Three years after the neon-lit signs in the windows of Gas Lamp went dark, the now-vacant building housing the longtime downtown music venue may get another use.
A preliminary plan submitted to the city of Des Moines calls for the renovation of the Butler Building, at 1501 Grand Ave. It would become mixed residential and have other uses, along with the also-vacant Jefferson Apartments at 1519 Grand in the same block. Both buildings were among Des Moines Heritage Trust’s Most Endangered Buildings in 2024.
Documents show two other buildings on the block bounded by 15th and 16th streets and Grand and Ingersoll avenues would be cleared to make space for parking: a former Sherwin-Williams Paint store at 515 16th St. and a smaller building at 1511 Grand Ave. that once housed a security company.
15th & Grand LLC, a company connected to Krause+, the development arm of Krause Group, owns all four properties in downtown’s Western Gateway district, just east of the Pappajohn Sculpture Garden. The headquarters of the Krause Group, the former owner of the Kum & Go convenience store chain, occupies the 1400 block of Grand, just across 15th Street from the Butler Building.
Krause’s extensive holdings in the area, include the former Crescent Chevrolet building on Ingersoll, now is home to the Des Moines branch of Big Grove Brewery. The groups has major plans for development in connection with a planned professional soccer stadium just south of the Western Gateway on a remediated Superfund site.
Before Krause+ can move ahead with any plans for the Butler Building and Jefferson Apartments, the project will need city approval. The developer and city staff are set to hold a preliminary meeting on the plan Tuesday, April 28.
Plans could change since “we’re very early on in the process,” said Andrew Lorentzen, an architect with Simonson + Associates, the firm that designed the plan submitted to the city.
“That’s just our first pass at that site plan, and it needs a lot of feedback from both us, from the design process, and then any type of regulatory feedback from the city,” Lorentzen said.
No demolition timeline has been set, a Krause Group spokesperson told the Register on Monday.
What will happen to the former Gas Lamp site?
Lorentzen said current plans call for the Butler Building to have commercial space on the first floor, where Gas Lamp was located. It also was the original home of Black Cat Ice Cream, which now has stores elsewhere downtown and in Valley Junction.
Uses for the upper three floors, which housed apartments, are to be determined, Lorentzen said.
“The first floor will stay some kind of assembly occupancy like a restaurant or bar,” he said. “Then the upper floors, we’re going to study the possibility of reusing them as office and as residential. We need to evaluate both of those.”
Built in 1906, the Butler Building was home for more than a half century to music venues such as Blues on Grand and Vicky’s Pour House. Gas Lamp was the final occupant of the building, which closed in 2023 as Krause+ prepared to redevelop the property. The owners also had not recovered from losses during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
“Both buildings will require a lot of work, and we’re just kind of getting our arms around what exactly that work will entail,” Lorentzen said. “We’re very early in the process.”
What are the plans for Jefferson Apartments?
An estimated 60 apartment units could reopen in the Jefferson building under the Krause+ proposal. When the Jefferson was first built, the four-story building had roughly 50 units, Lorentzen said. Since then, units were subdivided to create 70 units, which included small and substandard apartments, he said.
Krause+ announced in 2021 that it wouldn’t renew leases at the Jefferson Apartments, saying the units were not up to the company’s standards and needed significant repairs. The decision forced out residents from what at the time was one of the last utility-inclusive options for low-income renters in the metro.
The company said in a statement that affordable housing would be included in the project.
“Yes, our intent is to incorporate mixed-income housing as part of the historic renovations, consistent with our focus on creating a thoughtful, community-oriented development,” the statement said.
Units inside the Jefferson have undergone multiple remodeling projects throughout the building’s life and are “in high need of updating and modernization,” Lorentzen said.
“What we’re doing in our process is to understand the original layout and then figure out how to get good, modern units that people are going to want to live in to fit into that building’s layout,” he said.
Lack of parking has long been an issue for both buildings, he said.
“With the rehabilitation of the Jefferson into apartments, one of the limiting factors in the success of that project is parking availability for tenants,” Lorentzen said. “And the same is true of whatever the use would be for the Butler Building.”
Clearing the other two buildings on the site and converting the space to parking would address that problem.
Despite their issues, Lorentzen said both buildings can be preserved.
“The Butler Building is in better condition than the Jefferson,” Lorentzen said. “Both are in good condition. They’re structurally sound and really nice buildings. They were very well constructed, high-quality buildings when they were built over 100 years ago.”
Kate Kealey is the growth and development reporter for the Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on X at @Kkealey17.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Vacant downtown music venue, apartments could see historic renovation
Reporting by Kate Kealey, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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