Campustown project brings more housing, retail space

Another Campustown building will soon come down for a new structure with student housing and retail space.

Later this month, the Minneapolis-based Opus Group will begin demolishing the former Campus Book Store, located across the street from Iowa State University at the corner of Lynn Avenue and Lincoln Way.

The new building, The Foundry, will be six stories high and feature 53 units. The ground level will have 7,500 square feet of retail space. It is yet to be determined how many stores the building will contain.

The residential units will have two to four bedrooms and will include amenities such as a fitness center, study lounges, game room, common areas and underground parking.

The building is slated for completion in August 2015. Pre-leasing has begun.

When you look at whats going on at the university and how fast ISU is growing and couple that with lack of student housing both off and on campus, it creates a real opportunity, said Jason Conway, real estate director of Opus.

Conway said the location next to campus was also a plus.

What we have found in our model building in other university markets is we like to be adjacent to the campus, he said.

The current building was built in 1973 for the Campus Book Store, which closed in 2012 after 39 years. The store was owned by Floyd and Sandra Ballein.

A Halloween boutique opened for a few weeks in the fall of 2012 and 2013 prior to Halloween.

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Campustown project brings more housing, retail space