Businessman Jim Cownie could sell the site of a scrap metal operation on the southern fringe of the East Village in Des Moines to the city if development plans do not work out, according to an agreement the City Council will consider when it meets Monday. 

Cownie’s East Village Green LLC plans to buy the site of Scrap Processors, a longtime fixture at 306 S.E. Fifth St. The city has worked for more than a year to find a spot on vacant land near East 30th Street and East Martin Luther King Parkway where Scrap Processors could move its operation and free up two acres of development ground at its Southeast Fifth location. 

Under a contingent purchase agreement, Cownie could sell the property to the city for $2.3 million if a development does not work out at the site by April 1, 2020. The agreement would allow a six-month extension. Under the purchase agreement, Cownie would deliver a site cleared of “existing buildings that are incompatible with … future redevelopment.” 

In addition, the city’s obligation to buy the property would terminate if East Village Green “submits an accepted or approved developer initiated proposal, or is the selected developer for any future request for proposals for any city-owned property” in the Market District of the East Village, a targeted redevelopment area bounded by East Court Avenue on the north, the Des Moines River on the west, East Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway on the south and Southeast 14th Street on the east. In other words, Cownie could not use proceeds from the sale of the property to the city to help finance another project in the Market District.

Paul Hayes, president of Cownie’s JSC Properties, said there are no specific development plans in place for the Southeast Fifth property.

“We see an opportunity to do something there someday,” he said.

Cownie has attempted for two years to buy the site as the city worked with Scrap Processors on that company’s move.

With several East Village projects under his belt or under construction or in planning stages, Cownie has been keen to work in the Market District. He teamed up with the city and MidAmerican Energy Co. on a proposal to locate a new federal courthouse on a roughly 12-acre area between East Second and East Fourth streets just north of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. The city owns about eight acres in that area. 

Among JSC’s current projects is construction of the first heavy timber structure built in Iowa in more than a century. Ryan Cos. US Inc. is leading construction and plans call for setting the first timbers next week. The four-story building is located just north of the City Hall parking garage that was built under an agreement with JSC.