After a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a local developer is moving ahead with plans to repair the former Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge on Grand Avenue for its previous use as a mid-century hotel.
Plans to convert the three-story structure into 2525 Grand Ave. , which recently served as Terrace Hill Apartments, began in 2019. The devastation and hospitality of the pandemic, emerging inflation and structural costs, and an investment freeze put the allocation on a three-year hiatus.
But with historic tax credits guaranteed and hotel markets returning to “2019 levels,” developer Jake Christensen said he’s in a position to move forward with the long-imagined boutique hotel. On Monday, the Des Moines City Council will vote on whether to build on increasing investment for tax increases and adjusting the timeline for the $21. 3 million project.
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Christensen said the concept of “The Molo,” called “motor lodge,” is fostered through a series of mid-century boutique hotels across the country, adding the Valley Ho Hotel in Scottsdale.
“It’s just an exclusive design and it’s an exclusive experience. In fact, there is a segment of the traveling public that seeks exclusive destinations and exclusive accommodations. . . and I think the mix of the Ingersoll lounge and the strength of the restaurants and bars and the entertainment features of that lounge, as well as our unique design, will be a desirable position for other people to spend their accommodation money,” Christensen said.
The hotel will feature 85 rooms, an outdoor patio with fireplace, games and beverage service, and most likely a dining room in an adjacent building. It will feature the iconic orange gabled roof that is synonymous with Howard Johnson, a chain of recreational hotels with local food and ice cream parlors that operated across the country in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1975, there were more than 500 motorhomes called HoJo in the United States and Canada. In Iowa, two of the hotels, now operated through the Wyndham chain, remain, one in Burlington and the other in Waterloo. Howard Johnson’s Surviving Food The place is in Lake George, New York.
In D’es Moines, Howard Johnson’s, with its dining room and ice cream parlor, a landmark. Built in 1962, it was transformed into apartments in 1988.
Unlike other buildings in the Grand and Ingersoll corridors, smaller studios were “underperforming assets” and did not gain in assessed value, the city’s economic development coordinator, Carrie Kruse, previously told the registry.
“I think the Ingersoll salon is experiencing an apparent renaissance,” Christensen said. “I think the assignment will be an addition to the wonderful things that are happening and that have happened in the room. “
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The plan is to repair the sets in a combination of hotel rooms and one- and two-bed suites. The exterior will have a similar aesthetic to the old hotel, Andrew Stith, associate architect at Slingshot Architecture, told the Register in the past. The team plans to maintain each unit’s existing balcony and bedroom doors will be the same dark orange color as the ceiling.
A courtyard on the southwest side of the building will have a water fountain in which hotel visitors can relax, Christensen said. There will be a stove, games and a bar.
Another bar will be in the about 800-square-foot Gatehouse building connected to the hotel, he said.
The developers also plan to renovate a 3,400-square-foot building next to 2515 Grand Ave. in a restaurant.
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On Monday, council members will decide whether to adjust the city’s progression agreement that would establish a new timeline based on the project’s new start date, as well as increase overall TIF benefits from $2. 5 million to $2. 9 million to account for emerging economies. Structure prices and interest rates, according to the Board of Directors’ note.
Due to the age of the construction and Howard Johnson’s ancient importance, the progression team also approved the old federal and state tax credits.
Developers will need to exceed energy code criteria by 15% to 20% and install a minimum of two electric vehicle charging stations on site. There will also be solar panels as a means of choosing electricity, according to the memo.
The progression team has already begun removing asbestos from the building, Christensen said. Construction could begin as early as this spring and finish until summer 2025.
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Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the record. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg. com. Follow her on Twitter in @vbarreda2.