The Ames City Council meets with the Government of the Student Body every year to come up with ways to improve student life, said Steve Schainker, Ames city manager.

The city staff puts together a plan on the physical improvements that are needed throughout the city. When GSB met with the city council, they decided it was important to update Campustown this fall.

One area of Campustown that’s owned by the city is know as Campustown Court, on the southeast corner of Welch Avenue and Chamberlain Street. The Superdog stand currently rests on the property, and Schainker said the area was in need of renovation, and that renovating it would be a great opportunity to get students’ input on how they wanted the area to look.

Schainker said the city turned the project over to the Student Affairs Commission, and the commission worked with different landscape architecture clubs and classes on campus and collaboratively devised the concept of what they wanted the Campustown Court project to look like.

Maggie Luttrell, GSB vice president, said the project would cost between $60,000 and $70,000. She also said the commission expected it would enhance the Campustown area and give students a nicer place to study and hang out.

Luttrell said GSB had been talking about building something like this for the past couple of years and said she is excited about seeing the project come to life.

She said there might a contest of some sort to help name the project.

“The name would have to incorporate the university, GSB and the city into one to show that they all could work together,” Luttrell said.

Nancy Carroll, director of Ames parks and recreation, said there are three groups of people funding this project — the city of Ames, ISU administration and GSB. The city plans to contribute $25,000, while the ISU administration will pay $23,000 and GSB will pay $20,000.

Construction on the Campustown Court project is expected to start late this fall and be completed in the spring, Carroll said.

The park has been around for several decades, Carroll said, and rejuvenating the park would provide an updated outdoor space for students as well as the community of Ames.

Carroll said the city will handle the construction, but the ideas and concepts came from students in a landscape architect course last year.

They chose from four original plans and picked the park plan they felt best fit how they wanted the park to look, Carroll said.