DES MOINES, Iowa — For more than a decade Beer Can Alley and The Exchange inside the Court Center building were synonymous with Des Moines’ downtown entertainment.

“Court Center is a landmark for downtown,” said Ted Hawley who owns both businesses. But numerous police calls within the last year to the gem of a historic building with multiple bars have faded its shine to grime. Hawley said, “It was super mixed feelings.”

Hawley shuttered the doors to both businesses in November. “Maybe while there was a period of time where we didn’t see eye to eye with the owners of the building on everything that was happening which did play a portion of us getting out of there,” Hawley said.

It came just a month before city leaders announced a plan to ban all Court Center building tenants from selling alcohol past midnight. Citing police calls and a suspended liquor license to Shag’s on the second floor, a bar owned by the same group that owns the building. Hawley said, “When we decided to leave there and made the deal with the building owners we did not know those were coming. We just knew we needed something different.”

From its third-floor closing to its resurrection, it is fitting that country fans just need to head west to the new Beer Can Alley. Well, about a block west, replacing 1908 Draught House.

Hawley said, “We know what we can bring to an atmosphere and this will be safe here. We are between Fourth and Fifth and Court. While it is still really close to where we were before it is still far enough away that we can have our own brand our own atmosphere.”

The space will be smaller than the previous spot. Hawley said, “It is gonna kinda have that smaller Nashville bar vibe along there.”

Music lovers will be happy to know that the soothing sounds will remain. Hawley, pointing in the front corner of 1908 Draught House says, “Kind of where that table sits now is kind of where we will have solo and duo acts.” The new location will also have live DJs during the late evening hours.

With Beer Can Alley buying into the 1908 Draft House business, Hawley hopes to bring country roots to a new audience with food. He said, “A little Nashville hot flavor. We are gonna keep a lot of the stuff here. A lot of the favorites. So if there’s stuff you like here it’s probably gonna be here.”

New digs, new year, a new vision for downtown.

Hawley said, “There’s a lot of good operators downtown and I think that’s what got lost in the shuffle of everything that happened. There are so many good operators and good businesses downtown that quite frankly are safe.”

The plan is for the name change and official re-opening to occur the second weekend of February, right before Super Bowl Sunday.