Downtown Des Moines Hopes Boom Will Continue Into 2017

The new year presents a host of opportunities for the continued maturation and growth of Downtown Des Moines. The Downtown Chamber has provided a list of ten developments, ideas and initiatives that the community can expect to kick-off in 2017. Joel Aschbrenner of the Des Moines Register reports that among the "developments to watch" is the redevelopment of several downtown pockets into new housing and retail destinations. In addition, multi-modal street usage will gain an additional foothold in the city with plans for a reimagining how people get around downtown.

As downtown attracts more residents and businesses, civic officials and corporate leaders are putting more focus on how to move around the area. Initiatives are in the works aimed at making downtown more bike-, pedestrian- and transit-friendly.

One initiative to improve downtown streets, called Connect Downtown, just kicked off. Business groups have paid engineers to create a computer model of downtown’s streets that will show how adding bike lanes, parking and two-way streets will affect traffic.

Along with potentially thousands of new residents to fill 2,300 new apartment units, the city also looks to attract new tourists downtown with the opening of new hotels facilities, including a new 330 room Hilton.