The design of Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority’s new operations and maintenance facility was approved this week by the city’s Urban Design Review Board. Development of the facility is expected to occur in three phases, with the construction of the first phase beginning in August, information provided to the board shows. The project’s first phase includes a 78,000-square-foot maintenance facility that would cost about $34.8 million to develop. Eventually, the site at 3500 Vandalia Road, will include enclosed space to park DART buses and administrative offices. When fully built, the facility would include about 290,000 square feet of space. The 37.3-acre site is owned by the city of Des Moines. A purchase agreement between the city and DART is expected to be approved yet this spring by the City Council. DART leaders have said it would be more cost efficient to build a new facility rather than renovate the current facility at 1100 DART Way. The facility has flooded twice and the nearly 11-acre site is landlocked, making expansion difficult, officials have said. Once the new facility is fully developed, the current maintenance and operations campus will be sold, the board was told this week.

Related story: DART approves land purchase agreement with the city