Before we ever opened our doors in Des Moines, we spent months walking the city looking for the right building. We landed on a former Nationwide printing facility at 12th and Mulberry, a block south of the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, right where the downtown farmers market sets up. That's not a random pick, and we think the story behind it is worth telling if you're actually comparing warehouse for rent in Des Moines right now.
The Building We Chose
Nationwide had been shrinking its downtown Des Moines footprint for a few years before we came along, and the building at 12th and Mulberry was one of the properties it stepped away from. It had been a print shop and office space — solid bones, good location, not originally built to be a warehouse in the traditional sense, but well suited to becoming one. We saw a building that could hold loading docks, shipping infrastructure, and flexible units without losing the walkability that makes downtown Des Moines what it is.
We didn't pick that building because it was the cheapest option or the easiest to acquire. We picked it because of where it sits. Downtown Des Moines isn't the first place most people picture when they think "warehouse district" — that instinct usually points toward an industrial park on the edge of town. We went the other direction on purpose.
That walkability mattered to us more than people might expect. Our VP of Revenue, Levi Cermak, has talked about what he calls our "avocado toast metric" — basically, is the location within walking distance of good food, coffee, and something to do after work? It sounds like a small thing, but it shapes who actually wants to spend their workday there, and it affects whether members can recruit talent who'd rather not commute to a warehouse district that empties out at 5 p.m.
We Did Our Homework Before We Opened
Before we signed anything, we reached out to Gravitate CoWorking, the Area515 makers space, and Mainframe Studios to understand what Des Moines entrepreneurs and artists actually needed that wasn't already being offered. We weren't trying to compete with what those organizations already did well — we wanted to find the gap.
What we heard, over and over, was some version of the same thing: a lot of small business owners with physical inventory were running their operations out of basements and garages, not because they wanted to, but because nothing in between "home office" and "commit to a five-year warehouse lease" existed for them yet. That gap is exactly what we built our Des Moines location to fill.
It's not only startups we had in mind, either. Cermak has talked about this on the Iowa Manufacturing Podcast, describing our purpose as elevating small businesses and communities by tackling the pain points that get in the way of growth — for small business owners and for larger manufacturers alike. We work with plenty of members who need help with final assembly, kitting, or last-mile delivery logistics, not just a place to store boxes. If your business has outgrown "figure it out ourselves" but doesn't have the volume to justify a dedicated 5,000-square-foot lease with a five-year commitment, that middle ground is where we're built to operate.
What Warehouse for Rent in Des Moines Actually Looks Like at Elevator
We know "warehouse" can conjure an image of a massive industrial building with a six-figure lease attached to it. That's not what most of the businesses we work with need, and it's not what we built. Our Des Moines warehouse bays range from small units to larger suites, so a business can rent space that matches where it actually is right now, not where it might be in five years.
Every unit comes with access to loading docks, shared warehouse equipment, and daily carrier pickups, so you're not hauling your own pallet jack in or driving boxes across town to a UPS store. Everything runs month-to-month with utilities included, which means you can size up during a busy season and size back down afterward instead of being stuck with more square footage than you need for the other ten months of the year.
Real Businesses Have Already Made This Move
We're not just describing a theory here. Karen Brady spent almost two decades building her company, Ephemera Design out of a storefront in Des Moines' East Village. As foot traffic slowed and her online orders climbed, that retail space stopped making sense — she needed somewhere to pack and ship product, not a shopping window. She moved into Elevator last fall, and her story is a pretty accurate picture of who ends up searching for warehouse space in Des Moines in the first place: not brand-new startups, but established businesses whose space needs changed out from under them.
What We'd Tell You to Look For, Wherever You End Up
If you're comparing multiple options and not just us, here's what we think actually matters:
- Loading dock or drive-up access. Hauling inventory through a standard door gets old fast once volume picks up.
- Daily carrier pickup at your actual unit, not a drop-off point across town.
- Flexible, month-to-month terms instead of a lease sized for a business three times your current scale.
- A downtown or walkable location, if recruiting help or meeting clients in person matters to your business.
- Shared equipment on-site — carts, dollies, pallet jacks — so you're not buying and storing your own.
- A community of other product-based businesses who've already solved the sourcing and shipping problems you're working through.
If you want a broader comparison of warehouse options in the city, our full comparison of warehouse space options in Des Moines covers that in more detail. This post is really about why we chose the building we did, and what that choice means for the businesses who join us here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Elevator's Des Moines warehouse space located? Our Des Moines location is at 12th and Mulberry Street in downtown Des Moines, a block south of the Pappajohn Sculpture Park and close to the downtown farmers market.
Is Elevator's Des Moines building actually a warehouse, or a converted office? It's a converted building — previously a Nationwide printing facility and office space — that we built out specifically to function as flexible warehouse and workspace, with loading docks and shipping infrastructure added in.
Do I need a long-term lease to rent warehouse space in Des Moines? Not with us. Our memberships are month-to-month, so you can adjust your space as your business changes without signing a multi-year commercial lease.
What size warehouse space is available in Des Moines? Our units range from small spaces to larger suites, so a business can start with just what it needs and expand as inventory or order volume grows.
Is downtown Des Moines a practical location for warehouse space, or would an industrial park make more sense? It depends on your business, but for a lot of our members, being downtown matters — it's easier to recruit help, meet clients, and step outside for lunch than it would be in a location built purely around trucks and loading bays.
Curious what our building looks like in person? Book a tour of our Des Moines location and see the space for yourself.
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