Iowa State University Webcam – Watch CyTown Take Shape

The Iowa State University Webcam looks across the CyTown construction site in Ames, where a new mixed-use district is going up between Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum. The camera sits high and wide, so the whole site fits in one frame: the brick and glass of the first buildings across the middle distance, a crane arm above the roofline, and the parking lots that fill the ground between the stadium and the coliseum. On a home football Saturday those lots disappear under canopies, flags and grills hours before kickoff, which makes this the rare construction camera worth watching for the people as much as the building. Three more cameras share the page, each aimed at a different Iowa State project.

About Iowa State University

Iowa State University was founded in 1858 and is a land-grant and space-grant research university in Ames, in Story County in central Iowa. Enrollment stood at 31,105 students in fall 2025, on a campus of roughly 810 hectares (2,000 acres). The city around it is not much larger than the university itself. Ames counted 66,427 residents at the 2020 census and sits at 281 meters (922 feet) above sea level, on flat prairie ground that gives a camera like this one a long, clear sightline.

CyTown, the project in the main frame, fills a 38-hectare (94-acre) site in the Iowa State Center, the complex that already holds Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum. The plan puts about 53,400 square meters (575,000 square feet) into eight new buildings alongside five existing ones, at an estimated construction cost of $175 million to $225 million carried with no debt obligation to the university. McFarland Clinic is the first anchor tenant, at roughly 7,200 square meters (78,000 square feet), and The Cardinal, a 200-room hotel managed by Marriott, is also part of the development.

Walk north from the site and the campus gets much older. The Campanile on central campus went up between 1897 and 1898, stands 34 meters (110 feet) tall, and was raised in memory of Margaret MacDonald Stanton, the university’s first dean of women. Lake LaVerne, home to a resident pair of swans, sits nearby. None of that is in this camera’s frame, which is what the other three feeds are for: Iowa State’s Facilities Planning and Management also runs project cameras on the Vet Med Hospital, the LeBaron Hall replacement and the Pet Cancer Clinic, and they are wired here as tabs above the player.

Weather and Climate in Ames

Ames has a humid continental climate, Koppen Dfa, and the annual swing is wide enough to change the camera completely. January is the coldest month, averaging a daily high of -2.2 C (28.0 F) and a low of -12.3 C (9.8 F). Winter frames come back flat and blue-white, with snow banked along the lot edges, bare churned ground where machines have been working, and a sun low enough to throw long shadows across the site by mid afternoon.

July reverses it, averaging 28.8 C (83.9 F) by day and 16.9 C (62.5 F) at night. Summer brings humidity and thunderstorms off the plains, and the long daylight means crews and cranes are typically moving in frame from early morning until evening. Spring and autumn change fastest. Autumn is also football season, so the same lots that sit empty on a Tuesday in October are full by Saturday morning, and the trees along the approach roads turn while the building goes on behind them.

Things to Do Near Iowa State University

Reiman Gardens sits immediately south of Jack Trice Stadium, a few minutes on foot from the construction this camera watches. It covers 5.7 hectares (14 acres) and includes a butterfly house, and it is the closest real attraction to the CyTown site. North of there, central campus is the walk most visitors come for: the Campanile, the lawns around it, and Lake LaVerne with its swans.

The two venues bracketing the camera’s view are the reason most people are in this part of Ames at all. Jack Trice Stadium holds Iowa State football and Hilton Coliseum next door holds basketball, so a home date at either one fills the lots the camera overlooks. CyTown is being built to give those crowds somewhere to go before and after, with retail and office space, a plaza and an amphitheater planned alongside the hotel and the clinic.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

Three more cameras, one elsewhere in Iowa and two on other campuses:

• Des Moines Webcam
• University of Illinois Webcam
• Oregon State University Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Iowa State University Webcam located?

The main camera overlooks the CyTown construction site on the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Story County, in central Iowa. The site sits inside the Iowa State Center, between Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum, at about 281 meters (922 feet) above sea level.

What can you see on the Iowa State University Webcam?

Four cameras feed this page. The main view holds the CyTown site, its first completed buildings, the working cranes, and the parking lots that fill with tailgaters on home football Saturdays. The tabs switch to three other Iowa State building projects: the Vet Med Hospital, the LeBaron Hall replacement and the Pet Cancer Clinic.

What is CyTown at Iowa State?

CyTown is a mixed-use district being built on a 38-hectare (94-acre) site between Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum. The plan runs to about 53,400 square meters (575,000 square feet) across eight new buildings plus five existing ones, at an estimated cost of $175 million to $225 million. McFarland Clinic is the first anchor tenant, and a 200-room hotel called The Cardinal, managed by Marriott, is also part of it.

What is the weather like in Ames, Iowa?

Humid continental, with a wide spread between seasons. January averages -2.2 C (28.0 F) by day and -12.3 C (9.8 F) at night, while July averages 28.8 C (83.9 F) and 16.9 C (62.5 F). Summer thunderstorms are common, and winter snow cover shows clearly on the camera.

Who runs the Iowa State construction cameras?

Facilities Planning and Management at Iowa State University operates them and publishes them on its own project webcam page.

Which Iowa State building projects have live cameras?

Four at the moment: CyTown, the Vet Med Hospital, the LeBaron Hall replacement and the Pet Cancer Clinic. The department also keeps an archive of completed projects, so the set changes as work finishes and new projects start.

Can you watch Iowa State tailgating on the webcam?

Partly. The camera points at the CyTown site rather than into the stadium, but the lots in the foreground are tailgate ground, and on a home football Saturday they fill with canopies, flags and grills well before kickoff. There is no view of the field itself.

How long will the CyTown webcam stay online?

Construction cameras are temporary by design. Facilities Planning and Management moves each one into a completed project archive once the work it was watching is finished, so this feed will come down at some point after CyTown opens.

Source: Iowa State University Facilities Planning and Management