Legacy, previously a main student location for partying, has changed direction to become ISU housing. With this change, there is the possibility for a shift in Campustown’s dynamic in the future.

Legacy Tower is owned by American Campus Communities and is located at 119 Stanton Street in the heart of Campustown. It has long served as a partying hub for students.

In August 2013, Legacy officially became student housing under the direction of ISU’s Department of Residence, serving as the living quarters for 298 students.

Paul Ring, junior in community and regional planning and former resident of Legacy, described the atmosphere of the building prior to its shift in direction.

“Legacy definitely lived up to its party reputation,” Ring said. “People would show up in an instant if you said you were throwing a Legacy party.”

Now, instead of an atmosphere characterized by many students as one of constant partying, the focus of Legacy has shifted.

Legacy is a community-driven “apartment/residence hall hybrid” on the forefront of modern student housing, said Brittney Rutherford, program coordinator for the Department of Residence.

Carolyn Duven, hall director for Legacy Tower, said while the transformation inside Legacy has been drastic, the culture of Campustown is the same as it ever was.

“Legacy has changed pretty dramatically and pretty quickly. Prior to this year students were able to listen for loud music and follow it to find the party,” Duven said. “That’s no longer happening, but Campustown itself is still a hustle and bustle. You walk outside, and there are people all over the place. It’s still a party atmosphere, but Legacy is not the place that [students] are going.”

Ben Peterson, senior in early childhood education, lived in Legacy two years ago when it was an off campus apartment complex and is making his home there this year as well, serving as the president of the Legacy Tower Apartment Association.

“There has been a slight change, but nothing drastic,” Peterson said. “The effects are mostly evident in Legacy, but the atmosphere in Campustown is a little more laid back than I remembered the last two years, and part of that is because Legacy is not being used as before.”

Rutherford said that she was not sure if Legacy’s party reputation was an additional reason Iowa State chose Legacy for student housing.

“I’m not sure if that was part of the decision or not,” Rutherford said. “The decision to choose Legacy, as I understood it, was based on location, availability, and American Campus Communities’ willingness to work with us.”

Duven said that a shift in the nature of Legacy, and subsequently Campustown, was likely on the horizon regardless of whether or not Iowa State leased Legacy.

“American Campus Communities had been working towards a lot of change, and so I think that even if we had not taken possession of the building, there still would have been significant changes this year because of the standards that they have for behavior in the buildings that they manage,” Duven said.

Of all the changes taking place in Legacy, one thing that’s not going to change is the priority of the ISU Department of Residence. That priority is to bring the same productive mentality and culture evident in traditional ISU residence halls to the new student housing available at Legacy, Rutherford said.

“When you go live in an apartment and just live there, there is no house structure. There’s nobody that’s wanting you to be successful,” Rutherford said. “We’re here because we want the students that live with us to be successful, and whatever that means for them, we want to help those students get there.”