News

Sunday, January 01, 2006

DeAngelo’s urban design concept takes hold in Des Moines
(click here to be taken to the Business Record Online)

By Sharon Baltes
sharonbaltes@bpcdm.com

Tony DeAngelo says development is not a business for the faint of heart, and it’s even more risky if profits are driving force behind the project.
In August, the Des Moines native completed construction on the $7 million Soho Lofts, his first development project in his hometown. DeAngelo believes the project is the first mixed-use building constructed in Des Moines in more than a half century.

“You have to be a risk-taker in this business,” said DeAngelo, the president and CEO of Soho Development LLC and East Village Partners. “Because there is a lot of risk involved, you have to believe in what you’re doing, and in my view, it has to be a situation where every stakeholder is able to win in some way. We kind of have a triangle within our business, where one side is design, one is financial and one is community.”

Located at 400 E. Locust Street in the East Village, the Soho Lofts has 11 retail spaces on the ground floor and 32 residential condominium units on floors two and three. The retail spaces filled quickly, and several new businesses opened there this fall. About a third of the condos, which range in price from around $120,000 to $364,000, have also been sold since August.

DeAngelo’s “urban design” for the building was influenced by his time in New York City, where he worked for more than a decade as an architect and real estate developer. His projects ranged from low-rise commercial buildings to 50-story skyscrapers in Midtown Manhattan.

After living in Los Angeles for a short time, he moved back to Des Moines in the early 1990s to be closer to family. Once he decided to make Des Moines his home again, he began scouting out possible sites for a residential and retail project.

“I saw that downtown desperately needed housing a strong retail neighborhood,” he said. “It all kind of merged together at the time I decided to get back into development.”

The East Village made the most sense as a site for his project for several reasons. He liked the scale of the buildings there, and the size of the area gave it the potential to develop into a village atmosphere similar to what he’d experienced in New York City. Most important, the community groups representing the East Village wanted retail and housing in the district.
“This area has the chance of becoming a real neighborhood, a true village,” he said. “That’s why we came over here. It’s a unique experience living in an area that has shops below. When you get to know the shop owners and your neighbors, it’s almost like an extended family.”

In early 2002, DeAngelo partnered with Des Moines business owner Bob Ligouri to form Soho Development LLC. Ligouri serves as the company’s executive vice president, and his consulting company, the Oxford Group, was one of the investors in the Soho Lofts.

Bill Patterson was president of the East Des Moines Chamber of Commerce in 2004, and he worked with DeAngelo and Ligouri leading up to and during the start of the Soho project in May 2004. He said he was impressed with how the two embraced the East Village’s vision for growth.

“Guidelines for the East Village were laid out by planning committees over the past 15 years, and Tony and Bob complied with every request that the development guidelines called for,” Patterson said. “No one had to force them into those things. They wanted to do it to enhance the flavor of the community.”

DeAngelo expects the Soho Lofts to be the first of several downtown projects for his company. He is exploring the idea of developing land a block west of Soho for another mixed-use building, and he is also looking at three other downtown sites for other projects.

“I am a strong believer that like anything in nature, if the core rots, the whole thing rots,” DeAngelo said. “My idea is that we always need to come back and make sure the core of the city is strong and vibrant. If it is, then the whole area will be vibrant. Building in the suburbs is great, but I don’t think you can do suburbs only and have a long-term vibrant city.”

As a developer, DeAngelo believes it is important to live in the community where you work. He and his wife live in Des Moines with their four children – an 11-year-old, twin 6-year-olds and a 4-year-old.

“I think, to really get a pulse for a neighborhood, the type of people who frequent it and what’s appropriate there, that it’s essential to be a part of that community,” he said.

Patterson is glad to hear DeAngelo’s work downtown is not complete.
“He’s a wonderful guy with a lot of talent, and we’re really fortunate to have him bring his level of experience back to Des Moines to share his ideas and bring them to conceptual form,” Patterson said. “He involved the business community and citizens in his project, and that’s exactly what we like to see. We look forward to his next project.”