URGENT! Demo Permit Back On Monday 6/12!
Remember when we were supposed to have 60 days to put together a plan to save the Highland Apartments? After we got that news from City Council, InvestDSM put out a request for proposals to save the building that was due June 1, 2023. That’s 19 days, not 60. We were not able to tour the building until May 24, so we would have had less than a week to line up all financing and details, but Jack Hatch said we would be presenting our case to City Council on Monday the 12th.
On June 7th, Jack sent InvestDSM his take aways from the tour along with the numbers his team was able to pull together. The first time our team at Preservation Corps had a chance to look at the Hatch proposal was June 7th, and we immediately let InvestDSM know we would review it and add our comments. That apparently was not enough to stop them from rushing this project back onto City Council Agenda for demolition.
Here is the recommendation from Jack Hatch to City Coucil:
“The city has two options:
a. Mothball the building and integrate it into the adjacent property for future development. This would be
expensive but doable. But knowing the difficulty Des Moines projects have in competing with other
local governments for federal & state housing tax credits, this would be unrealistic.
b. Demolition is an option, but it would acknowledge the failure of Des Moines in its rehabilitation of older
housing stocks.”
***In his letter, he made comments about the financial viability of Hat Trick Renovation to pursue this project as the only interested developer. We would like to clarify that he made those statements without having looked at any information about Hat Trick Renovation’s financial status. He has since clarified by phone that he intended that to mean it is a challenging project and anyone would be challenged.
Here are the highlighted facts:
Hat Trick Renovation and Preservation Corps United have secured commitments to mothball the building for little to no expense, if the building is in possession of Des Moines Heritage Trust or Preservation Corps.
We have a list of volunteers ready to clean out the building and get it ready for work.
The bid submitted by Estes Construction to Hatch Development IS NOT a plan for historic preservation and that is why it is still over budget (although less expensive than InvestDSM’s plan per unit for new construction. We have secured interest from a contractor who is willing to do a historic preservation renovation. This will result in a dramatic reduction in project expenses.
It should be noted that the shortfall quoted by Hatch Development does not include the offset of $750,000.00, with is the amount InvestDSM will be directing to the landfil if they are successful in tearing this building down.
Please urge Des Moines City Council to give us the 60 days we were initially granted. We look forward to presenting our plans at the 5 PM meeting tomorrow. Pubic support of saving the building is requested.
Want to see the rest of our photos from inside Highland Apartments? We’re only allowed to share them in our fundraising efforts, so PLEASE! Go to our Venmo link here and donate what you can or buy from our store and then go enjoy all 258 photos here!
