People who are only in Ames a couple of times a year want businesses to be located in places that wouldn't see support most of the year.
Campustown Redevelopment
- Thread starter Haverhill
- Start date
People who are only in Ames a couple of times a year want businesses to be located in places that wouldn't see support most of the year.
I completely agree with you, and that's why I don't really have any problem with the current state of Campustown. I would have no problem taking my kid to supper at Cafe B for example.
But I do understand why some people feel differently and want to see something different, and I'm merely making that argument.
At the end of the day the main reason Ames' Campustown is so "dumpy" and student focused is because of the presence of a separate downtown area that's pretty nice and quite clearly geared to an older crowd.
I really wish these lots could be developed a little higher, with more housing potentially too, to provide a more built-in customer base for Campustown businesses.
Still love Pizza Pit and Welch Ave Station. Also still love Cy's Roost. I do wish Lost and Found was still around, though.
I can't imagine K&G (or Maverik now) is letting that spot go. That's a cash cow.
The redevelopment inevitably has an effect on the institutional character of the area. A place like Cy's Roost and Lost and Found Lounge leaned into the fact that the kids would come and go but the esthetic stayed the same. This helped Campustown maintain some of us appeal over time, and the same can be said about many other places down there, like WAS.
The redevelopment changed too much of the essence of the area and now it doesn't really appeal to the students that are there or those of us with memories of good times spent there.
Cytown has an opportunity to capitalize here.
Yup, and they've closed all of their urban/downtown store concepts in Des Moines and Omaha too.
Not sure if they still do, they did own land across the street at one point and had plans for developing that in a more dense way.
Now I am craving Battles BBQ, R.I.P.
A driveway going directly into a parking garage vs. a proposed driveway used for truck traffic/deliveries.
IIRC, the main contention was that the alley behind those LW buildings wasn't big enough, so Randall wanted an entrance directly on/off LW for the bigger vehicles that allegedly couldn't fit.
I can't imagine the clusterfuck of a semi (or even a large box truck) trying to navigate such an entrance.
Dumpy charms are for D3 college towns.
Campustown has historically had a small town college feel in line with the university, but Iowa State is now a big university, and campustown is largely an embarrassment. Start from scratch, please.
The original was so good.
I don't think there's any reason to feel out of place if you just want to check out Campustown, probably different if you're wanting to bar hop like you're in college again without feeling old and weird.
I don't see CyTown catering to students or competing much with Campustown. It is more likely to compete with Downtown, Somerset, Duff, and other freestanding nicer places, like Provisions.
I guess we differ in our idea of what makes a good campustown. You like locking the kids in a drunk playground where they can piss on the floors and be generally unbothered by society. I'd prefer to see nicer buildings and a few spots that have more room and cater to a mixed crowd. Being able to walk from campus to a decent bar and grill in campustown would be nice for campus visits, visiting parents, and alumni back for a game.
Even if it's just students in the play pen, campustown needs new buildings. It's a dump that is not in line with universities of our size.
I don't think a business could survive on those relatively small numbers. You'd need to attract locals all year round and I just don't see that happening without some major changes.
