I spent most of my day Sunday touring open houses downtown.  Here’s a quick rundown of the action.

Here I am at 111 City Lofts.  It seems to be that when you attend open houses you are given lots of papers!  This is the kitchen in the model unit.

Two quick notes:

Pro: The coolest enclosed decks I have seen.

Con: The design and decor seems to be some from 1980’s bad dream.

Next up was 418 Liberty, in the old Liberty Building.  I got a picture of the dining room in the model unit here.   I haven’t yet seen anything in the Equitable, but Liberty has some awesome condos.  They feel much more like a house than does a loft because they don’t have all the exposed pipes and ductwork.

Pro: Very luxurious finish, huge rooms and very tall ceilings.

Con: If you get a deck the view is terrible.  You get the top of parking garages, ugly buildings and surrounded by the beautiful Ruan Building.

Then I visited the Gateway City Lofts.  I think this was their first weekend being open, so most of the units are still under construction.  By under construction I mean you’ll have no idea what the place is going to look like by going in.  BUT, they do have two model units, which really showcase how neat this place will be.  I couldn’t see what this building was on the inside until we went into the furnished models.  The lofts have a great layout, pretty good size and decent closet space.  If you pick a unit on the top floor you get an extra loft upstairs, so it’s more like a two floor unit.

Pro: Great design, huge windows and great finish.

Con: There are better building exteriors downtown (by downtown I mean pretty much every building), and the location as of today is a little isolated.  That part will change over the next few years though with upcoming projects like Ingersoll Square.

Last up I hitched a ride with my brother to Olive Street Condos.  These are great, very nice affordable units.  I was pleasantly surprised by the project.

Pro: Great layout, size, value and price.

Con: Not downtown, and a little on the scary side location wise.

There’s a quick rundown of what I went through on Sunday.  I must say that I am impressed with the quality of the work I am seeing, and the vision that many of these projects have.  Des Moines is really shaping up to have some excellent options for urban living.

I’m going to do more in depth articles about these projects later.  So stay tuned!

Have you been through any of these properties?  Let everyone know what you thought–comment below.