The Des Moines City Council wants a price tag placed on blue sky above the Seventh and Grand parking ramp before the city issues a development agreement for the space.

Assistant City Manager Matt Anderson discussed an outline with the council today for a request for proposals for development ideas for air space above the reconstructed parking ramp.

The city has stepped away from one development proposal because of an approaching deadline to rebuild the parking garage under a timeline dictated by the nearly $250 million renovation of the Principal Financial Group Inc. campus.

Anderson is hoping to have the request for proposals, which he called the “air rights RFP,” ready for distribution Friday to developers, brokers, builders, real estate attorneys, and virtually anyone with an interest in the immediate or future development of what City Councilman Chris Coleman said was a “huge asset” – in other words, the blue sky above the parking ramp.

There is little question that at some point that blue sky will catch a developer’s eye. For that reason, Substance Architecture is under contract to design the $22 million ramp reconstruction, with a charge to anticipate future development above the ramp. 

The problem is that an office tower would have different structural requirements than an apartment building.

One possible solution to that problem comes with a costly catch. Creating a ramp that has the structural elements in place to accommodate any variety of future development will add about $1 million to the cost.

Anderson told the council he wanted to issue a fairly wide-open request for proposals, one that would anticipate future uses without applying a detailed design.

The idea is to give developers enough leeway to react to market demands.

As conceived, the request for proposals would waive the fee for air rights, and, because the ramp would be in place, there would be no costs for land, site preparation, skywalk construction, streetscapes and stormwater management.

Anderson said he wanted to provide some development incentives without relying on tax increment financing.

“There is a possibility we will get no responses,” Anderson said. “This is an unorthodox proposal.”

Coleman said he thought the planned request for proposals was “skewed too much on the side of developers.”

Anderson pointed out he is initially looking for ideas because of a tight timeline to finish the design for the ramp and start construction.

The city hopes to have the structural elements of the parking ramp completed in late 2016 to accommodate Principal’s skywalk connection over High Street. The entire ramp project should be completed during the second half of 2017 to coincide with the completion of Principal’s renovation project.

“Why not sit on this and wait?” Coleman said.

City Manager Scott Sanders suggested that potential developers could place a deposit to hold the air rights.

Coleman said he was concerned that the city would give up its air rights for a “nominal” deposit. He pointed out that other developers have provided some financial backbone for projects that have received city development incentives.

If the developers don’t shoulder some of the risk, “they don’t have an incentive to make it succeed,” he said.