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* A Des Moines shopping plaza once considered for a Trader Joe's will become a UnityPoint senior day care facility.
* The $5.5 million project will renovate the center at 2700 Ingersoll Ave. to house the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).
* The new facility will occupy about two-thirds of the plaza, which is located on a prime commercial corridor.
A prominent shopping plaza on Ingersoll Avenue where the owner once said he was in talks for a Trader Joe's location is instead slated to become a UnityPoint senior day care facility, according to city records.
Des Moines permits detail the proposed $5.5 million project to renovate the shopping center at 2700 Ingersoll Ave., which contains a Dollar General store and a now-closed OfficeMax location. Both stores' leases were set to expire in 2025, with the OfficeMax store officially shuttering over the summer.
Not only is the plaza situated on prime real estate on Ingersoll Avenue, but it has one of the busy corridor's only large, street-facing parking lots.
Jake Christensen, president of Christensen Development and owner of the plaza, could not be reached for comment. In 2023, he told the Register that Trader Joe's, the popular California-based grocer, had expressed "honest interest" in the location. The chain previously had eyed Ingersoll Avenue before opening its first and so far only central Iowa location in West Des Moines in 2010.
Now the plan by UnityPoint calls for making the plaza the home of its Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE.
The permit the city is processing shows the PACE senior medical clinic could occupy roughly 21,000 square feet of the building, or about two-thirds of the plaza. UnityPoint did not respond to a request for comment.
Lauren Kollauf, executive director of The Avenues of Ingersoll & Grand, the chamber of commerce for the business district, said she had no comment "until I have the opportunity learn more about the project."
What is PACE?
PACE is a program through UnityPoint Health that helps people 55 and older live independently in their homes for as long as possible, according to its website. Four locations already operate across Iowa, including in Bettendorf, Hiawatha, Waterloo and the Sioux City area.
Services through PACE include primary care, medications, therapeutic recreation, dietary services, social work, respite care and more. PACE also offers transportation to and from its locations, and the Ingersoll plaza is on a DART bus line with frequent service.
The program is available to those who live in a PACE service area county.
Ingersoll Avenue is in the midst of a streetscaping project to improve sidewalks and bikeways in the area, and the neighborhood around the plaza, the former site of a Hy-Vee store, has seen a number of new arrivals over the last several years.
The plaza is adjacent to a former fast-food restaurant renovated in 2022 to house a large Starbucks location. Across the street sits the mixed-use Star Lofts development, which opened in 2024, replacing a gas station. Several other restaurants are nearby, including the acclaimed Harbinger, Panka Peruvian and Lachele's Fine Foods, and Christensen since at least 2019 has been working to refurbish a former Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge, adjacent to the shopping center though facing Grand Avenue, as a boutique hotel.
Kate Kealey is the growth and development reporter for the Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter at @Kkealey17.