Nonprofit developer enters for-sale townhouse market with Sherman Hill plan
KENT DARR Sep 8, 2016 | 8:42 pm
2 min read time
386 wordsAll Latest News, Business Record Insider, Real Estate and DevelopmentNeighborhood Development Corp., the nonprofit organization that places housing and commercial projects in areas of Polk County that other developers have found challenging, is planning its first for-sale townhome project, in Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood.
Last week, NDC paid $675,000 to KLM International, also known as Kenney Linhart Ministries Inc., for the organization’s local headquarters building at 851 19th St. That site will be cleared.
NDC Executive Director Glenn Lyons said his organization is in the early stages of planning for an urban townhouse project of possibly 22 three-story units. However, he cautioned that “not a lot of design” work has been completed to date. Plans could change.
One thing that the organization is focused on is selling the units after they are completed, following the lead of Hubbell Realty Co. in the for-sale urban housing market, Lyons said.
“As long as I have been here, I have been promoting urban townhousing,” he said. Lyons joined the organization, which receives part of its funding from the city of Des Moines, in October 2014 after serving as executive director of the Downtown Community Alliance.
Lyons and Abbey Gilroy, who is director of real estate development, have set NDC on an aggressive path in recent years.
The organization led developers south of the Raccoon River with its Madison Flats project, which was later to sold to an entity managed by Knapp Properties, and was the original developer of what is now called Jackson Crossing, which will be the downtown area’s largest apartment development when it opens. The first units will be available in November. The project is now controlled by developer Jake Christensen and businessman Jim Cownie.
Madison Flats and Jackson Crossing face each other across Indianola Avenue, just south of Principal Park.
NDC also has finished a residential project on Southwest NInth Street and is beginning a 4,500-square-foot commercial project at 2619 S.W. Ninth. In addition, demolition has started at 3201 Forest Ave., where the organization plans two-story, stacked townhouses with a total of 50 units.
Lyons said the organization, which also has a board made up of community business leaders, is trying to take on two projects a year, as opposed to an earlier model that amounted to about one project every other year.
Work on the Sherman Hills townhouses could begin in the spring.
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