Development Hits Des Moines -- Suburb Long Considered `Built Out' Sees A Spurt

DES MOINES - A few years ago, longtime realtor Marian MacKenzie was lamenting the lack of new development in Des Moines.

MacKenzie, now retired, cited what she said was the city's tranquil-town image of itself as the reason for the dearth of development. She still describes Des Moines, population 27,030, as "a Normandy Park wannabe - a nice, sedate bedroom community."

In most neighborhoods, Des Moines remains just that. But even the most ardent defenders of the status quo can't deny that pockets of the suburb are booming, compliments of the Puget Sound region's red-hot economy.

There's development from the north end of town - where construction of 37 houses at 2130 S. 192nd St. soon will begin - to the south side, where work continues on the 220-unit Saddlebrook Apartments at South 260th Street and 22nd Avenue South.

It is the biggest growth spurt that anyone at City Hall remembers.

Among the projects are two dental offices and one commercial/residential building downtown, a 51-unit Travelodge at 22845 Pacific Highway S. and a 90-unit Ramada Inn on the west side of the 26000 block of Pacific Highway.

Safeway plans a 9,000-foot addition to its store at 21401 Pacific Highway S., and two retirement centers in the 23600 block of Marine View Drive South - Judson Park and the Masonic Home - are also planning major additions.

Add to the slew of private developments a handful of public projects such as the new post office under construction south of South 216th Street at 20th Avenue South.

King County Library officials plan to build a new library in Woodmont at South 268th Street and Pacific Highway South. And the Midway Sewer District is expanding its treatment plant in the 1100 block of South 216th Street.

One surprising aspect of the boom is the single-family residences. Des Moines is, in the vernacular of land-use planners, virtually "built out." That means there's little buildable land left.

But in today's market of soaring land and housing prices, the owners of remaining property are cashing in. They're turning their acreages with one house into developments of a dozen or more residences, according to Des Moines Community Development Director Judith Kilgore.

Kirk Shoopman grew up in Des Moines and works in the high-tech industry. He does not consider himself a developer. But several years ago he was looking for a house and found one on an acreage. Now, he's in the midst of turning the 3-acre parcel at 25230 22nd Ave. S. into an 18-lot, single-family housing development.

"The pieces just started falling together," he said. "I never figured I'd do anything like this."

Across Des Moines, there are 68 houses and condominiums that are either under construction or close to it.

Kilgore said a handful of acreages remain in the central Des Moines and Zenith neighborhoods. She expects they, too, will become housing developments. The reasons: skyrocketing housing costs and location, location, location.

"We are still half an hour from downtown Seattle, and we are also half an hour away from Tacoma," she said.

One three-unit condominium, which Normandy Park residents Garry and Marilee Wamsley are building in the 22600 block of Sixth Avenue South, is the talk of the town. The Wamsleys' 4,000-square-foot condo sits atop two other units, and all three offer sweeping views of the Des Moines Marina, Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains and Mount Rainier.

"We have lived and dreamed this place since we bought it" five years ago, Marilee Wamsley said.

Similar development in the same neighborhood will occur. "Since we got ours, there are two people here who are going to build on the bluff," Garry Wamsley said.

Des Moines officials have pinpointed on a map 26 developments that are either under way or soon will be. More are planned.

"There are a lot of things that are in the works," said Robert Ruth, Des Moines senior planner. Developers are mulling at least 20 other projects, including four more single-family housing developments and new commercial/retail space downtown.

Marc Stiles' phone message number is 253-946-3976.