History is changing over-night, it seems, for manyold downtown Des Moinesbuildings.

Developers are trans-forming decades-old warehouses, officebuildings and other structures into near-ly 500 apartment units, some of whichwill open this summer and fall.

The activity appears to be happeningat once, but it has taken years for ownersto undertake the expensive, exactingprocess of renovating the buildings whilepreserving historical accuracy.

Architect Kirk Blunck has owned theCrane plumbing building since 2000. De-veloper Jack Hatch bought WellsportPortwell Flats15 years ago. Hubbell Real-ty has owned the land under the RocketTransfer warehouse since before it wasbuilt 112 years ago.

All three properties are being renovat-ed, pushed by two forces:

fromOld classicstohip homes

DeveloperstransformingD.M. buildings

LYNN HICKSlhicks@dmreg.com

WELLSPORTPORTWELL FLATSDeveloper Jack Hatch isrenovating the WellsportPortwell Flats, two 1902buildings in Sherman Hill,shown above. Read abouthow he’s giving new lifeto “the twin sisters.”Page 4D

CRANE ARTISTSLOFTSArchitect Kirk Blunck plans tocomplete redevelopment of theCrane building by November.Learn how he hopes to drawcreative types to the 1916 build-ing with affordable lofts, artstudios and galleries. Page 4D

MARY CHIND/REGISTER PHOTOS

MORE ONLINE, INSIDE» Search for other projects in Iowathat have been awarded state historicpreservation tax credits since theprogram began in 2000 at DesMoinesRegister.com/taxcredits.» See a gallery of 19 photos from therenovations of the Crane Artists Loftsand Wellsport Portwell Flats with thisstory at DesMoinesRegister.com.» See a map and information onseven downtown projects. Page 4DSee HOMES, Page 4D

2 PROJECTSDOWNTOWN

N.C. pork producer growing here

Iowa has widened itslead as the top pork pro-ducer, with 11.1 millionmore hogs than No. 2 NorthCarolina.

“I’m the big reason,”said Ron Prestage, whose

North Carolina-based com-pany came to Iowa in 2004and now feeds 1.5 millionhogs annually in 360 con-finements, mostly concen-trated in a 100-mile radiusof Webster City.

Prestage doesn’t keepsows in Iowa. His pigs areborn mostly in Mississippi,Oklahoma and his nativeNorth Carolina. But theyare sent to Iowa for thestate’s prize product, itscorn.

“Corn costs 90 cents perbushel more in North Caro-lina than it does in Iowa af-ter you pay for the ship-ping,” Prestage said.

Another attraction ofIowa: its network of porkprocessing plants aroundthe state.

“That’s the really greatthing about Iowa, you haveso many different choicesof places to sell hogs,”Prestage said.

This winter and spring,

Prestage and his staff havefiled permits to build 40confinements. Many areexpansions of currentunits.

“Our average size isabout 2,500 square feet,and we’re trying to get it upto around 5,000 squarefeet,” said Zach McCullum,a manager at Prestage’sIowa headquarters inAmes. The company em-

Iowa’s corn andprocessing plantsdraw in business.

By DAN PILLERdpiller@dmreg.com

See HOGS, Page 2D

Breaking newson your cell phoneText "DMRNEWS" to 44636 (4INFO)to sign up for breaking news text alerts.

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Page 4D | Sunday, June 10, 2012 Metro Edition | Des Moines Sunday Register

The “twin sisters” hadlived a hard 95 years whenJack Hatch and Sonja Rob-erts bought the WellsportPortwell Flats in 1997.

The three-story renais-sance classic buildings’grand, 18-foot-high col-umns and porticos had fall-en long before. The draftyapartments were plaguedwith sewer problems,roaches and drug-abusingtenants. Their past includ-ed a murder-suicide in1993, among other crimes.

Evictions and repairswent only so far.

“We improved it, but notenough to ask for morerent,” Hatch said.

The couple contemplat-ed selling the buildings.But about four years agothey decided to seek histor-ic tax credits to restore the

former beauties, nick-named the “twin sisters”for their identical layouts.

“We knew we couldn’tdo it without tax credits,”Hatch said.

Nearly 54 percent of the$1.94 million constructioncost has been financed

through state and federalhistoric tax credits, ac-cording to documentsHatch provided. But it’shardly easy money.

To get the federal taxcredits, developers mustpass rigorous NationalPark Service guidelines.Hatch’s team worked formonths to get approval forits plan to restore the build-ings’ windows, all of whichhad ropes and weights. Inthe end, they rebuilt almostall of the original 120 win-dows; only about nine or 10had to be replaced, Hatchsaid.

“Anything you do wrongcan jeopardize the entireproject,” he said.

Workers are restoringthe quartersawn oak floor-ing and doors, millingframework to originalspecifications and return-ing the units to their origi-nal size. (Hatch has theoriginal plans from legend-ary Proudfoot and Bird Ar-chitects.) Des Moines con-tractor Pacesetter is doingthe work.

If all goes as planned,

the Wellsport (the buildingfacing Woodland) will openAug. 1, and the Portwell onSept. 15.

Hatch plans to rent the1,200-square-foot, two-bed-room units for $1,400 to$1,600 per month. Beforerenovation, rents were$500 for a one bedroom and$700 for a two bedroom.

Sherman Hill sufferedafter Interstate 235 dis-placed neighbors to thenorth in the late 1960s, andcrime soared. Landlordscut up grand old buildings.Their once-spacious 13apartments — with maid’squarters — were dividedinto 20 cramped units.

Hatch moved into theneighborhood in 1980 andhas played a role in its ren-aissance.

His company built theWoodland Avenue Brick-stones in 2003, one of thefirst apartments builtdowntown in a decade.

“We don’t just do this tomake money, we do this tomake a contribution to theneighborhood,” he said.

— Lynn Hicks

‘Twin sisters’ returning to former gloryApartmentbuildingsshould reopenby Sept. 15

Charles Luna uses Bondo to restore window frames in the Wellsport Portwell Flats, twohistoricbuildings in Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighorhood. Most of the 120 windows inthe buildings were rebuilt rather than replaced. Developer Jack Hatch is renovating the“twin sisters.” MARY CHIND/THE REGISTER

Kirk Blunck looks outthe window from a futureapartment unit in CraneArtists Lofts at the one-sto-ry buildings below him.

“The amazing thing is,each of these little build-ings is now for sale formore than what I paid forthis building,” he said. Hebought the six-story Cranefor $195,000 in 2000, whenthe 1916 plumbing factorywas in a forgotten corner ofdowntown next to a home-less shelter.

Much has changed in 12years for the area aroundthe Crane. The long-dis-cussed western gateway todowntown became a reali-ty, with the PappajohnSculpture Park, othergreen space and new cor-porate headquarters mov-ing in a few blocks away.The Martin Luther King Jr.extension and other streetchanges give easier accessto the building. CentralIowa Shelter and Servicesis building a new shelter ablock or so away, giving theCrane more breathingroom.

The renovated Cranehas the potential to furtherchange the neighborhood.

Blunck hopes to attractcreative people to the58,000-square-foot build-ing, which will featurepainting, ceramics anddance studios; galleryspace; a music room and anoutdoor sculpture garden.All of that creativity willtake place where Craneworkers once made toiletsand urinals.

Blunck’s experiencerenovating the 1912 Tea-

chout building in the EastVillage showed him thatolder buildings attract cre-ative people. He wants theincome-subsidized apart-ments to bring artists to-gether and provide spacewhere they can do workwithout renting a studio.

The concept was mod-eled in part after Artspace,an effort to provide afford-able live/work space to art-ists in St. Paul, Minn. By

getting multiple disci-plines in one space, you canmake the community rich-er.

Blunck sees bistros, artgalleries and other busi-nesses moving into nearbybuildings. The Exile Brew-ing Co. is renovating the oldFitch Co. Soap buildingacross 15th Street from theCrane.

“I’m curious how quick-ly the other buildings willturn,” he said.

As it has taken years forthe neighborhood to takeshape, so did it take timefor Blunck to restore theCrane.

He waited while planswere made to remake thewestern edge of downtown.He said he spent a coupleyears thinking he’d turnthe Crane into high-endapartments, before he real-ized it would be better suit-ed to a lower-income mar-ket. He received tax cred-its from the Iowa FinanceAuthority as well as stateand federal historic taxcredits.

The Crane must be fin-ished in November, accord-ing to deadlines associatedwith his financing, and the

work is on schedule,Blunck said. Koester Con-struction is the contractorof the effort to restore thebuilding.

The Crane was in re-markably good shape, hesaid, requiring little demo-lition. Crews had to removesix and half tons of pigeondroppings, however.

Weitz Co. of Des Moinesbuilt the Crane, one of thefirst buildings built thathad cast-in-place concrete.It was a more economicalway to build taller build-ings, Blunck explained.

“It was cutting edgeback then,” said EvanShaw, project architect forthe building.

The original tenant’sname — Crane Co. — iscarved in limestone abovethe front entry as well as atthe top of the building. Thecompany made plumbingfixtures in the building andshipped them by the rail-road tracks that once abut-ted the back of the building.

The building’s publicrestrooms featured marblefloors that still are in place,but trespassers smashedthe porcelain fixtures.Blunck plans to replace

them with Crane products.Booms used to move toi-

lets will remain in place —even in what will becomeapartment units. “Maybean artist will decide to hanga piece of artwork” from it,Bluck mused.

“Someone might think itstrange,” he said. But that’sthe sort of character thatresidents will appreciate.

Other architectural ele-ments that will be saved in-clude cast-concrete mush-room-shaped columns andceramic tile floors. Thebuilders are creating widehallways between apart-ments to create a corridorof art.

But the biggest draw,Blunck expects, will be thetall windows, which are onall four sides of the Crane.

The building sits farenough away from thedowntown core to afford“spectacular views,” hesaid.

Blunck’s crews — underthe watch of the NationalPark Service — took greatpains to ensure the histori-cal accuracy of the win-dows. “They look preciselyas they did before,” he said.

— Lynn Hicks

Former factory becoming a haven for artists

The view of the Crane Co. building from the southwest.Thebuilding at 1440 Walnut St. in Des Moines is underrenovation. RODNEY WHITE/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

» Historic tax credits.The state has increased theamount of historic taxcredits over the past sevenyears from $2.4 million to$50 million last year. De-velopers have becomemore sophisticated in us-ing that program, oftenpairing it with other creditsto finance the projects.

» Strong demand forapartments. Apartment va-cancies for the downtownarea plummeted to 2.1 per-cent this year, comparedwith 5.9 percent in 2011, ac-cording to a survey byCBRE/Hubbell Commer-cial released in February.Rent climbed as a result —9.1 percent for two-bed-room apartments and 21percent for efficiencies.

Many of the plannedapartments in downtownwill be market rate, notsubsidized for lower-in-come tenants.

The CBRE survey indi-cated that about 1,000 newapartments are expected tobe added to the market thisyear across the Des Moinesmetro area, both with newconstruction and conver-sion of existing space. Lastyear, developers finishednearly 500 apartments.

The trend of convertingold buildings into apart-ments is happening acrossthe state, thanks to the his-toric tax credits. Develop-ers sell the tax credits to in-vestors, who help financethe projects.

“It’s the best economicdevelopment program inthe state,” said Hatch, astate senator from DesMoines. “It treats urbanand rural Iowa equally.”

Developers in Dubuque,Sioux City, Clinton, Mar-shalltown, Burlington andother cities have used thetax credits to restore prideas well as historic architec-ture.

Community HousingInitiatives, Iowa’s largestnonprofit housing and de-velopment group, has con-verted closed schools andstores into apartments inOskaloosa, Spencer andother towns with the help ofhistoric and low-incometax credits.

Sam Erickson, a vicepresident with CHI, saidthe group sees lower turn-over and less damage in

historic buildings.“Just because buildings

are beautiful, people takepride, and they love livingthere,” she said.

Lawmakers have gonefrom addicted to tax cred-its, in some critics’ view, toallergic after the film of-fice scandal and otherquestions. The amountavailable for historic taxcredits had jumped dra-matically until this lastyear.

Originally, the historicpreservation tax credit to-tal was $2.4 million for fis-cal year 2000 through 2005.It then began a series of in-creases, culminating in a

rise to $50 million for 2012.Next fiscal year, theamount falls to $45 millionbecause of legislative bud-get cuts.

Still, developers are ap-plying for more creditsthan what’s available. In2011, demand for creditsexceeded availability by al-most $11 million; in fiscal2012, by $15 million.

Some have had to reap-ply. Blunck applied twicebefore winning credits forthe Crane building. Hub-bell plans to reapply thisyear to get tax credits torenovate the MitchellTransmission building intoapartments.

Hubbell also plans tostart work on the RocketTransfer building thismonth, which sits next toanother old warehouse itturned into apartments,called Riverpoint Lofts. Al-though those lofts were forlower-income tenants,Rocket Transfer will be itsfirst fully market-rate pro-ject downtown.

Rick Tollakson, Hub-bell’s president and CEO,sees fairly strong demandfor apartments for at leastthe next five to 10 years.That would change if lend-ing requirements loosen.When banks eliminatedloans without down pay-ments and increased creditrequirements, demand forrentals boomed.

Lifestyle changes alsohave played a role: Emptynesters and young profes-sionals want to live down-town and avoid the shack-les of home ownership.

Few worry about build-ing too many apartmentsdowntown.

“We could put hundredsmore apartments downhere,” Hatch said.

HOMESContinued from Page 1D

Equitable Building

604 Locust St.

Built: 1924

Units: 100-120

Cost: $18 million

Completion:Undetermined

Developer: FoutchBrothers

Des Moines Building

405 Sixth Ave.

Built: 1931

Units: 136

Cost: About $20 million

Completion:Undetermined, some workcould begin this summer

Developer: NelsonDevelopment/FoutchBrothers

Fleming Building

604 Walnut St.

Built: 1907

Units: 96

Cost: $11 million

Completion: Spring 2013

Developer: NelsonDevelopment

Rocket Transfer

320 S.W. Seventh St.

Built: 1900

Units: 58

Cost: $8.6 million

Completion: Summer 2013

Developer: Hubbell RealtyTHE REGISTER

Wellsport Portwell Flats

1821 Woodland Ave./

641 19th St.

Built: 1902

Units: 13

Cost: $2.75 million

Completion:

August-September

Developer: Perennial

Properties

14Forty (former MitchellTransmission)

1440 Locust St.

Built: 1917-18

Units: 37

Cost: $7.1 million

Completion:Undetermined. Could startin late 2012, if tax creditsawarded.

Developer: Hubbell Realty

Crane Artists Lofts

1440 Walnut St.

Built: 1916

Units: 36

Cost: $6 million

Completion: November

Developer: LWOProperties, Minneapolis

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Developers are turningseveral historic buildings –including warehouses andoffice buildings – intoapartments in downtownDes Moines.

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Woodland Ave.Woodland Ave. 5thAve.

5thAve.

7thSt.

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MLK

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Walnut St.

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RaccoonRiver

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Ingersoll Ave.

Grand Ave.

MLK

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Area shown

RESTORING HISTORICAL HOMESDemand for historic tax credits typically exceeds availability

for bigger projects such as apartments, but not for projectsthat cost $500,000 or less to renovate.

“The department would actually like to see greater demandin the small projects category,” said Jeff Morgan, spokesmanfor the Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees thehistoric tax credit program.

The category could include private homes. There is moneyavailable from fiscal years 2011-13, and an additional $4.5million will be available for 2014.

The project must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s stan-dards for rehabilitating historic buildings. To learn more, go towww.iowahistory.org/historic-preservation.

Shawn Wolfe cuts trim inside one of the units at WellsportPortwell Flats, two historic buildings in Sherman Hill.Developer Jack Hatch is in the middle of renovating thebuildings. MARY CHIND/THE REGISTER