The Historic Fort Des Moines was the first place in the USA African American men could be trained as officers in the military and during World War 2, the first place women could train for the auxiliary army corps, but this previously vacant building is now historically renovated for a new purpose.
Check out the video of Historic Fort Des Moines
The original Fort Des Moines was designed as barracks and were built between 1903 and 1910. The buildings also served as housing for veterans returning from World War II, and their final use was as a major induction site in Iowa during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Hugh O'Hagan, a partner at Blackbird Investments, joined us in studio to discuss their newly completed renovation of Historic For Des Moines on Des Moines south side. The building is rich in history but sadly has been vacant for many years, until now.
O'Hagan told us the historic renovation converted four former barracks and two horse stables into 142 apartments with 80 one-bedroom units and 62 two-bedroom units with 10.5 foot ceilings and massive 6.5 foot tall windows! These beautiful apartments will house lower income Iowans and are already over 80% full.
Each apartment has the essentials like a dishwasher, microwave, ceiling fan, washers and/ dryers, and window coverings, but the units also have central geothermal heating and cooling. Each apartment also has the original hardwood floors and high-quality masonry. The masonry had to match the original masonry work, making this project a huge undertaking.
Purchasing the Fort Des Moines in 2014, Blackbird received a $11.2 million in low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), $8.7 million in state historic tax credit (HTC), and $6 million in federal (HTC) to help fund the project.
Construction and historic preservation began in July of 2017 and officially finished September 2018 by Weitz Construction, who it turns out originally built the Fort structures to begin with more than 100 years ago.