DES MOINES, IOWA - Looking at a property swap in downtown Des Moines from a birds-eye view shows why the deal would be good for both of the players.
Younkers site
EMC Insurance has a dominant downtown campus in Des Moines, but as the satellite map shows, the Younkers site would connect directly to the EMC campus, just across the street from other EMC buildings.
Blackbird owned the Younkers site and was planning to build a high rise apartment building on the Younkers site, with construction work expected to start this spring.
Kaleidoscope site
EMC owned the Kaleidoscope site, two blocks east of its main downtown office complex.
For Blackbird, which was planning to build a 340 unit downtown apartment high-rise on the Younkers site, the possibility of putting that development closer to the new Hy-Vee grocery store and numerous restaurants and bars would be attractive. Blackbird has not yet revealed if that is, indeed, the plan.
It would be a quick two-block walk from the Kaleidoscope site to Hy-Vee, compared to four blocks from the Younkers site. With other downtown living development, the Kaleidoscope site would make a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood. The Younkers site would put those walking from their apartments to Hy-Vee in a canyon of office high-rises that would be empty most evenings and weekends.