If Norman, Oklahoma can do it... https://theoklahoma100.com/business...ion-develops-new-entertainment-district/12796
Iowa State Center Redevelopment: Power & Light 2.0???
- Thread starter Haverhill
- Start date
I think if there is a way to cover it and at least heat it somewhat for the winters it could be a good idea
Remember that events are held in other Iowa State Center buildings occasionally on game days. All-State music for example. That area in the OP photo is relatively new. There's been planning, including focus groups, for several years, and that green space is part of the overall plan. Plus, just a few years ago, voters in Ames turned down a proposal to build a hotel and expanded parking facility as part of Scheman. My biggest concerns then was a) lack of available parking when multiple events happened at the same time and b) where could people easily walk to from that hotel? When I go to conferences, I don't want to be confined to the onsite hotel restaurant for "nights on your own" and really, there aren't any within good walking distance able to handle large crowds and/or families.
Its tough to compare Norman and Lincoln to Ames population wise alone.
Norman is also a suburb in an overall huge metro region.
Yeah, but they're a lot closer to Bricktown in terms of competition too... and this development is nowhere near OU's campus where students live.
If you want something to emulate, Aggieville in Manhattan would have been a good idea for Welch area.
I do agree that a couple restaurants (ie The Garage and Eskimo Joes at OSU) closer to the Jack and Hilton would be great but the idea of a Power & Light concept at the ISC will never happen.
The NU and OU developments are both off campus which is a huge difference from the ISC concept.
One difference with some of these other comparisons (Norman, KC, Lincoln) is that the Iowa State Center isn't really in the center of anything. Sure, it's across the street from the Greek area and across the street from the university, but on two sides there aren't any homes, apartments, or businesses. Those other cities are bigger and already have existing infrastructure around the area that makes it more attractive for something like that. For it to happen at the Iowa State Center, basically the entire entertainment district would need to happen all at once to draw enough events and people to keep the restaurants and other businesses profitable. But then you're risking a huge failure and suddenly there's a bunch of storefronts that people don't want to fill.
The entire Iowa State Center (including Jack Trice) is the floodplain. Originally Scheman was planned to be built on stilts like it is because of the threat of flooding with not much to be lost underneath the building. But they ended up finishing the lower part with offices and such negating the design intent.
None of this will likely happen until Ames becomes more forward thinking with their planning/development.
If you're at the top of the hill between Stephen's and Fisher, that's one thing. But the overall green space between the ISC, Hilton, and Scheman definitely poses flooding potential.
When I was in school this project came up. Nothing ever happened
https://www.inside.iastate.edu/article/2012/10/04/iscplan
So, I'll go ahead and translate this for non-civils: P&L 2.0 = no chance in the blue area.
I didn't exclude Stephens and Fisher because the basement of Stephens and the scene shop/costume shop/dressing rooms of Fisher are definitely in play as well as each building's mechanical.
I believe there was a tax based vote for a new convention center on the east side of Hilton not that long ago. It didnt pass.
Those are details I wasn't aware of. But, yeah, either way, I think you'd really have to consider the plain here if they indeed wanted to design the space for such functionality, whether elevated just between Fisher and Stephen's or throughout the ISC green space.
For those dreaming, maybe a food truck/bar cart court, or something along those lines, is more practical to build for the concept of an entertainment district here rather than building permanent improvements for restaurants or bars? Idk, I'm not an engineer, etc. so I'll leave that to the pros. (Not necessarily saying that'd be the best use for the area either).