East Village Square

Click "IN THE NEWS" to read about the East Village Square Development project in the press.

Historically, the East Village has encompassed the "government section" of the Capitol City - Locust Street, extending east from the State Capitol building, and west to the center of city governement - City Hall.

The East Village was developed in small parcels, resulting in a series of different buildings each with its own characteristics. Each has its own unique identity within the fabric, yet many share a number of common features: they relate strongly to the activity of the street; many are classically proportioned; they offer venues that serve to activate the street; they are mixed use buildings with retail, residential, and offices. Much of the fabric has been lost, but enough remains for us to learn the lessons of how to develop urban buildings that relate to the people and the street.

The Neighborhood Investment Corporation is a non-profit neighborhood housing and community resources corporation. Responding to a RFP from the City of Des Moines in August 2003, the NIC hired the Hatch Development Group to develop their premier urban housing project in the city. The East Village Sqaure development project is a mixed income (market rate and affordable housing) urban housing project. The date for final financing and construction will be in the summer of 2005, with completion expected in the late fall of 2006.

The East Village Square Development proposes a five story mixed income apartment building (the East Village Square Apartments) fronting Grand Avenue and East 4th Street.

Reinforcing the relationship to the streets, a complementary streetscape would be developed along East 4th and Grand Ave. The building is based on the classical proportions of base, middle, and cornice. Live/work lofts will occupy the base, while the second to fifth floors will be occupied by residential; this will support an articulated cornice that projects beyond the façade. A twenty-five foot building module is employed to recall the pattern of historic development while mediating the pedestrian scale.

The development teams consists of:

Development consultants

The Hatch Development Group has been engaged by the Neighborhood Investment Corporation to provide the development and financial consulting services necessary for the development and financing of the East Village Square Development.

Architect

W.A. Architecture is the projects' architect. Bill Anderson has many years of experience in planning. The cornerstone project for downtown re-development - Gateway West and Gateway East and his associate, Brad Rippey, brings a thorough knowledge of urban design to the project.

Designer

Sonja Roberts, FIDA, owner of Business Design 1 brings experience in urban interior design to the project. She just completed the interiors to the Woodland Avenue Brickstone project. She is also co-developer with her husband, Jack Hatch, of the Alchemilla.

Contractors

The general contractors will be the Wertz Company and Koester Construction Company. Both bring specific skills and talents to the project that represents the best of Iowa construction. As in the Woodland Avenue Brickstone, we plan to subcontract to contractors who are signatories to the Building Trades union contracts, to ensure the highest quality in workmanship.

For more information, click here (Adobe Acrobat file format). Click on images below to see larger versions of East Village Square Apartment photos.