The Des Moines area’s luxury housing market has blossomed in the past year, as downtown condos rise, suburban estates expand and south-of-Grand mansions get makeovers.
The number of million-dollar homes in the metro shot up to 98 from 61 a year ago, according to county assessors’ records in Polk and Dallas counties.
The bulk of the million-dollar properties are in West Des Moines (32) and Des Moines (22), but expensive homes also have begun showing up in unexpected locations, like rural Grimes, where Iowa Highway 141 and the interstate highways offer a quick commute as well as seclusion.
In addition, the metro area got its first million-dollar condominium during the past year.
The demand for luxury homes has been fueled by an expanding local economy that’s created new high-paying jobs in insurance, banking, technology and health care.
By national standards, however, the Des Moines market remains relatively inexpensive.
“The sale of homes worth $10 million and above is on the rise nationally,” said Gregg Antonsen of Santa Fe, N.M.-based Christie’s Great Estates, a real estate affiliate of the New York auction house.
Of course, he added, the definition of luxury home varies from market to market, with $1 million being a good dividing line for a market like Des Moines’.
As new executives move into the market, the demand for luxury homes grows, and remodelers are kept busy restoring value and implanting new gadgetry in older homes. Twenty-two of the million-dollar homes in the metro area were built before 1990, according to assessors’ records.
The metro area’s first million-dollar condominium was created when retiree Richard Levitt combined units at the Park Fleur to create a home valued at just over $1 million. Levitt is the former head of Dial Finance, which is now Wells Fargo Financial.
This year also produced the metro area’s first million-dollar “spec house,” an industry term for a property that is built speculatively with no buyer lined up in advance. Home builder Bill Kimberley erected a 6,400-square-foot house as part of this year’s HomeShowExpo and has it listed for sale at $1.5 million.
Million-dollar market active in metro area
About 25 residences are for sale in the Des Moines area with an asking price of $1 million or more, according to Brennan Buckley, marketing director for Iowa Realty.
At the top of the list: The 10-acre, 14,000-square-foot West Des Moines home of builder David Walters. The new home is valued at just under $2.6 million by the assessor. Walters has the property listed at $4.9 million, according to the Coldwell Banker Web site. The home’s amenities include a piano-shaped swimming pool, a 12-car garage, and a football field, complete with goal posts.
Others for sale include downtown condos at the Equitable Building and White Line Lofts.
Million-dollar homes aren’t as intimidating to local buyers as they used to be, said Iowa Realty agent Mary Kay Mickelson, who specializes in high-value properties.
Last year, eight homes sold for $1 million or more in the Des Moines area, Buckley said. Eight million-dollar properties traded hands during the first six months of this year.
Homes priced at around $1 million are likely to sell today in about the same amount of time it takes to sell a property in the $600,000-to-$700,000 range, Mickelson said.
One reason, she said, is the growing number of high-paid executives that local companies like Principal Financial Group, Allied Insurance, Wells Fargo and Meredith have attracted to central Iowa.
“When someone wants to look at my listings, I always ask if they are in-town or out-of-town,” Mickelson said. Executives moving here from larger cities tend to have deeper pockets, she said, because many are selling homes in higher-priced markets and need to reinvest the profits.
The influx of new money helps push up prices.
Homes that sold for about $1 million five or six years ago, now go for $1.4 million or $1.5 million, Mickelson said. The number of homes valued at $2 million or more increased to seven from three a year ago.
The metro area has yet to see its first $5 million home, although many of the high-end homes in the Des Moines area would command much higher prices in other markets.
“People of affluence will pay what it takes to get into a home they want,” Antonsen said, so there’s less direct connection between the luxury home market and credit issues, like the one now threatening the overall housing industry.
It’s too early, Antonsen said, to determine whether the current housing slump will have any significant impact nationally on the sale of luxury homes.
Most expensive home valued at $4 million
The home in central Iowa with the highest assessed value, $4 million, is the Ankeny residence of industrialist and developer Dennis Albaugh, just as it has been every year since it was built in 2001. Albaugh’s 12,000-square-foot home has eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The residence includes four detached structures, which include a swimming pool, hot tub and patios.
Albaugh has his own private 18-hole golf course in his backyard. The 59-acre course, which is being completed this summer, is assessed separately from the 3-acre site of his home. The golf course has an assessed value of $860,000, bringing to $4.9 million the total value of property associated with Albaugh’s residence.
The owner of the second most valuable home, Gary Kirke, also has a golf course in his backyard. Kirke helped establish the Glen Oaks Country Club more than a decade ago as part of the West Des Moines gated community. Kirke’s 10,500-square-foot home is valued at $2.8 million. It has seven bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, along with four whirlpools and a detached guest house.
Developer Dennis Elwell’s home is No. 3 on the most expensive list at just under $2.8 million. The West Des Moines home includes a 7,869-square-foot party barn that’s larger than his 6,508-square-foot house. Elwell’s son, Sean, also owns a million-dollar home north of Ankeny. Sean Elwell’s 4,616-square-foot home sits on 21 acres of wooded land in rural Polk County and has an assessed value of $1,047,300.
D.M. list includes home built in 1895
Most high-value homes in the metro area were built after 1990, assessors’ records show, although the list of million-dollar properties includes 15 homes from Des Moines’ south-of-Grand neighborhood, including six that are new to the list this year.
Several of the city’s older homes have been remodeled in recent years to create state-of-the art kitchens, home theaters and security systems.
The most expensive home in the city is on 35th Street. It was purchased by developer Dan Stanbrough a year ago for $1.9 million and now carries an assessed value of just under $2.2 million. The residence was originally built in 1922, but it was extensively remodeled and updated several years ago by Charles Johnson, the now-retired chairman of Pioneer Hi-Bred International.
Stanbrough’s home probably has more history than any other million-dollar house in the area. Owners during the 1930s and ’40s included banker W. Harold Brenton and publisher Gardner “Mike” Cowles, whose family at one time owned The Des Moines Register, KCCI-TV, KRNT radio and Look Magazine.
The oldest home to make the million-dollar list, according to the assessors’ records, was originally built in 1895 and is located on Terrace Road, directly behind Terrace Hill, the Iowa governor’s mansion.
Retired ING insurance executive Fred Hubbell moved back to Des Moines last year from Holland and purchased the Terrace Road house in January for $1,264,000 from his former brother-in-law Charles Edwards. Edwards, a former Register publisher, is now dean of Drake University’s journalism and business schools. He added a swimming pool and a three-car garage while doing other remodeling when he lived there.
Latest boom spot: Land near Grimes
While West Des Moines has the most expensive homes, the northwest suburb of Grimes, which has a population of about 7,000, has the highest concentration per capita of such residences. Nine million-dollar homes have been built since 1998 in a rural area north of Grimes and another area east of the main town.
Rural Grimes is attractive for two reasons, said commercial real estate broker Robert Stewart, who has sold land in the area. Native timber provides more privacy than can be found in many suburban developments, and Iowa Highway 141 provides easy access to Des Moines and other western suburbs.
This year’s HomeShowExpo, a exhibition by area home builders, was held at a development in rural Johnston called Silverstone, near one of the rural Grimes developments that has several of the million-dollar homes.
The Best of Show house in the expo was a spec house built by Kimberley, who said it offers a good sample of what a buyer can get for $1.5 million. Kimberley’s 6,400-square-foot house is built into a sloped and wooded 1.6-acre lot. It has geothermal heating and three levels of living space.
The bottom level, which opens into a landscaped backyard, includes a large open area that holds a bar, game room and entertaining space. An exercise room, home theater and bedroom are also on the ground level. On the first floor are the dining room and kitchen, along with a great room, master bedroom and another bedroom. Ceilings reach 18 feet in some places. A heated garage and two porches are also on the main level. Two bedrooms and a balcony overlook the great room from an upper level.
The textured walls and ceilings, along with crafted doors and floors, are designed to create an Old World, European feel, Kimberley said.
More than 150 workers helped build the house in about eight months’ time, Kimberley said.
“A year ago this was all cornfield,” he said.
Business Editor David Elbert can be reached at (515) 284-8533
