Also, Does anybody have any info on the possible Campustown Fire Station relocation that was talked about last year?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Campustown Redevelopment
- Thread starter Haverhill
- Start date
We will see what Randall does. It was rumored to have sold Lincoln Way property based on a submittable to the City with some minor changes after Randall was turned down. Now that the Comfort Inn is open next to his golf course, he has time to either go forward with his rumored redevelopment of the Chamberlain/ Welch corner or continue his fight over the Grand Ave. extension (keep it from cutting thru Crosswater). I think the city has won the Grand Ave war but you never know with the City of Ames.
It has been talked about at the City Council meetings. The desire is to have a new station that is about the same distance to campus but has much better in/out access for the fire trucks. It is a major pain to back in the trucks from Welch.
There is also talk about expanding the Campustown Plaza by closing Chamberlain and making the parking spaces/street green space. The one big detractor in this is the old T-Galaxy building becoming a bar.
It'd be SOO amazing to have an Iowa City like ped-mall by closing off Welch Ave. Maybe someday...
Step 1 is getting the fire station out of their current location
Step 1 is getting the fire station out of their current location
Sorry to break it to ya but this is not going to happen. It was proposed this past year and CyRide killed it. A number of reasons including CyRide spending a bunch of money putting in a bus turnaround at the south end of Welch.
Thanks PDX, certainly appreciated. I’m one of those alumni that come back and visit and see so much potential in Ames/Campustown area and sort of wonder what’s going on sometimes in terms of vision/improvements.
You mentioned a Chamberlain/Welch possible development I’ve never heard of but sounds interesting.
Any details or concepts on the development?
You mentioned a Chamberlain/Welch possible development I’ve never heard of but sounds interesting.
Any details or concepts on the development?
I was having a discussion at lunch about the old k-mart which is getting turned into 5 suites for strip mall.
I thought that it would make a really cool indoor market like what you see in bigger cities. Think the public market in Milwaukee. You could fill it with a few food vendors, handmade goods (jewelry etc), local produce, craft brew bar. Basically a 7 day a week farmers market. Seems to me like retail space is trending smaller and would be a hit on game day especially for later games.
I thought that it would make a really cool indoor market like what you see in bigger cities. Think the public market in Milwaukee. You could fill it with a few food vendors, handmade goods (jewelry etc), local produce, craft brew bar. Basically a 7 day a week farmers market. Seems to me like retail space is trending smaller and would be a hit on game day especially for later games.
It will take one person/developer with deep pockets and a vision. Money always talks
The thought brought up to City Council is to expand the Campustown Court on the corner of Welch Ave & Chamberlain with space that is currently Lot Y (11 parking spaces to be moved to the 100 block of Stanton) and close Chamberlain from the corner for half the block to the east. The Council members thought if they moved the fire station to add additional space then the Campustown Court would become a useable greenspace/park. Of course, people immediately jumped to bar patrons would trash the place on weekends.
I think expanding Lot Y is a much better option than the group that has been pushing for a greenspace where Lot X current is located. Lot X is a horrible option being closed in by all the perimeter buildings. It isn't really a good parking lot from an access point of view; that is why Randall wanted to get another entrance into it.
The Milwaukee one is freaking awesome but it's also downtown. Maybe if the depot and drug town, etc would have all been done at once and empty. The new Cornbred is legit though.
That location came to mind as well. I actually just went to cornbred for the first time last week. Was really impressed with what they did with the space and that patio will be something special when they’re all done. I love the pea gravel, reminds me of mountain toad brewery in Golden CO
Those types of markets are normally in traditional urban/downtown locations...often cool buildings with some history...which tends to be part of the draw. In contrast, this is a typical suburban style retail area....functional for cars, but not exactly a huge draw otherwise.
I know the DOT has let the first part of the Grand Avenue extension (the 5th Street extension) and plans on letting the second phase (I assume it'll be the actual bridge over Squaw Creek and maybe some work on 16th Street) in the next month or two, so I think that is a done deal.
Yeah your right. It’s just hard to think what type of businesses would fill the proposed spaces available along with the additional spots they are planning in that lot. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.am...-new-buildings-in-parking-lot?template=ampart
You are totally right about the historical building and urban neighborhoods. Last one I went to was Krog Market in Atlanta. I guess whenever I’m at one of these I just think, “why don’t we have that?” Could be done in Des Moines instead.
If Hessen and the other businesses never went into that depot, that could have worked there. I say this as a Hessen fan though.
Something like that would be really cool, but honestly I'm just glad something is finally happening on the old Kmart property. Brick and mortar retail is tough right now. As far as tenants I've heard rumor of Ulta and HomeGoods so far. The developer lists several tenants they often work with on their site: http://onpointdev.com/our-work/
True, the Ames Transit Agency (CyRide) is an administrative agency of the City of Ames but never seen the Board of Trustees not get their way.
