Johnny's at Hilton Coliseum to expand and be renovated

[SoapyCy]

Yeah, what does Johnnys cost? So it's like a cover charge for a restaurant basically?

 

[CycloneDaddy]

Yeah, what does Johnnys cost? So it's like a cover charge for a restaurant basically?

I believe it is a minimum donation of $10,000.

 

[SoapyCy]

I believe it is a minimum donation of $10,000.

So a 10,000 cover charge for a sports bar?

 

[CycloneDaddy]

So a 10,000 cover charge for a sports bar?

Just looked, minimum donation of $12,500. This is part of the perks for donating to the Cyclone Club.

 

[StClone]

Teams will just have to learn to play around him.

There is a plan to re-inventent all of basketball as "Johnny Ball" where a statue of the man at mid-court is mandated by a rule change.

 

[Cycsk]

Congestion by the south doors could be improved with 2 simple steps:
1) at the 4 minute mark, roll the dang food carts as far away as possible from the south doors
2) enforce a rule so folks coming from the east side have to go north to get west, not south. Maybe everyone north of the student section has to go the long way around. The students are all going north anyway.

The congestion is not AT the south doors, by the time you reach the doors you wonder what the heck was the problem because there's plenty of space. It's about 20-60 feet west of there (maybe east too), as the carts take up a third of the width, and the east-side salmon spawning upstream take up another 15%.


As far as Johnny's, maybe the goal is to expand to open it to more folks, but JP might also want it to have some kind of face into the arena, so more pub for Johnny Orr and the ISU brand in general when it's seen during broadcasts.

Totally agree about the food carts. They were so far out on Monday that I saw an exit lane form on the back side of the food carts. If they pushed them back, it would make a big difference.

 

[Cycsk]

Build a big new club at the NE corner. Call it "Freddy's!"

 

[theshadow]

The language in the project summary would be just the red area. I think they could push out to include the blue area without interrupting/blocking other service paths.

 

[ISUBrew]

The language in the project summary would be just the red area. I think they could push out to include the blue area without interrupting/blocking other service paths.

Okay, so this is the way to do it without interfering with any service areas (red) and with the strictest reading of the project summary, is probably what they'll do. Occam's Razor.

I just question the "why"? This does not add much space to Johnny's, will have some negative impact on concourse flow (although not as much as some are making it out to be), and the new entrance / glass will not have a great view. (More people will walk in front of it because of the outer concourse being closed, and the angle and wall will greatly impact view of the court.)

I'm just not seeing enough positives to make this outweigh the negatives.

 

[ribsnwhiskey]

Okay, so this is the way to do it without interfering with any service areas (red) and with the strictest reading of the project summary, is probably what they'll do. Occam's Razor.

I just question the "why"? This does not add much space to Johnny's, will have some negative impact on concourse flow (although not as much as some are making it out to be), and the new entrance / glass will not have a great view. (More people will walk in front of it because of the outer concourse being closed, and the angle and wall will greatly impact view of the court.)

I'm just not seeing enough positives to make this outweigh the negatives.

Too bad you aren't making the decisions in the AD.

 

[RubyClone]

Okay, so this is the way to do it without interfering with any service areas (red) and with the strictest reading of the project summary, is probably what they'll do. Occam's Razor.

I just question the "why"? This does not add much space to Johnny's, will have some negative impact on concourse flow (although not as much as some are making it out to be), and the new entrance / glass will not have a great view. (More people will walk in front of it because of the outer concourse being closed, and the angle and wall will greatly impact view of the court.)

I'm just not seeing enough positives to make this outweigh the negatives.

I think that's quite a bit more space actually. Maybe another quarter as much if you include the blue. I'm not sure why they couldn't potentially include the service elevator in the footprint - I'd think Johnny's would need it as well/not sure how much it's used when Johnny's would be open. But Shadow would seem to be in the know and has an understanding of the inner workings there.

Question - what are those two rooms on the west corners of the existing footprint? Storage, private areas, other serving. Never been in there.

 

[CyMania]

I think that's quite a bit more space actually. Maybe another quarter as much if you include the blue. I'm not sure why they couldn't potentially include the service elevator in the footprint - I'd think Johnny's would need it as well/not sure how much it's used when Johnny's would be open. But Shadow would seem to be in the know and has an understanding of the inner workings there.

Question - what are those two rooms on the west corners of the existing footprint? Storage, private areas, other serving. Never been in there.

Both are Prep/Storage areas. Concessions isn't the only entity that uses the Service Elevator. I did hear some mumblings about some of the carts that production and concessions use that would have had a very hard time getting them in and out of the elevator if they had gone with one of the other plans (early stages). Having been in Johnnys a number of times I think expanding it in the 'Red' section is probably whats going to happen, it offers the most bang for the buck in terms of expanding.

I'd really like to see something built on the NE corner of the building as well. Also, digging out under the North Bathroom expansion like they did on the south side ( Current Ticket office) would allow more room for other stuff in the future.

 

[whatparking]

Honest question. Do you think it is likely they include the service elevator and change it to be a "personal" elevator for "Johnny's" regulars that have seats close to the floor? Just asking.

 

[Haverhill]

Silly question but with all the outdoor space around Hilton why are they building into Hilton and not outward?

 

[whatparking]

Does anyone have an update on how this is going? Any news on a final layout, and/or if they are going to have an open house for us lowlies to see it?

 

[CyDude16]

I've always thought they should turn Johnny's into a bar and grill, and on days when there isn't a game, it would be open to the public just like any restaurant. But on gamedays, it would still be reserved for only the "members".

As much as JP is always looking for more ways to make money, I figured that would be one way to do it?

Dumb.

 

[chuckd4735]

Dumb.

How so?

 

[IcSyU]

Terrible location is the first and last items to that list on why a restaurant is a dumb idea.

 

[chuckd4735]

Terrible location is the first and last items to that list on why a restaurant is a dumb idea.

The location being Hilton would sell itself. If I was in Ames on a non-game day and knew I could go to Johnny's and get dinner, It would probably be my first choice.

 

[IcSyU]

The location being Hilton would sell itself. If I was in Ames on a non-game day and knew I could go to Johnny's and get dinner, It would probably be my first choice.

Minus the fact that on the biggest days of the year for bars and restaurants in Ames they wouldn't do any business. Calling it a dumb idea is putting it nicely. There's no easy access. There's nothing around it to get casual stops from people. In order to make any money they'd have to price students out and that's the majority of those who live in the immediate area.