The Des Moines Planning and Zoning Commission on May 1 approved staff recommendations to grant three expedited type 2 design alternatives for a planned development at 301 Southeast Fourth Street in the Market District, allowing (A) a waiver of the required occupied space depth along East Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, (B) enclosed parking within the principal building along East MLK Jr. Parkway, and (C) surface parking where section 135 of city code would otherwise prohibit it.

The relief clears an advisory review step so the developer can proceed to more detailed design reviews; the commission’s decision now goes with the project package when city staff, the Urban Design Review Board and ultimately the City Council consider later approvals. Tanner Heamer, planning staff, recommended approval to the commission, saying, "Staff does recommend approval of the 3 requested expedited type 2 design alternatives."

The application covers two separate six‑story buildings totaling 500 apartment units (250 units per building) proposed to be built in two phases, with Phase 1 as the southern building and Phase 2 to the north. The developer described a phase 1 program of roughly 250 units with an approximate unit mix of 30% one‑bedrooms, 40% two‑bedrooms and 30% three‑bedrooms. The ground floors along Southeast Fourth Street are shown as commercial tenant bays; other ground‑floor frontage along East MLK Jr. Parkway would include enclosed parking behind screening material. The development team described the surface lot between the buildings as visitor, delivery and move‑in parking and as part of a daylighting strategy to provide windows for the units facing the interior.

Developers said Phase 1 would provide roughly 168 parking spaces overall and a parking ratio near 0.75 stalls per residential unit; the applicant said there are about 23 stalls in the alley for Phase 1 and an additional roughly 21 (to be completed with Phase 2). Paul Hayes, speaking for the applicant, said, "phase 1 is probably a 40 or $50,000,000 investment for density and housing in Des Moines." Clark Snyder of Simonson and Associates said the team will advance from schematic design to more detailed architecture and go through required reviews, including UDRB.

Commissioners and members of the public questioned how the proposed facades, screening and ground‑floor design would affect walkability on nearby streets. One commissioner warned that long, uninterrupted parking walls or blank facades can harm the pedestrian experience and asked whether the design could include more frequent entries or "walk‑up" units on Fourth and Fifth streets; staff and the applicant said they would address those design details in later design phases. Resident and downtown bicyclist Carol Maher urged stronger activation of the ground floor and indoor bicycle storage, noting the Market District plan’s goals for walkability and green infrastructure and asking the developer to preserve options for future retail.

The commission’s approval was a local advisory action; the Planning and Zoning Commission is generally advisory to the City Council, which holds final public hearings and makes final decisions on matters before the commission except for site plans and subdivision plats when no appeal is filed. The applicant and staff said the project will return for additional design review and council consideration as the developers finalize financing, unit mix and architecture.

No conditions or amendments to the staff recommendation were recorded in the commission’s vote.

— Ending —

Next steps reported by the applicant include further design development, UDRB review and subsequent council review; the project team said financing and the final unit allocation remain under study.