A new mixed-use development is planned for the Iowa State University Research Park, a move that leaders say isn’t so much a shift in vision for the park but rather an expansion of the road the park has been on for the past decade.

It marks the first residential development at the Research Park.

Site work began recently on the 4.2-acre site on Collaboration Place across from the Research Park’s Core facility. The project will be done in two phases, with developers eyeing another 1.8 acres for a possible third phase, said ISU Research Park President and Director Rick Sanders.

The first phase will be one building and garages to accommodate residents. The building will have ground-floor retail and be commercial focused on amenities, including restaurants, but could offer some office space too. The upper two floors will be residential.

The focus will be creating space for people to live within the Research Park not only for employees of companies that call the Research Park home or ISU employees but also for others in the community, Sanders said.

The first phase will be completed before moving to phase two, which will include a very similar building with first-floor commercial and retail and upper story. There will also be basketball and pickleball courts that will be available to all tenants and employees of the Research Park, he said.

Ames-based Hunziker Construction Services (HCS) purchased the property from the Research Park for development of the site. The groups have a management agreement for what happens on the ground floor, with Hunziker managing the residential space on the upper floors.

Chuck Winkleblack, president and partner of HCS, said as the Research Park continues to grow, there will be increasing demand for “ancillary commercial businesses” from employees and tenants of the Research Park, as well as residents who live nearby.

“That’s probably the thing that excites me the most about this,” he said. “There just aren’t that many services down there south of U.S. Highway 30.”

Winkleblack said he envisions a food and beverage component to the first-floor space of the buildings that he believes will be attractive to people who work in the Research Park, as well as people who live nearby.

“There’s not a lot of traffic on Collaboration Place right now, so it has to be something that is more of a destination,” he said.

The first floor of each building will have about 12,000 square feet that will be built out to meet the needs of the first tenant and then modified for additional tenants, Winkleblack said.

The buildings will each have 25 residential units, with one unit in each being on the ground floor to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, he said.

With access to U.S. 30 and Interstate 35, the site not only will appeal to people who work in Ames but will also draw people who work in Ankeny or Des Moines, Winkleblack said.

“I think it’s a highly desirable place for people to live,” he said.

Sanders said the goal is to get all the site work and concrete work done on phase one yet this fall, with construction beginning in spring 2025 and completion planned for that fall. Completion of phase two is anticipated for spring 2026.

The Ames City Council approved the site plan and preliminary plat for the multi-use developments at a recent meeting.

Also planned is an all-residential development that will border University Boulevard and near Workiva’s parking lot. A 2-acre site will include apartments and townhomes, for a total of 25 units. There are 74 units planned for a larger 6-acre site.

Winkleblack said work on the smaller site could begin this fall, with construction planned for 2025. Work on the larger development would begin later.

“[Leaders] at the Research Park will tell you that’s the No. 1 thing when they have people looking into the Research, where are people going to live?” Winkleblack said.

Sanders said as the Research Park has continued to expand south of South Loop Drive “there became real recognition that one of the things that was missing was amenities, the kind of places that tenants and employees of the Research Park could use.”

The Research Park also features a McFarland Clinic health center, Ames Racquet and Fitness  and the restaurant Provisions, all of which draw more than just Research Park tenants, Sanders said.

“So there was an understanding that the park needed to offer more amenities, especially for its tenants,” he said. “But clearly more than just tenants go to those places, so there is bleed-over. This is the next step in that. I don’t think this is new. I think this is just continuing to grow the live, work, play concept here at the Research Park. We’ve never had the live part of that.”

“I just view it as an expansion of the path the Research Park has been on for the last decade,” he said.