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Two investors plan to convert an approximately 125-year-old single-family dwelling in the newly formed Market District into a locally owned and operated restaurant.

Nicholas Ritz, president of 400 S.E. 6th Inc., and business partner Brian Tigner hope to open a eating and drinking establishment on the southwest corner of Southeast Sixth Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

Of course, that corner currently doesn’t exist, because MLK doesn’t yet intersect with Southeast Sixth Street. But that will change this fall as the Southeast Connector project, which will eventually extend east to the Iowa Highway 5 bypass, punches through.

Des Moines city planners envision a bold transformation of the Market District, a 45-block area east of the Des Moines River and south of Court Avenue that is expected to include the development of housing and retail space along key traffic corridors such as Southeast Sixth.

Ritz and Tigner’s plan for the restaurant represents one of the first requests to rezone a property to a commercial use from an industrial use in the heavily industrial area since the Market District Urban Design Study was presented in May to the Des Moines City Council.

The study area was originally dubbed the Lower East Village.

If passed, the resolution to rezone 400 S.E. Sixth St. to a C-3 Central Business District Commercial use from an M-1 Light Industrial District use will remove requirements for minimum off-street parking and minimum building setbacks to better accommodate Ritz and Tigner’s needs.

This spring, the Plan and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended that the City Council approve the change, noting that the proposed use is in conformance with Des Moines’ 2020 Character Plan.

“We see that area as conforming into kind of an extension of the East Village,” said city planner Jason Van Essen. The neighborhood is home to a recycling center, a scrap yard and about six square blocks of city-owned public works facilities.

The long-term vision includes the adaptive reuse of existing buildings into retail- and service-oriented commercial properties, such as a boutique hotel and entertainment venues.

“We’re playing with a couple different styles right now,” Tigner said of the restaurant he and Ritz would like to open, noting that their fundamental concept may be comparable to bistros such as Skip’s on Fleur Drive, El Patio Mexican Restaurant in the Ingersoll Avenue neighborhood or Café di Scala in Sherman Hill.

Those styles “would probably be a good mesh at this point,” he said, noting that the restaurant will likely have a pub and grill atmosphere that won’t be quite as “upscale” as Café di Scala.

Tigner’s wife, Tanya, and Ritz will manage the establishment.

400 6th St. Inc., which is purchasing the property on contract from Anthony Schubert, has already begun renovating and plans to begin building out the 1,485-square-foot structure in earnest once a site plan is approved.

“My impression is that they are raring to go,” Van Essen said.

The company is working with Steven Oberbroeckling, president of Oberbroeckling & Associates P.C., the project architect, to develop floor plans and sketch out the exterior design of building.

City documents show that 400 6th St. Inc. obtained a building permit to repair the dwelling’s front and rear porches, and it has plans to add on to the building’s west side. It also plans to install a grease interceptor.

Tigner said the estimated project cost is still being determined.

City records also show that 400 S.E. 6th Inc. had previously submitted an application to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a conditional use permit for a tavern. But after the staff advised the company of “the city’s general aversion to new zoning that allows free-standing taverns or nightclubs,” the applicant said it intends to operate a restaurant with a liquor license on the property rather than a tavern or nightclub.

“During that time, they decided they would operate as a restaurant,” Van Essen said.

Tigner said the company never intended to open a nightclub.

“If you saw the structure that we are working with, that would be ridiculous,” he said, referring to the building’s size. “Our intentions were to implement a very nice menu with a big presence in the food department,” he said, adding that less than 50 percent of restaurant’s revenues will come from alcohol sales.

At least two properties in Market District are currently zoned with a restaurant/tavern use, according to the Polk County assessor’s website: 112 S.E. Fourth St., which houses The Garden Nightclub, and 419 E. Court Ave., the site of AJ’s on East Court.

The City Council has set July 28 as the date of a public hearing on the rezoning request. Second and third hearings are normally required to pass an ordinance change, Van Essen said, but the council could vote to waive the last two.