Click on the photo above to hear Paul Hayes, president of JSC Properties, talk about plans for a nearly 2-acre tract at 306 S.E. Fifth St.

The nearly 2-acre site owned by a former scrap processor will likely be used as a parking area for the dozens of workers who will be installing new infrastructure in the Market District redevelopment area as well as constructing new buildings, Paul Hayes, president of JSC Properties, said recently.

“We want to have this initially for parking and a staging area for all the people that will be down here,” Hayes said. “Anybody that wants to start building on their lot, they can come in the same time as we’re working on the infrastructure.”

Developer James Cownie, through his East Village Green LLC, bought the former Scrap Processors’ site two years ago for $2 million. This summer, the scrap business was relocated to 608 S.E. 30th St.

District Developers LLC, a consortium that includes Cownie’s JSC Properties, MidAmerican Energy Co. and other local developers, is proposing a $750 million redevelopment of an area south of the railroad tracks between East Sixth Street and the Des Moines River. The former scrap site at 306 S.E. Fifth St. is part of the redevelopment area. 

The redevelopment, which would occur over 15 years, includes new infrastructure and the construction of an indoor-outdoor event venue, hotel, and apartments and condominiums.
Hayes said there are no immediate plans to redevelop the scrap processing site. “We just need to provide people working here with some parking,” he said.

COMING FRIDAY: Learn more about plans to redevelop an 11-block, 39-acre portion of the Market District area in Friday’s Business Record.