Attivo Trail, 55+ active living apartments, coming to Ankeny's Prairie Trail this fall

A new development in Ankeny's Prairie Trail will create hundreds of new homes for residents ages 55 years old and over.

Crews are finishing up construction on the first phase of Haverkamp Properties' Attivo Trail, 1010 S.W. Magazine Road, an active living apartment complex for age 55+ residents. Attivo means "active" in Italian.

The first residents are expected to move into the 137-unit building later this fall.

Attivo Trail, a new 55+ living community in Ankeny's Prairie Trail, is under construction and is expected to open later this fall.
Attivo Trail, a new 55+ living community in Ankeny's Prairie Trail, is under construction and is expected to open later this fall.

Haverkamp is immediately moving ahead on the next phases of the project, which will add 143 more units to the $75 million project just northeast of the District at Prairie Trail by the summer of 2025. A similar Haverkamp development in Waukee opened in 2019.

More: New-and-improved High Trestle Trail entrance in Ankeny has unique yellow house

Ankeny's Attivo Trail has underground parking and four floors of units that range in size from about 770 square feet to about 1,400 square feet, with one- and two-bedroom apartments available. Some two-bedroom units also have a den. Prices range from about $1,700 a month to about $2,900 a month.

Amenities include an indoor pool, a library, a gathering space, a fitness room, a dog park and guest suites. Every unit has a balcony or a sunroom. There will be an outdoor courtyard with pergolas, a grill area and a pond. Residents also will have access to live entertainment, volunteering opportunities, a bus for events and weekday continental breakfasts.

Several other developments have been popping up in Prairie Trail over the past year or so, including a new hotel and mixed-used buildings in the District.

Founding resident excited to live in Prairie Trail

Marlene DaRos of Ankeny was one of the first 25 people to sign a lease in Ankeny's Attivo Trail. She expects to move in around Halloween with Ruby, her Pekingese dog.

DaRos' husband, Larry, died last year. Larry had retired from John Deere after decades and had his own woodworking shop — he loved making bowls on the lathe and created boxes for Marlene's games — at their home in Ankeny's Deer Creek area. Marlene and Larry heard about the Attivo Trail in Waukee and had discussed the idea of making the switch, someday, before he passed.

"There was a real, real true sense that he has said to me, 'go for it,'" DaRos said.

One day, DaRos took a drive down Magazine Road and saw that an Attivo Trail development was coming to Ankeny. One thing led to another, and DaRos is now soon to be a founding resident at the complex. She's known by the construction crews for dropping off bags of bananas for them as a treat while they work on her future home.

DaRos is excited about making new connections at Attivo and enjoying the development's amenities, as well as living in the centralized Prairie Trail area, where she'll be within walking distance of the library, restaurants and festivals. DaRos chose a ground floor unit so it would be easy to take Ruby for a walk or to the dog park.

"I don't know what they left out," DaRos said. "Everything is pretty much in place. And it's exciting."

Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at chiggins@registermedia.com or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter @chris_higgins_.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Attivo Trail homes for ages 55+ open this fall in Ankeny's Prairie Trail