This popular downtown Des Moines restaurant will close in February

Popular downtown eatery Django will close next month after a 10-year run in the Hotel Fort Des Moines.

Des Moines restaurateur Paul Rottenberg said business at the high-end French brasserie is great, but an upcoming renovation of the Hotel Fort Des Moines will necessitate the closure.

Rottenberg and his business partners hope to reopen the restaurant in another downtown location.

Django's final day in the Hotel Fort Des Moines is Feb. 17.

“It’s a popular place. And it’s weird to move a popular place,” Rottenberg said.

Django occupies 6,000 square feet on the ground floor of the hotel at 10th and Walnut streets. It is a go-to spot for special occasions, business lunches, and poutine or Croque Monsieur cravings.

DATEBOOK DINER: Restaurant review: Django is a little slice of Paris in the Midwest

Rottenberg has operated a restaurant in the hotel for almost 30 years.

The Hotel Fort Des Moines has been closed since 2015. It is scheduled to undergo a massive renovation that will take the 100-year-old, 260-room hotel down nearly to the studs.

“We decided that living with 10 stories being gutted to the core wouldn’t work,” Rottenberg said. “I’ve (been through a renovation before) and when you throw a hammer on the 10th floor, you can hear it in Django. I didn’t think we could maintain our business.”

Rottenberg and Django's other owners, George Formaro and Jeff Hunter, decided the business could not survive an 18-month hiatus while construction is completed.

They are looking for a new location, preferably a 4,000- to 5,000-square-foot space downtown or in the East Village.

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“With so many more (restaurant) seats downtown, we’d like a slightly smaller space,” Rottenberg said. “But this is a business class restaurant, and the market for it is the central business district.”

Finding a space that replicates the ornate plaster ceiling created by European craftsmen and the overall feel of the hotel building will be difficult.

“With the changing demographic (of diners) I am not sure young people are looking to be transported back to the 1900s,” Rottenberg said.

Instead, the partners hope to find a space that brings the essence of Django along with the menu, staff and French flair, he said. The new restaurant will be a more contemporary version of the existing eatery,.

“We will bring Django back, but in a different way,” he said.

Raj Patel, development director for the Burlington-based Hawkeye Hotels, said he worked with Rottenberg and Hunter on the Django space but was unable to land on a plan for the restaurant.

"As one of ... Django's biggest fans, I hope they find another suitable location so I can start eating there again," Patel said.

The long-planned work on the historic hotel is expected to begin in the next few months, Patel said. The company plans to add about 15 more guest rooms, remove part of the second floor to expose the lobby's original two-story ceiling, add a fitness center and replace all the electrical and heating and cooling systems.

Patel said the cost of the project has increased from the original $40 million and he is working to secure state and federal tax credits to do the work. The company recently completed asbestos abatement in the building and donated to local charities a good portion of the furniture from hotel guest rooms and offices.

Hawkeye Hotels, which owns 55 hotels in 14 states, bought the Hotel Fort Des Moines for $5 million in 2015. The company plans to secure a deal with a major hotel chain, but keep the Hotel Fort Des Moines name.

The hotel was built in 1917 by local Des Moines businessmen who wanted to boost the city’s image with a flagship hotel. World leaders and celebrities including Bill Clinton, Charles Lindbergh, Elvis Presley and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have stayed at the hotel.

Rottenberg, who operated Truffles, Gotham Club and Landmark Grill in that space since 1987, said relocating in the revamped hotel is still possible, and discussions with the owner are ongoing. A restaurant called Forty three also operated there before Django.

Orchestrate Hospitality operates Django and several other downtown restaurants, including Centro, Malo, Bubba, South Union Bakery and Cafe, Zombie Burger + Drink Lab and Gateway Market. Rottenberg is Orchestra's president.

Django will remain open through Valentine’s Day and close after the dinner service the following Saturday. There are about 26 full-time and 26 part-time workers who may be placed at other Orchestrate properties until a new location is opened. Rottenberg said he expects once a new space has been leased it will take up to 90 days to get it renovated and open.