What needs changing in Ames first?

[pulse]

Ames has alot of nice shortcuts to get around town if you know them. Ames is ready for growth road-wise (Ankeny wasn't and is still trying to catch-up).

Yeah, if you take Lincoln Way everywhere its going to take you longer. There are plenty of short cuts. I delivered for DaVincis and Dominos in school and it certainly doesn't take long to get from one side of town to the other and back, even while doing the speed limit! :wink:

 

[cloneu]

We need a White Castle on Welch.

That would be pretty sweet. Buy the White Castle sandwiches at Hy Vee just isn't the same.

 

[LindenCy]

That would be pretty sweet. Buy the White Castle sandwiches at Hy Vee just isn't the same.

I think the state government is trying to restrict methane levels in Story county, so this will never happen. :wink:

 

[Landshark]

Yeah, if you take Lincoln Way everywhere its going to take you longer. There are plenty of short cuts. I delivered for DaVincis and Dominos in school and it certainly doesn't take long to get from one side of town to the other and back, even while doing the speed limit! :wink:

One of my favs is Northwestern Ave., helps you avoid Grand Ave. and Elwood/University is a nice one too.

Basically from N. Ames take NW Ave. to 13th and head to Elwood/Univ to get to S. Ames. Seems to work for me. I hate stop lights.

 

[ripvdub]

Davincis! 1) bring in bus to des moines 2) In-N-Out Burger 3) The Return of DaVincis

My wife and I would open one if we could, we heard they only want it out west or something like that.

 

[ripvdub]

Ames definitely needs more retail. And not on the edges of town so it makes it next to impossible for students w/o cars to get to.

Also it would be help if the town's real estate wasnt all owned by about 3 or 4 old dudes. All they seem to care about is rental housing and apartments.

I really dont think there are that many great restaurants in Ames. There are several places that you loved when you were a college kid, but nothing of great quality.

 

[bos]

but nothing of great quality.

Um helloooooo, the hippie Gyro maker on the corner is stellar gourment dining. :wink:

 

[chuckd4735]

About the mall, and what ornryactor said back on page 2 (sorry, didn't want to quote that far ago...), I'm not sure I like it.
Sorry to contradict you ornry - but Coral Ridge Mall has effectively killed Westdale Mall, it's gone through new ownership, and various changing opinions of how far the city should go to "save" it. And I don't think it looks good - the best idea seems to be demolish and build an outlet mall or rezone it.
I also read in the newspaper over break that Lindale Mall had 5 or 6 stores elect not to renew their lease. Though they said that's normal, and still a healthy mall... that many stores saying "no thanks, good bye"? Maybe I just know nothing about mall economics, and I'm pessimistic...

If they have an idea to help limit the competition between the malls, or a plan on how to reinvigorate the old mall... I'm not sure the old one would survive.

I like flag guy's idea the best - a shuttle to Des Moines. That would allow students and residents access to their malls, concerts...

Great idea, lets encourage people to spend money in Polk and Dallas County. Screw keeping tax dollers in Ames and Story County!

 

[jdoggivjc]

Ames definitely needs more retail. And not on the edges of town so it makes it next to impossible for students w/o cars to get to.

Also it would be help if the town's real estate wasnt all owned by about 3 or 4 old dudes. All they seem to care about is rental housing and apartments.

I really dont think there are that many great restaurants in Ames. There are several places that you loved when you were a college kid, but nothing of great quality.

I understand the argument that it would be better if it were in town, but there are a couple of arguments against that:

1. I think the point of the new mall is not just to be serviceable to Ames but for it to be more of a regional mall serviceable to all of Story, Boone, and to an extent northernmost Polk counties (as well as others). I think this is going to take on the feel of Coral Ridge Mall, where it's not just for Iowa City and U of I, but more for Johnson, Cedar, and Linn Counties as well as the entire region (you'd be surprised how often people from Davenport will make the 45 minute trip there, even though we've got two really decent malls and several shopping centers in the Quad Cities). If it were just to be accessible to Ames there would be no point in building a new mall as Ames itself couldn't sustain it. It would have to be regional, and it would have to be on either I-35 or US 30 to make it accessible to the region, because placing it deep inside Ames takes away its accessibility.

2. Where exactly would you put it in Ames that is currently accessible to ISU students? North and West Ames are being residentially developed plus the infrastructure there couldn't handle that kind of commercial activity, there's no room to build on Duff, Grand, or Lincoln west of Duff, and building near the existing mall basically puts it outside city limits without the benefit of having Interstate access that the current plans call for.

3. North Grand Mall isn't exactly the most accessible mall to students - CyRide makes it so. As soon as the new Ames mall opens CyRide is going to either create a new route or reroute an existing one to service the new mall - it'll be just as accessible to the students as North Grand already is.

 

[A-town Cy]

First: Practice facility outside of Hilton

Second: Bowl in the South side of Jack Trice

 

[Flag Guy]

Great idea, lets encourage people to spend money in Polk and Dallas County. Screw keeping tax dollers in Ames and Story County!

Yes lets try and build a mall that can compete with the biggest mall in Iowa, and bulid it only 40 minutes away in a town that doesn't have nearly the same consumer base!

I hate to take the position of smart growth here but trying to compete with Jordan Creek is stupid. Yes it would be nice to have some more shopping options in Ames, but you will never have the same draw as Des Moines does. Rather than trying to carve away from their market Ames would benefit more from trying to fill markets not met in Des Moines, find some quirkier shops to give the college town more of a college feel, attract shops not found in Jordan Creek, ect. Don't try to compete head to head with it. Then work on advertising said markets to communities in the area, including Des Moines.

Lets face it, people are going to go to Jordan Creek, you cannot stop that. Insted of trying to stop it find something that will bring people to Ames as well, so that the money flows both ways


Or find ways to stem the loss, like make Hilton a venue capable of competing with Wellsfargo again. Lets face it, to a Concert Tour Des Moines is a better market, so our facility has to be something decent to compete with whatever they have there, however crappy it may or may not be

 

[Jbone4State10']

Ok quick question. Are they for sure building a new mall in Ames or just adding on to North Grand?

 

[LindenCy]

First: Practice facility outside of Hilton

Second: Bowl in the South side of Jack Trice

I'm with you.

 

[ISU4ME]

The retail needs to improve. Ames is essentially Ottumwa with a Big 12 University in it.

Don't forget Ames does not have the meth labs the big "O" has as well. Which is a positive.

 

[ICCYFAN]

It was a great place to hit up late at night for some cheap, good breakfast food.

I've got three kids (13, 12 & 11) and live in Iowa City. We've had season football tickets for many years now and get to Ames as frequently as possible to ensure they stay Cyclone fans! During holiday break, we drove over, had dinner at HP, caught the ISU / Albany basketball tilt and spent the night. I had every intention of taking the kids to my favorite breakfast joint the following morning and was devastated to see the CYCLONE TRUCK STOP was closed! They had it all, from greasy omelets to huge cinnamon rolls - it's a travesty!

Other random observations / opinions:
1) When I lived on Hunt Street in the mid-1980's, Campustown had both a McDonald's and a Hardee's! Between those two and Pizza Pit lunch specials, we were set!
2) I can't believe anybody would prefer Ames "become more like Ankeny". That's just sad...
3) I live in Iowa City and I like it, but I still prefer Ames by a wide margin. Even my kids are taken by the beauty of central campus on a fall Saturday...

 

[A liberal]

Allow 19 year olds into bars.

 

[Landshark]

Ok quick question. Are they for sure building a new mall in Ames or just adding on to North Grand?

Both the last I heard. The new mall will be out on 13th St. off to the east side of the interstate. Unfortunately it will be like the Williamsburg outdoor mall area. It will be interesting how they set that up, so it might be better than I expect.

North Grand Mall is going to put outdoor shops where the old Sears is now. Who knows when it comes to the owners of that mall, 10 years ago they had beautiful models of how they were going redo everything there and to this day it's still a piece of crap.

 

[cmoneyr]

Allow 19 year olds into bars.

There were already to many annoying 19 year olds when they weren't allowed.

 

[bos]

There were already to many annoying 19 year olds when they weren't allowed.

Second that. House parties are better than the bars anyway.

 

[EggMcClone]

Back in my day...Campustown had a Hardee's, a Burger King, and a McDonald's. Add in Hometeam Pizza and the grease levels must have plummeted when they all closed. They really should have at least one fast-food burger place down there. A Be-Bops open late would be awesome.

I was also bummed when I heard the truckstop was closing. We went to that place all the time and always did when we were back in town for a game. It was still exactly the same all the way down to the employees.

Ames does have pretty high housing prices, even for a college town. Here is how the Big 12 stacks up:

Average sale price for a single-family home covering 2,200 square feet, with four bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, a family room and a two-car garage in a “middle-management community” in cities that are home to Big 12 Conference universities:
1. $536,000 Boulder, Colo. (Colorado)
2. $343,233 Ames, Iowa (Iowa State)
3. $301,456 Lincoln, Neb. (Nebraska)
4. $247,450 Lawrence (Kansas)
5. $235,000 Stillwater, Okla. (Oklahoma State)
6. $228,525 Columbia, Mo. (Missouri)
7. $219,954 Austin, Texas (Texas)
8. $204,435 Manhattan (Kansas State)
9. $201,775 College Station, Texas (Texas A&M)
10. $186,249 Norman, Okla. (Oklahoma)
11. $179,475 Waco, Texas (Baylor)
12. $158,225 Lubbock, Texas (Texas Tech)

It's tough to know for sure since I've been gone for a few years but it seemed like between all of the new apartments that were built a few years ago and the city's ridiculous anti-student rules there were a lot of empty rental houses around campus. Is that still the case?

To keep businesses open in Campustown you need people living within walking distance. I'd rather try to get more quality stores in downtown and Campustown area instead of building a new mall but that's probably a pipe dream. Either way there's got to be a better way than sprawling in every direction while the areas around campus and Downtown rot from neglect.