Ames Railroad Depot (Ames, Iowa)

 place with historical importance, retailer, train station, farmers market

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Served as city offices until 1990 when city offices were relocated to newly remodeled Ames City Hall at 515 Clark Ave. After being left vacant, the city sold the building and property to Hubble Realty of Des Moines in 1994 for $1 with understanding the depot would be restored and converted to commercial use.

With short notice to the community, the developer made major modifications to the site plan to include two additional buildings not in the original agreement, expanding the retail area from 10k sf to over 38k sf. Although brick and other desirable features were included in the facade treatment of the additional buildings, there has only been one tenant that lasted more than 10 years, Drug-Town, later re-named to HyVee Drugstore. Several units have been vacant, and from time to time rented on short-term basis for political campaigns and the like. The 2007-2009 assessed valuation is $900k for land and $1m for buildings.

In Early 2000's, the Downtown Ames Market relocated their twice weekly Spring-Fall markets to the overhangs of the original depot, and later has established a year-round market location within the original building.

www.amesfarmersmarket.com/