Developer Norman Weinstein plans to break ground for a 20,000-square-foot retail building on the northeast corner of East 14th Street and Euclid Avenue Wednesday morning, a moment that will mark the end of a long waiting game in Northeast Des Moines. Whether it signals the start of a true retail boom for the neighborhood depends on the outcome of Weinstein’s continuing hunt for tenants.

Eastgate Plaza, now renamed “The Shops at Eastgate” by the Florida-based Weinstein, has stagnated while retail exploded to the north in Ankeny, and, more modestly, to the east in Altoona. Wal-Mart Co. toyed with the idea of building on the 50-plus-acre site, but couldn’t reach an agreement and withdrew.

Rather than wait to sign up another company to serve as the all-important anchor, Weinstein decided to plunge ahead with a strip mall-style building facing East 14th. He sees it as the first step toward 250,000 square feet of retail space.

Weinstein, who also owns the Bell Avenue Business Center, bought the site in 1999 from three separate owners. “It seemed like an interesting project to do,” he said. “It’s a really great corner, with about 50,000 cars going through that intersection daily, and I liked the demographics. It’s a very strong middle class working community, and Northeast Des Moines seemed understored and underdeveloped compared to the rest of the city.”

According to Weinstein, Wal-Mart considered the site before building in Ankeny. “Then they came along again and said ‘our store in Ankeny is overflowing, and we find a lot of our customers are coming from Northeast Des Moines,’” he said. “Well, just look at the area around Eastgate; there are a zillion rooftops. It’s about time they got their own retail.”

His research shows about 71,000 people living within three miles of the site, and an average household income of $46,000.

Two current Eastgate businesses, a Subway restaurant and Tires Plus, will become tenants in the site’s first new building. Five 800-square-foot bays and five 1,600-square-foot bays have yet to be leased, according to John Knapp of Knapp Properties Inc.

Phase Two will be the anchor store that Knapp and Weinstein are still seeking. Phase Three is expected to be a 7,000 to 8,000-square-foot building on the corner that would likely house a bank and three other tenants, Knapp said.

If things go as planned, Phase Four would be a building of more than 100,000 square feet at the east end of the property.

Although two supermarkets are located relatively near to the site, Weinstein said he believes the development eventually will include a grocery store.

Weinstein said previous development efforts went nowhere because “it has been viewed as a secondary location. Retailers are now starting to focus on it because they have developed all the primary locations.

“It was very difficult to find an anchor because those retailers were looking west to where people are driving Porsches and BMWs, and looking down their noses at people who drive Chevys and Pontiacs. They were looking at where they considered the new neighborhoods, the areas catering to the upwardly mobile.”

Weinstein said he doesn’t specialize in middle-class projects, having just completed “a high-end condo project on the water in Fort Lauderdale.” “I just like to do interesting projects,” he said.

Knapp said he hopes to place a video store in the first building, along with a sit-down restaurant that could take advantage of a courtyard at the south end.

Bob Mahaffey, who represents the area on the Des Moines City Council, said, “The city and Polk County certainly are willing to help with an anchor store, although there are limited amounts of dollars.” He said assistance would probably be in the form of property tax abatement. “We’re looking at two or three types of tax abatement,” he said.

Mahaffey said, “The neighborhood would like to see a department store of some type there, and there are a variety of those out there. The developers have talked to some of them; some have turned them down, and others are showing some interest.”