Blackbird Investments is considering plans for a second building that would be built alongside a 33-story mixed-use tower it plans for the northwest corner of Fifth and Walnut streets at what will be the former site of a section of the Kaleidoscope at the Hub.

Few details were discussed about the tower or its companion when the Des Moines City Council met for a workshop this morning. Blackbird is finishing off the details of a land swap in which EMC Insurance Cos. would receive the cleared site of the former Younkers department store at 701 Walnut St. and the relatively young investment and development firm would receive the east end of the Kaleidoscope at 555 Walnut. 

Blackbird currently owns the Younkers site, which it acquired after the building was destroyed by fire in 2014. EMC owns the Kaleidoscope at the Hub, including the Hub Tower. The company plans a $24 million office building at the Younkers site, which is across the street from EMC’s corporate campus.

EMC will deposit $3.5 million in an escrow account managed by the city that will be used to offset some of Blackbird’s costs, including redesign necessary for the new tower location and tenant relocations from the Kaleidoscope. Of that amount, $1 million will be reserved for skywalk connections.

Though details, including a construction date, for EMC’s building are sketchy, Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders has said the city is insisting on a building of at least eight floors.

The company also wants to buy the Eighth and Mulberry street parking ramp from the city. Some stalls at the ramp would continue to be used for transient parking, Deputy City Manager Matt Anderson said.

The City Council will vote this evening on the preliminary terms of a development agreement in which EMC would receive a declining percentage of project-generated tax increment finance revenues over a period of 15 years.

Councilman Chris Coleman signaled what could be a shift in the council’s attitude toward the use of TIF, saying that he could not vote for a package that would go for an EMC office building that was three or four floors. The company completed another expansion earlier this year of a four-story office building at Eighth and Walnut streets.

“This is one of those projects where the incentives should be based on the kind of building we think should go there,” Coleman said.