Des Moines and pics from the top of 801 Grand

mustang84 · Post by **mustang84** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 7:55 pm

Here's some pics I snapped of Des Moines over the last winter. I also had the opportunity to go to the 41st floor of 801 Grand for a class trip in January, so I snapped a bunch of pictures from up there. There are three panoramas at the end of the post.

From the 41st floor of 801 Grand

Panoramas

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 8:33 pm

Yikes!

A true testament to what urban renewal can do for your downtown. This was once a very urban neighborhood, and the the gateway for Des Moines' black community before urban renewal hit. North downtown is truly decimated, with not much worth saving from the 1960's urban renewal days. I'm hoping this area's proximity to the new arena will someday spur a new entertainment district, a la Columbus, Ohio's Nationwide Arena District or KC's new Cordish development.

Thanks for posting the pictures. It looks colder than an Iditerod husky's nutsack in those photos.

mustang84 · Post by **mustang84** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 8:43 pm

There is a lot of surface parking in Des Moines that would be nice to see developed. This view is kind of amazing and one of my favorites...an empty parking lot and then suddenly 300+ foot towers rising abruptly. When I was in Des Moines, it seemed like there was a lot of construction going on downtown.

Yeah, it was cold in these pics. The day I took the pictures from 801 Grand, the high was 5 F!

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 8:48 pm

There are plans in the works for many surface lots in the southen portion of downtown, but it will take a long time to fill up that much parking. If I were handier with the photoshop, I would draw in some of the developments taking place/planned.

The core is pretty dense, but unfortunatly the north and south halfs of downtown have been leveled instead of integrating into the neighborhoods.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 10:21 pm

Those are really nice Ryan... but I think like the skyline shots you posted at skyscrapercity even better! How come you held these back so long?

Will · Post by **Will** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 10:31 pm

Wow
Des Moines is really a great looking city
I wish I had more time to visit some of the surrounding cities of Omaha and truely explore them as I have seen in pictures here

Ingersoll1978 · Post by **Ingersoll1978** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:58 am

Des Moines is my kind of town...

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:27 am

Oh I'm sorry Mustang... for some dumb reason I thought DMRyan posted these.

Great work!

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:14 am

Mustang, would you mind if you (or I) posted these on our Des Moines site for all to see? I want to start some discussion about the urban renewal/what to do with the surface parking lots.

thanks.

mustang84 · Post by **mustang84** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:00 am

DMRyan,
Sure, go for it. I won't have time to do it tonight, so if you want to post them that would be fine.

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:51 pm

Here are a few Des Moines photos from last year when I was working on a few projects downtown:

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:46 pm

Wow wonderful pictures all! Des Moines looks so dense in some of those photos. Too bad some of the views, although awsome, some of the surface lots take away from the view. I hope that DM can come up with some nice infill projects to fill the void. I wonder if Omaha has this many lots in the downtown area, because from the ground they not be as easy to see as from atop FNC for example.

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:24 pm

Just looking at previous aerials of Omaha, it defintely doesn't have the amount of surface parking that DSM does on the fringes of its core. Looks like a lot of Charlotte-like infill will need to be happening here over the next 10 years to put a dent in things.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:07 am

DMRyan wrote:Looks like a lot of Charlotte-like infill will need to be happening here over the next 10 years to put a dent in things.

thanks the good thing about having lots of surface lots