Next Big Facility Upgrade

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Cycsk

Year-round tailgater
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Aug 17, 2009
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Repair the big parking lot between Hilton and Jack Trice. Some areas have been nearly gravel for a few years now.
 

Frak

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Apr 27, 2009
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Back in 2007, the athletic department released their plans for a practice facility adjacent to Hilton. While ultimately that was scrapped in favor of the Sukup facility, there were some very nice improvements to the plaza between the Hilton parking lots and the coliseum that haven't happened yet.

I'd love to see that area get an update to make it more of a "front door" to the coliseum. That whole area between the parking lots and the coliseum/Scheman building/CY Stephens could use a re-think.

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I would try to find a big donor to fund this building (and expand the concourse at Hilton), then move the Volleyball and Wrestling teams to Sukup. That would be my first big priority. After that:

2. JTS pressbox. Make it half as tall, but 3x as long.
3. Renovate Beyer for the swim teams and expanded Rec space for students.
4. Some sort of permanent stage/restaurant/beer garden in the JTS lots.
5. NEZ. Permanent stands the level of the Jacobson balcony.
6. Indoor tennis courts attached to Lied where the old soccer field was.
 

Jambalaya

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May 29, 2008
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The pressbox is not getting extended (anytime soon). From what I understand, the plan is to renovate the interior.
ughh that is horrible news. It stinks, and is the size of maybe half the MAC schools' press boxes
 

cyclone87

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Apr 6, 2011
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Ames, IA
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Whatever happened to the Iowa State Center upgrades? I thought they were going to tear down a bunch of the elevated walkways and make this plaza thing? Apparently that must have fallen through??

They did tear some down and repaired the rest (looks nice all lit up at night now), they haven't carried out much else of the plan yet, except for planting over 200 more trees around the periphery of Iowa State Center and Hilton. I'm guessing it will be done in phases as they have money available.
 

kingcy

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Sep 16, 2006
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Menlo, Iowa
The wrestlers just got a redone wrestling room. Is it good enough I don't know
The volleyball team needs something next. Yes it doesn't generate revenue but they do win and are about the only non revenue sport not to get anything new.
The Press Box at JTS also needs expanded and redone. Doing that will depend on if they can sell suites.
With all the improvements the last few years to everything, JP needs to pay down some debt before the next major project.

As for Baseball, it isn't coming back. No one cared about baseball at ISU until it was taken away. I remember the days of watching games with 50 other people. It was sad.
 

Rhoadhoused

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Apr 27, 2010
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Ames, IA
Iowa State is just too far north to compete against the south schools in baseball.

Might as well be competing vs UCLA and USC in deep ocean sailing.

Geography just doesn't work out.

Softball is a title IX thing, obviously.
 

isucy86

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Apr 13, 2006
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Dubuque
IMO its not even close. Hilton needs an upgrade.
  1. The walkways and stairs need to be fixed. They look unsafe in places.
  2. The concourses should be widened and concession stands improved.
  3. The inside concourses between the baselines should be converted to suites
 

ianoconnor

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Nov 11, 2007
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Johnston
Christy & the volleyball team deserve upgraded facilities. They are arguably our most successful program of the last decade.
 

whatparking

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Apr 25, 2014
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Hilton could really use a better handicap parking system. The majority of the handicap people have to park on the southwest side of the drive that runs south of Hilton, and walk through the tunnels to get there. A lot of those people have walkers, canes, wheelchairs, etc. The pavement between the lot and Hilton is uneven and broken up. Like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Hope they look into this.
 

stevefrench

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Aug 7, 2011
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IMO its not even close. Hilton needs an upgrade.
  1. The walkways and stairs need to be fixed. They look unsafe in places.
  2. The concourses should be widened and concession stands improved.
  3. The inside concourses between the baselines should be converted to suites

would like to see these two happen. much needed, and wouldnt change the atmosphere in the arena one bit
 

cyguytillidie

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Feb 9, 2010
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Des Moines
IMO its not even close. Hilton needs an upgrade.
  1. The walkways and stairs need to be fixed. They look unsafe in places.
  2. The concourses should be widened and concession stands improved.
  3. The inside concourses between the baselines should be converted to suites
Been thinking this would be a good move for a long time. Not really sure how they would do it but could look pretty sweet. Would also prevent people from standing on the inside concourses for the last 4 mins.
 

theshadow

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Apr 19, 2006
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Been thinking this would be a good move for a long time. Not really sure how they would do it but could look pretty sweet. Would also prevent people from standing on the inside concourses for the last 4 mins.

Wells Fargo Arena has some 8-seat loge boxes along its inner concourse. To do that in Hilton, they'd have to re-direct all upper deck traffic flow directly to the outer concourse, which would mean expanding the outer concourse out to the exterior columns of the building.

You could probably get 12-16 such boxes in Hilton (two per section along north/south sidelines, minus the camera bay and control booth), with enough space behind for 1 lane of traffic. Corners would have to be left open for ADA seating, and media tables currently on the north concourse would have to be moved to the east end.
 

cycloner29

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Dec 17, 2008
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Ames
They did tear some down and repaired the rest (looks nice all lit up at night now), they haven't carried out much else of the plan yet, except for planting over 200 more trees around the periphery of Iowa State Center and Hilton. I'm guessing it will be done in phases as they have money available.

More trees= more roosting areas for all the crows, which leads to more

480