What’s happening to Des Moines?

BigTurk

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I actually know some older retirees that moved "close to downtown" in a loft.
I would be able to handle East Village but not Court Ave area.

As someone who works in a commercial real estate. You could not be more wrong about this. Des Moines needs WAY more quality downtown housing options. The townhome style with a ground floor garage are flying off the market. I know of two major buildings near Court that have at least 33%+ of the apartments are leased to Gen X and older. Even pre-pandemic, boomers and empty nesters were moving downtown for less maintenance, access to entertainment and dining


My wife and I have discussed this. We are considering moving to downtown Des Moines once both kids move out (if we stay in Iowa). Living downtown sounds very appealing.
 

Nor'MidWester

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Not sure why there people bashing on Des Moines right now lol... we seem to be in a mood this week, hating on campbell too...

Des Moines has never been the hippest place and will never be a huge metropolis but that is alright with me. Perfect size metro imo. Access to almost everything you would get in a large city without the traffic and politics. And if you want some big city life there are options within driving distance for that.

And Des Moines proper has certainly improved since the 2000s idk who said that but they are crazy. Downtown and various neighborhoods around Des Moines are lightyears better than they were 20 years ago. Look at Drake and the surrounding neighborhood.
 

State2015

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It's a shame how downtown DSM seems to be a wasteland of empty streets and empty parking garages that seem to take up half the space DT. Aside from Court Ave area it is a wasteland and all that parking space is absurd
 

Tailg8er

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I think our definitions of “packed” are a little different.

Agree, can't remember the last time it's taken me more than 5 minutes to get through security at DSM. Then the terminal looks like a ghost town. Sure, right before a big flight leaves the gate is packed, but I've never had an issue finding a seat at the bar.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
I fly out of DSM a decent amount and pretty much every time within 30 min of boarding there are no seats left at the gate. The restaurant is always full too.
If they could drop their fares about another 5 to 10% they would probably increase a lot of business also. We are halfway between the Twin Cities and Des Moines and it’s unbelievable how much cheaper the Twin Cities is to fly out of
 

dawgpound

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If they could drop their fares about another 5 to 10% they would probably increase a lot of business also. We are halfway between the Twin Cities and Des Moines and it’s unbelievable how much cheaper the Twin Cities is to fly out of
I am hoping the new terminal will help with this. Sometimes I have flown out of Omaha because it was cheaper to drive over there from Des Moines
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
I am hoping the new terminal will help with this. Sometimes I have flown out of Omaha because it was cheaper to drive over there from Des Moines
Usually there is five of us when we fly so when you were talking $150-$200 a ticket each that’s a big difference
 
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BWRhasnoAC

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It's a shame how downtown DSM seems to be a wasteland of empty streets and empty parking garages that seem to take up half the space DT. Aside from Court Ave area it is a wasteland and all that parking space is absurd
Yeah I agree Court avenue is kind of for the younger crowd in my opinion. I typically hangout on Ingersoll, the East village or out on the west side.
 

cayin

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Not sure where I saw the list but it doesn't really matter. I'm not big into throwing around numbers that consider Ames to be part of the Des Moines metro. I personally don't think you should be able to drive 20 miles on 35 and see nerly nothing but fields and still consider it Des Moines.
Ames is not included in the Des Moines metro.
 

dmclone

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You guys should have been around like 20 years ago. There were some serious differences in price between DSM and every where else. It was very common to drive to Omaha or KC for a flight. Like double the price. I remember flying out of KC for the Insight bowl.
 

cayin

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My wife and I have discussed this. We are considering moving to downtown Des Moines once both kids move out (if we stay in Iowa). Living downtown sounds very appealing.
My brother and his wife are empty nesters and they mover downtown. They absolutely love it.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
You guys should have been around like 20 years ago. There were some serious differences in price between DSM and every where else. It was very common to drive to Omaha or KC for a flight. Like double the price. I remember flying out of KC for the Insight bowl.
I was. Why I almost forget about DM at times.