Groundbreaking Event Launches The Shops At Eastgate

Community leaders and elected officials gathered today at Northeast Fourteenth Street and Euclid Avenue to break ground on the “Shops at Eastgate,” a Des Moines neighborhood shopping center that will fill strong retail demand in the northeast metro’s large, under-served trade area.

 

“The consumers are here, but retailers have overlooked the area for far too long. ‘Shops at Eastgate’ represents a true coming together of the community to achieve a common goal of re-energizing and rebuilding northeast Des Moines’ retail base,” said the project’s developer, Norman Weinstein. “We’re going to build a strong partnership with our neighbors, the trade area, the City of Des Moines and Polk County to bring in the businesses that consumers want. And, we’re absolutely thrilled that this project already is a rallying point for so many people and so many interests. We’re talking to several very exciting retailers and hope to have commitments soon – with announcements to follow. That will be very good news for the community, the existing retailers and all our supporters. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

 

The event, which included Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, City Councilmen Michael Kiernan and Bob Mahaffey and Polk County Supervisor Tom Hockensmith, was arranged by The Concept Works, Inc. and event planner Melinda Toyne of the Des Moines firm, In Any Event.

 

Weinstein notes that more than 71,000 people live within three miles of the Eastgate site compared with 56,000 who live within the same distance of 50 th and University in West Des Moines. Yet, the Eastgate trade area has only 17 square feet of retail space per capita compared to 73.4 square feet of retail space per capita. The Eastgate area’s 1.53 big box retailer per 10,000 people is dramatically smaller than the 7.85 big box retailers per capita in the 50 th and University market.

 

“In addition to its population, the demographics in our trade area are quite impressive. The most recent estimates place the average household income at $45,965 and the traffic count at Fourteenth and Euclid exceeds 50,000 vehicles per day,” Weinstein said. “The Shops at Eastgate present an opportunity for retailers seeking a large, stable, untapped market.”

 

A 20,000 square-foot retail building near the northeast corner of Northeast Fourteenth Street and Euclid Avenue represents the first phase on the 60-acre site. Two businesses, Subway and Tires Plus, have signed leases to occupy spaces in the new building, scheduled to open this fall.

 

Russell Construction Co., headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, is the project’s general contractor. John R. Knapp of Knapp Properties, Inc., West Des Moines, is the project’s exclusive marketer. He can be reached at 515-222-5238 or jrk@knappproperties.com.

 

The Concept Works, a West Des Moines firm founded in 2002, specializes in government, public and media relations and crisis management for corporations, nonprofit organizations and political clients.