Take a sneak peek inside Hotel Fort Des Moines' $50 million top-to-bottom renovation

The grand lobby of the historic Hotel Fort Des Moines has been restored to its full, two-story elegance for the first time in more than five decades. 

The historic downtown hotel, built in 1919, is undergoing a $50 million top-to-bottom renovation. 

"Every square inch of this hotel is being touched," owner Raj Patel said during a recent tour with the Des Moines Register. "We want to make sure it's in tip-top shape for the next 100 years."

Patel is chief development officer of Hawkeye Hotels, which purchased the Hotel Fort Des Moines for $4 million in 2015. The Coralville-based company is leaving no historic stone unturned in the multi-year makeover.

In addition to reopening the lobby to two stories, the developer is restoring the Grand Ballroom and Wedgewood Room that once served as backdrops for many notable Iowa caucus moments.

The Hotel Fort Des Moines, 1000 Walnut St., closed in November 2015 for the first time in its 100-year history. But renovation work did not officially start until this past July.  

Patel said it took some time to shore up funding and investigate what unexpected costs crews might uncover during the renovation. It also took time to make the $1 million decision whether to reopen that two-story lobby. 

"To me, it was always a no-brainer," Patel said. "This is the heartbeat of the hotel. It will be unlike any space in the whole city."

The lobby was closed off in 1962 when the hotel's owners installed a ceiling to create a second-floor meeting space.

There was a need for affordable meeting space at the time, Patel said, but the change diminished the lobby's grandeur and the hotel's stature.

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The latest remodel will recreate many of the details found in the original lobby. Developers will keep the original terrazzo floor, wood trim and ceiling medallions. The ornate plaster ceilings destroyed in the 1962 renovation will be replaced with hand-carved replicas. 

A new sculpture will be installed where the hotel's original fountain once stood.

A mezzanine on the second floor will look over the lobby and include "Romeo and Juliet" balconies that will be the exact dimensions of the originals.

Once it's open, Hotel Fort Des Moines will host a high tea service in the lobby that will be open to the public.

Two restaurants and two bars that will operate inside the hotel have not yet been named. 

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Meanwhile, crews are working to recreate the historic finishes of the original Grand Ballroom that once hosted caucus rallies for candidates from George H.W. Bush to Hillary Clinton.

Hawkeye Hotels has kept a hidden access so politicians will once again be able to slip in and out of the second-floor ballroom undetected. The presidential suite will be on the 10th floor of the 11-story hotel because Secret Service likes to rent out one floor above and one floor below where the president is staying, Patel said. 

Hotel Fort Des Moines, which will be part of Hilton Hotel's Curio Collection, will have 290 rooms, ranging in size from 300 to 500 square feet with larger suites sprinkled throughout. The 11th floor will have a penthouse suite.

The second floor will have nine stateside rooms available for wedding parties who book the Grand Ballroom or Wedgewood Room. 

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All rooms have the original marble window sills and door frames. Each will include a piece of art depicting jobs once held at the hotel, such as a maid, seamstress or butler. 

Hawkeye Hotels is not ready to announce an opening date for the Hotel Fort Des Moines, but Patel said crews are "making good progress." There are anywhere from 150 to 200 construction workers on site each day.

The hotel will be part of the Hilton Hotels Curio Collection, but it will retain the name Hotel Fort Des Moines.

"It will be a celebrated return to the market," Patel said.

Share your memories

Hawkeye Hotels is collecting memories, stories and photos from people across Iowa who stayed at or attended special events at Hotel Fort Des Moines. Submissions can be sent to memories@hotelfortdesmoines.com.