In Memoriam: Ames Business/Restaurants
- Thread starter Farnsworth
- Start date
Ankeny 1A or 2A 30 years ago? I graduated HS in 90 and was from a 2A school and Ankeny was WAY bigger than us. Forest City was 3A with 5,000 people. Pretty sure Ankeny was 4A then.
There was also another one on E. Lincolnway behind the then CENEX cardtrol gas pumps. I forget who it was.
I thought there was a bread store on the other side of Lincoln from those pumps too.
I don't think so. I wanna say it either Wonder Bread or Colonial Bread outlet.
Old Home Bakery Outlet used to be in the building south of Lowe's. It's Overflow Thrift Store now.
Yep, Ankeny was part of the "new" CIML starting in 1991 or 1992. And when did Ames drop down a level?
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I typed this and realized its more City in general than restaurants but anyway...it is right about all the new homes in last 20 years north of Bloomington Rd/Ames CSD.
I don't know what the Hunziker/Friedrich developers who actually build subdivisions are doing. I know the rest of Devs in town just want to make $ on Apts and rentals, but no developers seem to have the wherewithal to build more single family in Ames in the few available parcels of land that aren't built-out or owned by State/ISU. There has been some on far far West Lincoln Way, and far southwest (Oakwood Rd west of research park) but Ames is in the midst of a decade-long house sale squeeze, and:
(1) In Somerset, the whole 40-acre NW corner of the neighborhood got rezoned for an assisted living place and a large church property (not a huge building, just a huge lot. (I am fine with churches in neighborhoods instead of all the new ones on highways, they're tucked all over every town, but it's an odd way here). That could have been an easy 100 houses...
...and (2) at the old Middle School site, back in 2013/14 the City/neighbors ran the Texa$ luxury student townhome builder out of town in the name of more "reasonably priced family homes", and it is still (eight years later!) only just partially subdivided with one through street, not yet filled in.
Building 20 new 150k-250k 3BR homes here would sell in a week the way the stories of existing house sales go. And its adjacent to an established neighborhood and ISU land/creek/arboretum, which will stay nice park for future:
But it looks like it is the 'affordable housing developers who build and cash tax credits and then sell/bail" will be instead building the townhome-islands-in-sea-of-parking-lots that no one actually wants to live in, in the name of affordable housing, to be established by the City in its usual ineffectual but righteous way, still quibbling, five years later:
(south)
1- https://www.amestrib.com/story/news...ng-proposal-old-middle-school-lot/3714097001/
2- https://www.amestrib.com/news/20200...-family-housing-on-state-avenue-at-open-house
The neighborhood to west may wish the luxury student condos were built after all.
The church in picture one does provide some green space with the houses packed in as tight as they are. A place for kids to go play/hangout/ and burn off energy, that could be the reason for the lot they have.
I read over 25 pages and have yet to see Uncle Jacks Tacos mentioned (It was in the HyVee strip mall South side of west end of Lincoln Way by Todd Drive.). I ate there a few times in the early '80's. I think there is one still in Marshalltown. My recollection of how good it smelled as I rode my bike from campus.
My understanding: it’s unusually expensive to develop in Story Co, even more so in Ames. No one is going to build a $50k (or even $150k) house on a $100k lot.
“concrete reconstruction with water main, storm sewer, sanitary sewer manhole, and ADA sidewalk ramp improvements.”
I assume we’ll end up with minus 2 car lanes and plus 2 bike lanes, given how these tend to go.
Yeah 30 years ago Ankeny had 20,000 people. It wasn’t remotely close to a 1A or 2A school. I think there were clearly some missed growth opportunities for Ames, but pointing at Ankeny is not very relevant. There’s a huge difference in being 10 miles from downtown DM and being 40. And sorry, Ankeny is about as uninteresting as a town of nearly 70k can be. There are some cool things and nice spots and amenities, but I see mostly lame suburban neighborhoods, chains and big box stores.
I think much of what you point out here comes down to compromise. Breckenridge still got their development on the north parcel of the old middle school along Lincoln Way (just in higher density from). 26 single family homes and 38 apartment/townhome units with the current development plan on the middle parcel (controlled by the city). I think the city chose the better of the two LITECH proposal as Prairie Fire had more green space and amenities with slightly less units (the neighborhood also supported their proposal). As for the church north of somerset, they originally owned that entire property and had planned a retreat area with other recreational amenities around the site. At least they gave up some of it to the retirement development otherwise there would have been even more open space.
Prairie Fire proposal:
As far as the housing crunch in Ames. I think it mostly comes down to availability of land and the city's willingness to subsidize development cost with pioneer infrastructure (e.g. Ankeny). What land is available near the fringes of Ames is pretty expensive and often times requires infrastructure upsizing. I do think we will see improved planning in this regard with Ames Plan 2040 once it is adopted. Which might help guide developers more.
For new single family housing developments in the next couple years (other than north Ames) I think there will be some new ones in south Ames off of Oakwood Rd. This one in particular looks like it could be pretty unique: https://www.facebook.com/ansleyames
I like the fact the people developing it are a local family that lives on the farmland their and has some businesses in the area. As opposed to the normal larger developers like Hunziker, Friedrich, Jensen, etc. Not that I have anything in particular against them.
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I totally agree with this. Would make two points with respect to the so called “anti-growth Ames crowd" and the decline in enrollment in the Ames School System as evidence of Ames’s anti-growth attitudes.
1) Ames has grown. In fact Ames has grown substantially in the last 40 yrs. Ames’s population has grown by 50% since 1980. This in a state whose population has increased less than 10% in the same time period. Some of that is ISU student enrollment increase but most has been non-student growth. That is a pretty healthy growth rate within a state whose own growth has stagnated.
2)The decline in enrollment in the Ames School system is not due to a lack of growth but primarily due to,
- The Ames school district boundary being fixed. While Ames’s population has grown and its city limits have grown out accordingly, the school district boundary itself is frozen in place. That will not change. Ames’s residential growth has largely been to the north which is in the Gilbert School System. Resulting in Gilbert moving from a 1A school to a 3A school. Gilbert High School has essentially become Ames’s second high school, with a substantial if not majority of its students living within the Ames city limits.
- The other reason is a result of family size. Fewer kids per household now compared to 40 yrs ago. With a fixed school district boundary, the same set of residential homes have on average fewer kids per household. There is very little undeveloped land within the Ames school district. Ames could continue to encourage more dense non-college student housing, but by and large families with kids tend to prefer traditional residential development. Developers are giving them want they want in north Ames.
