Plans to lease seven apartments in a converted single-family home are on hold after residents of the historic River Bend neighborhood called for the Des Moines City Council to respect their wishes for a lower-density solution.
The council's vote Monday was unanimous. Newly elected member Chris Coleman, whose Ward 1 includes the neighborhood, said the project was "not right" for the area.
The 2½-story house at 1900 Arlington Ave. had been converted from single-family to multiple-household use at an unknown date, according to records at the Polk County Assessor's Office. When Starlink LLC, a subsidiary of the Des Moines-based Credo Capital, purchased the circa 1906 property in April 2022, it had three tenants on the first floor.
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Starlink began remodeling the second and third floors for additional units, wrapping up work in December while it moved to evict the existing tenants.
The company, which owns three other properties in River Bend, learned in May that the property had defaulted to single-family use after a rent certificate expired, Starlink representative Becky Hui told the city. Since then, Starlink has met with neighbors, consulted with an engineer and looked into applying for a Community Development Block Grant to help pay for work that would improve the property's curb appeal in hopes of winning approval for continued multi-family use.
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The roof, siding and windows may need replacement, Hui said, and it also my be necessary to landscape the property and clean up its parking lot.
"I have given it my all in trying to come to a consensus," she told the Plan and Zoning Commission in October. "I still don't think single-family is the best use, given the funds. I know that's the 'want,' but I don't know if that's feasible."
She offered to sell the property for $300,000 to anyone interested. The Polk County Assessor values the property at $241,000.
The commission considered a measure that would recommend the council permanently rezone the property for multi-tenant use, with the city staff suggesting it should be approved but for only five units. The vote was 5-5 and the recommendation failed to advance.
River Bend neighbors against added density
At Monday's council meeting, tenants of Starlink's next-door property on Arlington ― a street with a mixture of multi-family houses and restored riverfront residences ― spoke in favor of their landlord, saying the company had made updates to their building since buying it last year.