Eychaner Properties has purchased the former Reynolds & Reynolds space in the Plaza building downtown, with Rich Eychaner saying it’s a great location close to many amenities that are making the Central Business District a vibrant place to be.

Eychaner closed on the office space at 300 Walnut St., Suite 200, on Oct. 31. The space had been occupied by USI Insurance Services, which acquired Reynolds & Reynolds in 2021. USI moved out of the space just prior to closing.

Eychaner said he was looking for additional space downtown to acquire, and having lived in the Plaza for 25 years, knew the value of the building and the surrounding neighborhood.

“It’s in the heart of downtown, it’s a trademark location and it’s only had one owner or user for essentially 40 years,” he said of his newly acquired office space.

He cited its proximity to Cowles Commons across the street, the amenities on Fourth Street and Court Avenue, and the Civic Center as some of the things that make the Plaza an attractive place to work.

“It’s a wonderful space with large offices,” Eychaner said. “There are 70 individual offices in the space, so a medium or large law firm or accounting firm or something of that nature would be just wonderful in that space.”

The offices are on two floors, totaling 20,000 square feet — 10,000 per floor.

“It could be divided in half but we’d like to start with a full-floor user or more,” Eychaner said. “It has fabulous views and you can walk in at street level. Not many places downtown can you have office space at the street level or skywalk level or both.”

Eychaner said downtown Des Moines has evolved from what it was 20 or 30 years ago, when it was dominated by large firms. Today, the scale of office space is now more focused on small and medium-sized firms with larger companies such as Wells Fargo and Nationwide downsizing their space, he said.

That, he said, creates a more vibrant area.

“Would you rather have two 10,000-square-foot users or one 20,000-square-foot user?” he said. “If you have two different engines driving the market place, in my mind that’s better.”

He said he always pictured the center of downtown as being Sixth and Locust streets, but now with more residential and activity along the riverfront, he thinks that has shifted to the Cowles Commons area.

The former Reynolds & Reynolds space also offers opportunities for exterior signage, which Eychaner said is limited downtown, and inside has amenities like a mail room, reception areas, and supply rooms. He also said there is ample parking in the area, with easy sidewalk or skywalk access.

“It’s also an area that people are familiar with,” Eychaner said. “They’re comfortable in the area, and there’s not many places where you can get 10,000 square feet and walk out onto something like Cowles Commons and have your lunch in the springtime, summer or fall.

“You have the iconic sculptures, you have kids playing in the fountain. It’s just a wonderful place to be. It’s the kind of thing people are trying to build in the suburbs and we have it right here downtown.”