Two long-planned apartment buildings in the Gray’s Landing neighborhood on the southern edge of downtown Des Moines are now open for tenants.
Both in the 400 block of SW 11th St., The Meridian, with 174 luxury apartments. and The Slate, with 132 units for independent senior living, officially opened Tuesday, June 24. Grays Landing developers Sherman Associates of Minneapolis built both buildings.
The $154 million neighborhood encompasses about 50 acres of mixed-use and commercial development space between Southwest Ninth and 16th streets. Commercial and residential development there include a 121-room Holiday Inn Express and the 142-unit Nexus apartments.
Together, The Meridian and The Slate add more than 300 apartments. The five-story Meridian has a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, a pool, sauna and hot tub. At four stories, The Slate, first proposed in 2018, has a mix of one- and two-bedroom units and is geared toward “active seniors,” according to a description on the city’s website.
The Slate will price 10% of its units to be affordable rates to households with 80% or less of the area annual median income, or up to $73,300 for a two-person household.
New developments draw on lessons learned
Gray’s Landing is adjacent to another purpose-built neighborhood, Hubbell Realty’s 75-acre Gray’s Station. Both are south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and adjacent to the cleared and remediated former site of the Dico wheel, part of which is slated to host a long-proposed professional soccer stadium and plaza for civic events.
Hubbell and Sherman are making careful decisions on the area’s redevelopment nearly two decades after planning began, Matt Weller, vice president of development at Hubbell Realty, said in February.
“We build one and we take feedback from people as they’re looking, what they like, what they don’t like,” and use it planning for the next building, Weller said in February. “We don’t just keep repeating the same thing over and over.”
Philip Joens covers retail and real estate for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 or pjoens@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: New apartment buildings, one for active seniors, open in Des Moines’ Gray’s Landing
Reporting by Philip Joens, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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