Cytown Update

[goclones69]

This sums it up nicely. Once Goldenrod is made whole for their $20MM initial cash injection, revenue is split 70% ISU and 30% Goldenrod.

All ISU paid was $37.7MM for the civil infrastructure improvements to make the ground ‘builder ready,’ but that will be repaid over time with net revenues once Goldenrod is paid off.

 

[Nor'MidWester]

Yes. Just mention Cy Town on there and see the dozen responses of "why is the university spending money on this instead of on xyz....."

You have to be an ignorant dullard to be a resident of Ames and be upset when Iowa State comes out with new developments or expansions like this. Ames would be like every other dying small town without Iowa State.

Most likely you live in Ames to begin with because of the university.

 

[Mr.G.Spot]

This sums it up nicely. Once Goldenrod is made whole for their $20MM initial cash injection, revenue is split 70% ISU and 30% Goldenrod.

All ISU paid was $37.7MM for the civil infrastructure improvements to make the ground ‘builder ready,’ but that will be repaid over time with net revenues once Goldenrod is paid off.

Slight clarification. Donations from isu supporters, free cash flow from athletic activities, and isu general funds (??) "paid $37.7 million." This land never gets "shovel ready" without donations.

 

[NWICY]

boxed in or whoop de whoop?

View attachment 170978 View attachment 170979

General location of the top pic?

 

[qwerty]

General location of the top pic?

NW Iowa. I have seen that photo a lot through the years, but only know it as being in Monona County in the Loess Hills.

 

[Lewey24]

This sums it up nicely. Once Goldenrod is made whole for their $20MM initial cash injection, revenue is split 70% ISU and 30% Goldenrod.

All ISU paid was $37.7MM for the civil infrastructure improvements to make the ground ‘builder ready,’ but that will be repaid over time with net revenues once Goldenrod is paid off.

Isn’t a portion of that $37.7 million the parking lot renovations? The parking lots needed redone anyway, so that part didn’t really cost anything above what we were going to spend anyway.

 

[MJ271]

This sums it up nicely. Once Goldenrod is made whole for their $20MM initial cash injection, revenue is split 70% ISU and 30% Goldenrod.

All ISU paid was $37.7MM for the civil infrastructure improvements to make the ground ‘builder ready,’ but that will be repaid over time with net revenues once Goldenrod is paid off.

FWIW, I don't think Gemini was right on this, but that it may be an even better deal for ISU.

Image below is from page 10 of the development agreement that the regents approved. The first payment to be made is the PILOT payment, which is money going back to the university specifically for reinvestment at the Iowa State Center.

 

[2speedy1]

The mistake is that people still use Facebook.

The problem is, so many things are completely dependent on FB.

So many small towns, communities, neighborhoods rely 100% on FB for news and info. A lot of towns no longer have a newspaper etc, and local news does a terrible job of actually covering the news, even in the town the station is in. Outside that town, you can forget getting 90% of any news about your community.

A lot of things like sports, clubs, schools, even the town government are completely dependent on FB to portray any information.

I would love to get rid of FB for so many reasons. But I know if I do, I will not see any info about the area, little to no actual news, and wont see any pictures etc of my kids in sports, no news from the city, no news from the school, no information from my neighborhood, no news from the area at all. Not to mention 95% of all invites etc to any family or friend gatherings almost exclusively use FB invites. Then there is FB marketplace which has become the only way to buy or sell on the secondary market.

FB has become/replaced the local daily paper and local news station on steroids in todays world. The problem is you have to wade through all the garbage to get to the relevant info.

 

[2speedy1]

NW Iowa. I have seen that photo a lot through the years, but only know it as being in Monona County in the Loess Hills.

I have a trip I want to do that hits as many of the level B roads through the Loess hills. It basically starts at Sioux City area and winds all the way to the Missouri border, zigzagging through the different dirt roads. A lot of the area most people would never believe it is in Iowa, similar to the Decorah area. People mistakenly believe Iowa is flat, because well a lot of it is, there are some very not flat parts of Iowa.

There are some good lists available online that show what are the best roads to hit in the Loess Hills.

 

[2speedy1]

FWIW, I don't think Gemini was right on this, but that it may be an even better deal for ISU.

Image below is from page 10 of the development agreement that the regents approved. The first payment to be made is the PILOT payment, which is money going back to the university specifically for reinvestment at the Iowa State Center.

View attachment 171001

Is it bad that when I saw this my eyes immediately focused on a certain combination of letters, in a document full of acronyms. And after seeing those letters all I could do was think about this.....

 

[GT25Ump]

The problem is, so many things are completely dependent on FB.

So many small towns, communities, neighborhoods rely 100% on FB for news and info. A lot of towns no longer have a newspaper etc, and local news does a terrible job of actually covering the news, even in the town the station is in. Outside that town, you can forget getting 90% of any news about your community.

A lot of things like sports, clubs, schools, even the town government are completely dependent on FB to portray any information.

I would love to get rid of FB for so many reasons. But I know if I do, I will not see any info about the area, little to no actual news, and wont see any pictures etc of my kids in sports, no news from the city, no news from the school, no information from my neighborhood, no news from the area at all. Not to mention 95% of all invites etc to any family or friend gatherings almost exclusively use FB invites. Then there is FB marketplace which has become the only way to buy or sell on the secondary market.

FB has become/replaced the local daily paper and local news station on steroids in todays world. The problem is you have to wade through all the garbage to get to the relevant info.

If I had to choose a bigger cesspool between Twitter & FB, it'd be Twitter. I have to wade thru a whole lot more BS to get some truthful stuff on that platform and don't get me started on all the "fake people" that respond to things on T, ugh.

 

[2speedy1]

If I had to choose a bigger cesspool between Twitter & FB, it'd be Twitter. I have to wade thru a whole lot more BS to get some truthful stuff on that platform and don't get me started on all the "fake people" that respond to things on T, ugh.

Man I dont know, Twitter is really a cesspool. I have an account but barely use it. Its nothing but trolls most of the time.

FB is bad dont get me wrong, its full of absolute garbage. But because of the reasons I mentioned before I stay there. It is really just the way so many places communicate. Sure random "journalists" post on Twitter and places like Cyclone FB post there etc, but mostly its hot garbage. You dont see many towns posting things like city council minutes, live streams, etc on Twitter, but they do on FB. You dont see many schools regularly updating twitter, but they do FB. Hell some of the sports clubs my kids are involved in, only use FB for everything from updating schedules and locations to posting results, news, and photos etc. Some of them only post notices of registrations etc on FB and I believe one of them even does registration through FB. I know some businesses that dont have a regular web page, but they have a FB and only a FB that they use for said business. You want to find them on the internet, you will find their FB page, nothing else.

So getting rid of FB is a no go for me, I hate it, and it is full of a lot of garbage just like all Social media but, it really is the only way some things are done these days.

That being said the last time I looked at a DM Rag (its been a while) it was full of a lot of garbage too, so I guess its all the same. And the local news cant help themselves but to put a political spin on everything, which has infected everything in todays world, so also appears to be a lot of the same bs you see on social media daily, hell most of the news stations post to FB almost non stop anyway.

 

[Freebird]

You have to be an ignorant dullard to be a resident of Ames and be upset when Iowa State comes out with new developments or expansions like this. Ames would be like every other dying small town without Iowa State.

Most likely you live in Ames to begin with because of the university.

They have mostly moved on at the moment and are currently spun up over a second Chipotle location being built on the west side of Ames. It is apparently the worst thing in the history of everything to ever happen in Ames.

 

[wxman1]

They have mostly moved on at the moment and are currently spun up over a second Chipotle location being built on the west side of Ames. It is apparently the worst thing in the history of everything to ever happen in Ames.

That is just pure BS. We all know it was when ISU started using the siren at football games and despite it being a beautiful day/night it clearly meant there was a tornado coming.

 

[Pat]

The problem is, so many things are completely dependent on FB.

So many small towns, communities, neighborhoods rely 100% on FB for news and info. A lot of towns no longer have a newspaper etc, and local news does a terrible job of actually covering the news, even in the town the station is in. Outside that town, you can forget getting 90% of any news about your community.

A lot of things like sports, clubs, schools, even the town government are completely dependent on FB to portray any information.

I would love to get rid of FB for so many reasons. But I know if I do, I will not see any info about the area, little to no actual news, and wont see any pictures etc of my kids in sports, no news from the city, no news from the school, no information from my neighborhood, no news from the area at all. Not to mention 95% of all invites etc to any family or friend gatherings almost exclusively use FB invites. Then there is FB marketplace which has become the only way to buy or sell on the secondary market.

FB has become/replaced the local daily paper and local news station on steroids in todays world. The problem is you have to wade through all the garbage to get to the relevant info.

This was absolutely by design. Facebook gave local (and national) news a “free” platform and artificially boosted traffic until they were fully committed and had basically no other means of getting eyeballs. Then Facebook killed the traffic unless you paid to boost the posts. It was a brilliant and nefarious long con.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

General location of the top pic?

https://iowaroadtrip.net/the-best-level-b-roads-in-the-loess-hills-of-iowa/

 

[2speedy1]

https://iowaroadtrip.net/the-best-level-b-roads-in-the-loess-hills-of-iowa/

That is one of the sites I used to play my future road trip there.

 

[Remo Gaggi]

Good article as well. The 'stadium district' concept won't work at every university, particularly those in high density areas such as Minnesota and Iowa. But I think the concept is a very sound idea and I for one am excited to see CyTown come to fruition

I think when CyTown is done, it’s going to be pretty damn nice, and visiting fans are going to be envious. I’m looking at you, Hok fans.

 

[qwerty]

Bruh we're going to have an Olive Garden, get out of here with that nonsense.

and another McDs

https://www.amestrib.com/story/entertainment/dining/2026/05/18/ames-huxley-welcome-new-fast-food-restaurants/90064556007/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=6a0aff4f5f1d920001b6b3ba&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawR37XxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFPQWRHTWRDMVdtNFA5OFpOc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkf0uYjJ5FtG0DEJlcMN13pud2UNkLJcetW5ND2OvRlq6Qd0ua7uTEPXtm5q_aem_nmkT5qWgc7JTAuYaucm0lg

 

[3TrueFans]

and another McDs

https://www.amestrib.com/story/entertainment/dining/2026/05/18/ames-huxley-welcome-new-fast-food-restaurants/90064556007/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=6a0aff4f5f1d920001b6b3ba&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawR37XxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFPQWRHTWRDMVdtNFA5OFpOc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkf0uYjJ5FtG0DEJlcMN13pud2UNkLJcetW5ND2OvRlq6Qd0ua7uTEPXtm5q_aem_nmkT5qWgc7JTAuYaucm0lg

We're downright metropolitan.