CyTown Announcement - Monday 9/19 (Links in OP)

[HFCS]

It will do well. Lots of college towns have these areas. Ames has nothing, Welch is a joke for the size of ISU and it's a total dump. Student population alone will support it.

You know which one is shockingly bad? South Bend.

South Bend might have less around campus/stadium than Ames. About a decade ago I attended weddings in South Bend and Madison just a few week apart and the towns couldn't have been more different in terms of what they had to offer around the stadium/campus.

 

[DeereClone]

Dirt is coming from the ground I heard.

Has JP researched this enough??? Does he know where dirt comes from???

 

[DSM4Cy]

Frankly I don't know how they didn't name it Cyclone Alley and be done with it.

If you read one of the captions on the website, it refers to the main walkway between the buildings as this.

 

[carvers4math]

You know which one is shockingly bad? South Bend.

South Bend might have less around campus/stadium than Ames. About a decade ago I attended weddings in South Bend and Madison just a few week apart and the towns couldn't have been different in terms of what they had to offer around the stadium/campus.

There is a whole entertainment area just south of campus at Notre Dame across the street from the football stadium. Not sure how old it is, maybe six or seven years. Sports and other bars, restaurants, shopping, hotels, and condos. In the last few years they have torn down other buildings in the area and are putting in new homes and townhouses. I will always miss the dive bars and rib joints that were there when I was in grad school, but it has similar features to CyTown. Watched an ISU away game in one of the sports bars there.

 

[HFCS]

There is a whole entertainment area just south of campus at Notre Dame across the street from the football stadium. Not sure how old it is, maybe six or seven years. Sports and other bars, restaurants, shopping, hotels, and condos. In the last few years they have torn down other buildings in the area and are putting in new homes and townhouses. I will always miss the dive bars and rib joints that were there when I was in grad school, but it has similar features to CyTown. Watched an ISU away game in one of the sports bars there.

Interesting, this was about 11-10 years ago I was there and I was shocked how little there was for places to eat. I could definitely see the need for something and shocked it hadn't happened yet.

I mean it's not like Welch is horrible, and the little area I did see in South Bend was comparable to Welch...it's just I was really surprised it had so little offer compared to Madison's campus/stadium environment I went to a couple weeks later.

 

[MJ271]

I have spot read a few pages here. Wow there are a lot of opinions and drawing conclusions. I am not reflecting on the post here, just an example

These will be ground leases. The tenant will.pay for improvements above the dirt. They might build a spec building or two, but only upon testing the water.

Everyone needs to take a breath and quit drawing conclusions on stuff that doesn't exist.

The parking lots are shot and need rebuilt, as JP stated. This is the time to raise them and put in real utilities. We have raw land sitting there earning nothing.

This is not a huge risk.

I know you weren't intending to respond only to my post, but just to be clear, I was trying to give the same sentiment that you generally are here. I don't think it's a huge risk and I have confidence in Pollard.

That being said, I don't think the bolded part is guaranteed to be the case. Yes, the AD will own the land and lease whatever is on it. But in the press conference Pollard specifically said that building ownership and construction would depend on the situation, where in some cases the business might pay for improvements and own the building, in some the business might build but the AD might own the building itself, and in some the AD might build and own, and simply lease the space.

 

[State2015]

It will do well. Lots of college towns have these areas. Ames has nothing, Welch is a joke for the size of ISU and it's a total dump. Student population alone will support it.

I think this is big for younger post-grads that are starting to feel too old for Welch as well. After about 23, it just feels weird being in any Campustown bar minus Welch Ave Station.

This will give recent grads living in DSM, Mpls, Chicago, etc. a place to hang when they come to town for a game

 

[Mr.G.Spot]

I know you weren't intending to respond only to my post, but just to be clear, I was trying to give the same sentiment that you generally are here. I don't think it's a huge risk and I have confidence in Pollard.

That being said, I don't think the bolded part is guaranteed to be the case. Yes, the AD will own the land and lease whatever is on it. But in the press conference Pollard specifically said that building ownership and construction would depend on the situation, where in some cases the business might pay for improvements and own the building, in some the business might build but the AD might own the building itself, and in some the AD might build and own, and simply lease the space.

Totally agree with you. Please note in all your examples, ISU retains ownership of the dirt, which I agree with.

Making improvements on a ground lease always demands flexibility for the tenant and landlord (ISU). Maybe the tenants pays cash for the improvements, maybe they borrow the money and build, and there will be times when ISU borrows the money and makes the improvements and build this into the "ground lease."

I am repeating what u are saying with minor twists.

Thanks

 

[CascadeClone]

Can we agree that Lucy Van Pelt (always pulling the football away at the last second) and ZiRF are trolls and ignore their posts? I'm opposed to blind acceptance of proposals, but this has been well studied and has a diverse buy-in. Or, we can just bring in a few truckloads of crushed limestone, sell Busch Light out of Igloo coolers, and grill some brats on gamedays.

Yeah, this gives me some confidence. If someone was getting hosed (ISU/AD, developers, city) there wouldn't be agreement. Lord knows on a project like this usually everyone BUT the driver is against it.

Also, I have an MBA too, and I would feel qualified to put this project thru my BS-meter. Now I am not asking JP for the 1,000 project plan and analysis, with all the assumptions and scenario planning. I just don't have the time for all that.

THAT SAID, it appears that JP is getting lots of pre-funding from OPM to reduce risk (e.g. the apartment pre-lease rev will be on the order of $30M, or 15% of the $200M mooted cost). I am sure they will do same for the brewery, the medical bldg, etc. You get your tenants on the hook for the majority of the cost over time, and it's real easy to borrow money at good rates, especially if you are a low-risk quasi-government entity in the first place. I bet this is roughly break even on cash in 10 years, and then it's just a money tree for the AD for decades. The more I think about this, the more I love the investment and the vision.

The key is, will the tenants make enough money to justify the lease costs and stay in business? It seems to me, just on the surface, that there will be enough activity from different sources (office space, apartments, hotel/conferences, gameday, retail, bars) that those tenants will make enough to pay the lease, and thus it will be OK.

I don't think it is going to be DisneyWorld 3.0 and 10 million visitors a year, but it won't be Fire Island boondoggle. But it will be kind of unique in college sports, and 10 years from now we are all going to be bragging about it. Mark it down.

 

[cycloneworld]

I think this is great sounds like pollard has a solid plan. If TG comes that’s insanely huge cause you gotta generate money year round. It’s gonna work and I think will surpass even what they think it can do cause it’s centrally located you get tons of traffic and it’s easy to get to.

Not sure where all of this year round talk/concern is. ISU FB and basketball will go from Sept through March and then you have spring/summer outdoor weather.

I guarantee this was been studied by professionals and they are convinced it works. You don’t commit to spending $200 mil on a whim.

 

[fcclone]

Not sure where all of this year round talk/concern is. ISU FB and basketball will go from Sept through March and then you have spring/summer outdoor weather.

I guarantee this was been studied by professionals and they are convinced it works. You don’t commit to spending $200 mil on a whim.

April through August is prime outdoor venue entertainment opportunities.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

How will a sports medicine office, brew pub, and outdoor restaurant survive??

1) Convention traffic from the hotel and convention center
2) Iowa State and Ames have events ALL summer long like campus visits, incoming freshman, Special Olympics, etc.
3) Research park office space brings people to work in the district daily

It will slow without 35K students. But also could keep students in Ames over the summer with employment opportunities.

Lots of positives here for the city and region

All good points, I will also add that ISU has summer classes. I stayed a couple of summers and took courses and it was awesome. People act like ISU shuts down for the summer.

 

[2speedy1]

Frankly I don't know how they didn't name it Cyclone Alley and be done with it.

I kind of think CyTown may just be a placeholder until some mega donor comes in and gives $millions for naming rights. You have to believe that is going to be a possibility.

 

[BCClone]

I kind of think CyTown may just be a placeholder until some mega donor comes in and gives $millions for naming rights. You have to believe that is going to be a possibility.

Think $50 will do it?

 

[fcclone]

Think $50 will do it?

The BC Zone!

 

[carvers4math]

Interesting, this was about 11-10 years ago I was there and I was shocked how little there was for places to eat. I could definitely see the need for something and shocked it hadn't happened yet.

I mean it's not like Welch is horrible, and the little area I did see in South Bend was comparable to Welch...it's just I was really surprised it had so little offer compared to Madison's campus/stadium environment I went to a couple weeks later.

Eddy Street Commons

Opened in the summer of 2009 immediately south of Notre Dame’s southern boundary, Eddy Street Commons is an new urbanist, mixed-use development that creates ...

tour.nd.edu

Eddy Street Commons is older than I thought. It opened in the summer of 2009 but they have been adding to it substantially.

We hadn’t been there since a Stanford game in 2018 and stopped there this summer as an overnight after driving from east coast. Since that Stanford game they starting knocking down old housing for new near the Eddy Street Commons.

Redevelopment efforts lead to sizable population growth south of campus, new census data shows

The growth south of campus corresponds with hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment there, from new homes and apartments to new retail, office...

news.nd.edu

 

[2speedy1]

Seems to me some of you think that businesses need to be beyond extremely busy like they are/will be on major events, like game days in order to keep the lights on.

Most businesses have nothing like what these businesses will have some days, during events, and still manage to do well.

Think about businesses in other areas of Ames. No matter where, Duff, Downtown, Campustown etc. why do they get customers, how do they get there, when are they busy, what keeps them in the open. Wallaby's how does it stay open? Cys Roost, Welch Ave Station, both been open for decades, How? Cornbred, how do people get there? Hickory Park what keeps its lights on? These businesses are in different areas around town, some basically are only getting customers who drive, some are mostly students. How do they make it, year around, in the summer, when they dont have a football game tailgate to fill their businesses? When most students are gone?

Now if you think about it this area will have all of the same things as all of those, plus BONUS DAYS that HUGE EVENTS are going on. These are days they get rich, not days the need to make ends meet. Football Game Days will be EXTREME for these businesses, other game days in Hilton will by busy, events in CY, Fisher and Scheman will also add revenue. The addition of a Hotel and Convention center expansion will also increase business. Then you have the Iowa Games and Special Olympics which will both be big business events.

Then with all of that, you have other possible new events, to bring in more business, something that an event planner or promoter could fill up a calendar in no time.

Those that are trying to come up with excuses I wonder if have other motives because I just cant see why anyone would be against this, but then I guess there have been people against everything Pollard has built since he came. Just have to be against everything. Half of the naysayers probably haven't stepped foot in the area in decades.

 

[goclones69]

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.

This is correct. We are going to actually gain a net of 300 parking spots when this is all said and done. 1500 from the old RV lots and 300 from the Iowa State center project and then losing 1500 with Cytown for a net of 300. That’s atleast what Jamie pitched to boosters on Friday

 

[HFCS]

Eddy Street Commons

Opened in the summer of 2009 immediately south of Notre Dame’s southern boundary, Eddy Street Commons is an new urbanist, mixed-use development that creates ...

tour.nd.edu

Eddy Street Commons is older than I thought. It opened in the summer of 2009 but they have been adding to it substantially.

We hadn’t been there since a Stanford game in 2018 and stopped there this summer as an overnight after driving from east coast. Since that Stanford game they starting knocking down old housing for new near the Eddy Street Commons.

Redevelopment efforts lead to sizable population growth south of campus, new census data shows

The growth south of campus corresponds with hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment there, from new homes and apartments to new retail, office...

news.nd.edu

I think there was maybe just one block or half block of it done when I was there probably 10-11 years ago. Definitely not extent of those photos.

 

[HFCS]

This is correct. We are going to actually gain a net of 300 parking spots when this is all said and done. 1500 from the old RV lots and 300 from the Iowa State center project and then losing 1500 with Cytown for a net of 300. That’s atleast what Jamie pitched to boosters on Friday

Not that I want to, but they could lose 1000 spots and still have drastically better parking than Iowa City, Lincoln, Austin, etc..,