ST Howard Development renovated this turn of the century manufacturing plant and warehouse into beautiful Des Moines loft apartments in 2001.  Located adjacent to the Brown Camp Lofts and sharing the same parking lot, Tone features nine residential lofts.  It was important for us to maintain much of the original feel of the building, so there is a lot of exposed brick, high ceilings, and refurbished hardwood floors.  Each of the kitchens are unique and were completed with European styling.  Owners enjoy heated underground parking.  These amenities and more make these some of the most popular lofts in downtown Des Moines, IA.

This development was a collaboration with Meredith Corporation.  ST Howard Development purchased about 8,000 sf of open space on the first floor of Brown Camp lofts for the purpose of developing this space into residential Des Moines loft apartments.  Meredith, through six of its magazines, was responsible for the floor plan layout, design and decoration for each of the lofts.  Better Homes and Gardens, Traditional Home, Midwest Living, Renovation Style, Country Home, and Kitchen and Bath Ideas and Decorating Magazine in concert, were the magazines represented in the project.  Each magazine’s team of editors and designers created units representative of their respective magazine’s purpose and target audience.

There was a month long open house for the public to tour each of the fully furnished lofts.  The proceeds from the open houses went to the Science Center of Iowa.  Each magazine featured this project in their respective magazines in one of the months following completion of the project.

The Capitol Village Loft building, located in the heart of the East Village, at E. 5th and Locust, is a mixed use project that has retail and offices on the first floor, and 20 residential condos on the second and third floors.  Converted from apartments, this project was targeted at first time buyers that were seeking urban living at an affordable price and has set the standard for downtown Des Moines lofts.  The residential condos ranged in size from 535 square feet to 1,470 square feet, and prices started at $102,000.  Only four of the 20 condos were in excess of $150,000.  Most of the condos had a lot of exposed brick and all had high ceilings.

This project was unique in that the commercial and retail spaces were sold off as commercial condos.  Owner operators purchased their respective space, or an investor was located that purchased the space and created a lease with the prospective tenant.   Today, retail tenants include a hip ladies clothing store, an upscale contemporary furniture store, and soon a village market.