Ames considering Menards and dinosaur museum
- Thread starter Buster28
- Start date
so any growth is good? that's the philosophy of cancer. good growth is more than ugly strip malls.
so let's do this. let's get 100 people each contributing $10,000 to secure a bank loan for one share of the company.
i know financiers, i know engineers, I know the permitting process. let's go do it.
Gilbert is growing but not that much (975 in 00-01 to 1,363 in 12-13).
And the city of Ames has tried like crazy to kill any development north and focus it all south. People don't want south. So, again, the city is trying to go against growth (i.e. what people want).
I use SE Polk because the majority of their population base is Altoona, which has grown like crazy in the last 5 years. Yes, they do have a large district in terms of size.
Ames is not growing because they have not recruited opportunities to grow. Shoot, they fought like crazy against someone who came to them with a plan.
No, but ugly growth is better than decay. In almost a decade (using the numbers from the DE), Ames schools are shrinking. Other towns that have courted growth have schools that are... growing.
Declining school enrollments tend to mean more tough financial decisions for schools. Tough financial decisions (especially with Gilbert north and Ballard south) mean people will leave. People leave means tough financial decisions. And on and on.
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so instead of redeveloping decaying areas you want to build ugly things AND let the decay rot? Two for the price of one! It amazes me how beautiful and intricate buildings were back when there was a lot less money floating around.
North Ames is on the verge of a major growth spurt, with annexation now complete for all but one property on the north side, the area being annexed is expected to accommodate 1,000 new houses. So expect Gilbert school enrollment growth to accelerate even more, I believe its projected to reach 1,500 within the next 2-3 years.
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First, I don't think Gilbert is poaching anything. The boundaries are set. It's not like Gilbert is moving them at will to steal houses. Perhaps there is growth in Gilbert's district because people want their kids to go to Gilbert??
If those people wanted to go to Ames, they can open-enroll out of Gilbert. You do realize that, right?
No. But I would rather have strip malls like Ankeny/Waukee than nothing. It isn't pretty growth, but it is grow. And tax dollars. And residential. Doing nothing (which is what Ames has done) leads to nothing.
The best thing that happened to Ames from a commercial development standpoint, was the flood that took out a bunch of businesses on Duff, opening up some spaces to build. Had that flood not happened, much of that development would not have happened.
Plus the city is difficult to work with for small businesses. And commercial rent is ungodly high on a sq.ft. basis. Ankeny's climate is much friendlier to small business opportunities. Which is a huge reason why Ankeny has grown and has new facilities. And why Ames high is a dump.
Right on! So tired of the Gilbert is stealing ames kids crap. Johnston stole urbandale kids, waukee stole kids. That is a bunch of garbage. People determine where they want to live via the free market. Just happens that people would rather send their kids to gilbert than Ames, or any school to the east or west. Deal with it, and grow appropriately.
Also, It sounds like a Dinosaur themed mini golf course would be the answer to everyones problems?
I agree with some of what you are saying, but it appears things are changing. New land being opened up for development, elementary schools being rebuilt, new middle school, new school facilities being planned (50 meter pool, administration and sports fields on 24th st), new or reconstructed high school likely coming after the current projects sometime, major research park expansion, rebuilding campustown, more retail companies locating in city, downtown continues to do fairly well with only a few vacancies, Iowa State continues to invest in and expand their buildings and facilities, and Ames school enrollment numbers have stabilized and even grown slightly the past couple years. Seems like things are looking up, guess we'll see though.
I went to this place with some friends in Dallas one time and had a blast. I think this idea would do great in a college town. I am a pretty lousy golfer, but my drinking-and-golfing skills are exceptional.
TopGolf Dallas | The Premier Golf Entertainment Complex
Obvious drawbacks are: 1) weather takes away half of the year 2) during the summer, the student population is decimated and 3) students are poor as ****
TopGolf Dallas | The Premier Golf Entertainment Complex
Obvious drawbacks are: 1) weather takes away half of the year 2) during the summer, the student population is decimated and 3) students are poor as ****
How about a convention center with a dinosaur themed mini-golf course? I think I'll write that in since today is the vote on the convention center.
FYI Those new businesses are all built on the land Coralville went into big debt for to built a developer proposed RAIN FOREST! This Rain Forest was to be a great educational value. Coralville was left holding the bag when the developers couldn't con any more money out of the good folks in Iowa. By the way, Coralville has given (in addition to the land) big bucks to get these businesses to locate there.
The dinosaur park is somewhat reminiscent of a Rain Forest....hopefully a smaller scale.
oh...I realize it. And I was being a little sarcastic. But I just hate to see Gilberts buses everywhere in North Ames. I hate to drive through an Ames Subdivision and see Gilbert Flags.
I will say this though. Ames is rated 28th out of the 48 4A schools for size for sports.
if you add 300 kids they are top 10 which is very realistic probably now if that line wasn't drawn just north of town.
Not too mention some of the athletes that are starting to go to Gilbert are pretty good.
anyway...I guess on the other hand Ankeny will be dealing with North Polk soon also.
I guess my point is Ames ticks me off a lot if anything.
You don't like shopping somewhere because you cannot STEAL something from the place? Wow, quite the person you are.
And as for where they put it. John already owns the land where his wants to put his stores and he already has his in Ames. His real estate division is probably the best functioning part of his empire. Growth is happening slower this year with his stores. From what I know, don't expect one in Ames in 2014 or 2015, but 2015 could change.
Would love to see the Mendards in Ames. Lowes doesn't carry everything I need for work and don't want to spend my after work hours shopping Menards in Ankeny.
Both are great districts. Open Enrollment works just fine and many people moving into the northern growth areas use it to open enroll their kids into Ames. Ames has always gained more students from Gilbert than it has given up. When people look at the two districts for their own child, they tend to select Ames. With the new schools and other facilities, I'd expect that to continue and expand.
Um yes. They have to have 2 times the traffic as any other Home Improvement Store in the Des Moines Metro. There are times when the Menards parking lot is packed and Lowes has all kinds of parking.
