CyTown Announcement - Monday 9/19 (Links in OP)
- Thread starter theshadow
- Start date
Pollard has repeatedly stated that we are actually gaining more spots through all of the Iowa State Center projects that have recently been completed and coming up in the next few years.
A medical building you say? Has the AAU committee been informed?
Agree.
Build CyTown into JTS and Hilton as anchors. Bowl in the north end zone and add an east tower with suites that can be leased/operated year round, with the premium rent on the stadium view side.
Think of thousands of square feet built in cornfields around central Iowa because that’s where developers could get land- CyTown should be much more of draw between athletic field views, events drawing thousands, university with thousands of residents within walking distance,, short distance to limited access roads, etc.
If done right it should be a mix of a PnL meets campus town, and be the anchor for Ames.
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From what I understand, it is Pollard taking advantage of a donor pissing contest. I could see lots of big donors not wanting to be left out of a CyTown Suite. I could see a bidding war to get the "best" suite. Brilliant move by Pollard. He is finding huge new revenue from within our donor base.
P.S. Most of us have been playing checkers about retail shops while Pollard has been playing chess with donor suites.
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This is very ambitious. It is definitely the trend in professional sports. Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves are a few examples of franchises that have developed the land around their stadium to bring in more consistent revenue. And each of those really took off only recently, so it is sure to continue growing. Has any other college done this before us or are we pioneering the attempt at this level?
From what I have seen, we are the only ones really doing this. A lot of college stadiums are on college campuses in areas that wouldn't really fit a development like this (think back to when the stadium was by state gym). A few universities have stadiums off campus, and may be able to implement something similar; but may not own enough land around the stadium.
Our setup is actually a benefit for this because since the Iowa State center has a large amount of land to use, and is kind of a peninsula to our main campus. So this development wouldn't really ruin the college campus look/feel.
Lots to digest from these PDFs, but one early thing jumped out: placing the brewery at the south end doesn't make a ton of sense to me. If you owned the brewery, wouldn't you want to be as close to the hotel and convention space as possible?
At first glance I think I liked the earlier iteration of this plan better. But that's a very preliminary opinion.
At first glance I think I liked the earlier iteration of this plan better. But that's a very preliminary opinion.
Ames' smart growth crowd may need to be hospitalized after today
