They have walked back form the P&L and Title Town comparisons once it became abundantly clear they were having a hard time even securing 1 food/beverage establishment.
Cytown Update
- Thread starter norsemen
- Start date
It used to be busier on non event weekends but P&L is stupid expensive and people have moved on. It was cool at first but once the novelty wore off people found other places to go. The build up of the market area and cleaning up the Westport area pulled a lot of people away.
Humans are quite fickle when it comes to entertainment venues and/or districts. We love "new," and we enjoy huge crowds as long as the venue holds meaning or is in some ways novel. Just like any new hotspot, or restaurant, or bar, or anything else, there is always a dropoff. I suppose we could conclude that the amount of time this project is taking is also making many folks second guess.
I sincerely hope CyTown ends up being the success it seemed it would be when the idea first rolled out, but just a clinic is a bit of a bummer here almost halfway through 2026.
I sincerely hope CyTown ends up being the success it seemed it would be when the idea first rolled out, but just a clinic is a bit of a bummer here almost halfway through 2026.
Love that area. When I'm in town, I go there more than P&L.
The bolded is why I caution people when they say they want a Brew Pub in CyTown. Iowa is well behind the curve but those places are dying. IMO Wellman's like the West Glenn location would be perfect.
Cytown would be well suited if Full Court Press group or Dark Side of Spoon group went in
Places with established brands, leadership that knows what they’re doing
My pipe dream is Big Grove but i don’t see that happening
Go with a Draft Kings Sportsbook like the one they have at Wrigley Field.
Full Court Press would crush it but they typically avoid new commercial spaces. Part of the reason they have done so well is they find bargain spaces with potential and make them into unique places. They went out side of their bubble when they opened Fongs in Ankeny and they've already closed.
Big Grove won't happen. They already have ties to U of Iowa and they just announced their plans to distribute in Illinois and open a space in Chicago. Their biz model is very apparent at this point. They are only opening spaces in new states in which they plan full distribution. Their DSM location was an anomaly because they were given some incentive from the biggest AB-InBev distributor in the state.
Soup to nuts they probably are the best brewery in the state.
Food, beer, distribution, location.
Other places have better beer, imo, but no one dos the whole package better than Big Grovd
Seems obvious to me that WEST-O should occupy a spot in Cytown.
Big Grove is a huge supporter and partner of the university of Iowa athletics. They’re smart to not completely plaster it all over their Des Moines location, but it’s hard to envision interest on either side.
Lua would be my pipe dream, but I don’t see what they do really well working in a CyTown type space.
I love Lua but yeah they’re way too beer focused to work in Cytown. You need a place that can sling 100 Busch lights per hour
Their sister restaurant, either/or could work in cytown imo
CyTown doesn't need a brew pub, they need a place that food is their main priority and beverages second. The lease price for these spaces is going to be really high so putting a niche establishment would be a bad move IMO. A standard sports bar and grill checks all of the boxes.
Yeah it doesn't have to be a specific type of establishment other than a place where people want to gather, get drinks and food. The "brewpub" thing is just shorthand I think for many people who are envisioning Big Grove. They are a great model for whatever becomes the staple.
If Cytown is going to have a brew pub... WEST-O would be a good choice. It is a big IF.
It's unfortunate that Mullets was so bad/bad management in West Ames.
Almost wonder if they were competent if they could have made it in CyTown.
But is that because there is no longer demand for such establishments or because enough new ones have opened that the market is saturated? I don't really see how the entire Cytown concept has any meaning without food and drink establishments.
In St. Louis, I never went to the P&L-type place next to the Cardinals stadium. I spent most of my time in a real neighborhood (Soulard).
The craft beer industry is tanking. It will catch up in Iowa but it's propbaly 8-10 years down the road.
