What the new residents of 111 city lofts have to say:
David Dickson:
“After moving back home to Des Moines three years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see the urban renewal occurring downtown. It was exciting to me and I immediately wanted to be a part of it. I liked the idea of being able to park my car and walk to the library, Court Avenue, or the Civic Center (just to name a few). I had heard of the numerous loft projects that were underway and I began the search for my ideal loft.
I wanted a loft style with an urban look, but I didn’t want just an empty room. I was concerned that is all I would find, but after looking at several places I found the 111 City Lofts. The building was under construction and there was one model unit open to walk through.
After walking through the model and seeing the plans for the building, I knew my search for the perfect condo had ended at 111. The model unit had high ceilings and partitions that separated the various rooms, but still allowed natural light to infiltrate the back corners of the loft. The bamboo floors were polished and provided a nice contrast to the white walls and steel duct work. Immediately I felt at home and I signed on well before its scheduled completion date.
The 111 city lofts offer units that are the perfect balance between functionality and style. It is evident that a considerable amount of thought went in to not only the design, but the quality of the units as well.
Now, after living there for over 3 months, I am incredibly happy with my decision to not only move downtown, but my decision to purchase a unit at the 111 City Lofts. It feels like home and I look forward to returning home each day and enjoying my 'livable loft.'”
Don and Julie Westheim:
"Downtown had been good for Julie and me during our business ownership years. The printing business that we owned just a couple of blocks from 111 City Lofts did very well despite the fact that the area was in dire need of development and revitalization. We grew up in Minneapolis and watched decades of development take place downtown. Housing, theatre, art and entertainment were a huge draw to downtown Minneapolis for as long as we could remember. Living downtown Des Moines was something that we had always talked about, but a lot of improvements were needed first.
Then came the Gateway Project and it changed the face and feel of downtown Des Moines. It also changed the attitudes of the citizens of the area, even those who previously could not be pried out of the suburbs for any reason. Evidence: 100,000 people attended the recent art festival downtown and 30,000 people attended the opening day of the Farmer’s Market. In addition, corporations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand their facilities downtown, and the companies who poll their employees find that the vast majority want to stay downtown. The city is investing in entertainment as well, with the new Well Fargo Arena, Science Center of Iowa and the River Walk, just to name a few. To go along with all of this, unique restaurants with lots of character are popping up everywhere and have a huge draw, and there are more coming. I was recently in a hotel near Jordan Creek and overheard a group of guests talking about where they wanted to eat dinner, and the restaurants that they wanted to go to were all downtown. Plus, the activity downtown is not restricted to the weekends; there are lots of cars parked on every street every night of the week. The tide has turned.
As a result, we decided to end our conversation about moving downtown and take action. We decided that now was the time and 111 City Lofts was the place. We looked at 9 different condominium projects downtown, but were really drawn to 111 City Lofts for a variety of reasons. First, for convenience we wanted to be close to the skywalk but not right on the skywalk. Also, City Lofts is located on a quieter street, not a thru street and not near noisy bars. In addition, the large covered patio was very attractive to us. Rain or shine, we can enjoy a bit of the outdoors and grill in comfort. By the way, we were able to watch world class tri-athletes from the shaded comfort of our patio as they participated in the HyVee Triathlon.
Since the move from our house to 111 City Lofts we have not looked back. We don’t miss the yard work or the expense of home maintenance. The tax abatement at 111 City Lofts is a huge plus that should be mentioned as well.
I am guessing that there are quite a number of people who are interested in living downtown for the same reasons that I have talked about in the above paragraphs. For those people, I would definitely recommend 111 City Lofts."
111 10th Street, Des Moines, IA • Phone: 515-710-1331
