The rest of his new property was more liability than asset: a rotting roof, a buckled floor and a front entrance just perfect for scaring customers away.

Undaunted, he’s in the process of putting $500,000 into its renovation and planning to open it as his third downtown restaurant (plus a pizzeria) by the end of summer. The city of Des Moines provided a small pre-development loan to help with feasibility studies; eventually the project might qualify for the city’s Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization Loan Program.

Originally two stories, the building was virtually decapitated at some point. A previous owner had torn off most of the second story and turned the floor into a roof. Not a good roof, though. “We fell through a couple of times,” Logsdon said.

With no usable plumbing, heating or wiring in place, workers started nearly from scratch inside the dilapidated structure and are still rebuilding the first story. Logsdon plans to add a second level later that will become his residence. “We’ve had good luck working with the city,” he said. “We got their cooperation with the commitment to finish the second story; without that, it would look like a chipped tooth in this row of old buildings.”

The planned three-story Soho Lofts housing and retail building will sit immediately west of Logsdon’s restaurant. Only a few inches separate his building from the Betts Hardware building, so demolition at that site was delayed until workers stabilize the west wall of the restaurant.

Logsdon hopes the Soho Lofts and other planned East Village development will help support his ventures. Opening his Basil Prosperi bakery and restaurant a half-block away at 407 E. Fifth St. was “a little premature,” he said. As an East Village pioneer, Logsdon figures he just needs to hang on until the area has enough residents and visitors to keep his restaurants busy.

Logsdon also operates Basil’s in the busy 801 Grand building and a pizzeria in the Partnership Building at 700 Locust St. His nephew, Andy Logsdon, plays a role in both of those businesses. The restaurants’ names honor his grandfather, Basil Prosperi, who was born in Italy and lived in Des Moines.

Logsdon, 40, grew up here and earned a degree in art history at Drake University. Next he studied artisan baking at the National Baking Center in Minneapolis and in the mid-1990s he opened the original Basil’s in the Partnership Building.

Architect Kirk Blunck is working with Logsdon to turn the 420 E. Locust location into a warm environment with used wood flooring, an open kitchen along the west wall and tables along the east wall. Diners and cooks will get a good look at each other because the space is only 20 feet wide. The back end will house a cheese cove – a humidor built to store cheese at 55°.

Not that he’s trying to build a dining empire, but Logsdon is toying with one more restaurant idea. “If everything goes planned, I’d like to open a Hispanic version of Basil’s,” he said. Where? “I think the area around Drake is ready to take off.”