AMES, Iowa –The Ames City Council has approved a $7-8 million dollar project to buy and renovate a former childcare center. The plan calls for the purchase of the former Eagles Loft Child Care Center and totally remodeling that building and constructing another separate building for dogs.

“We’re just out of space that’s really what we need, to have storage space, human space, animal space, all of that is going be a huge improvement in the new facility,” said Ames Animal Shelter Director Rod Edwards. “There’s been a significant rise in the amount of animals, we look at our data going back 15 years and there’s been a definite rise in the animals coming in here.”

Edwards said they get more cats than anything. Right now, they have five guinea pigs up for adoption that someone had dumped in a forest area near Ames. They were rescued by the Ames Animal Shelter, as guinea pigs cannot survive in the wild.

Edwards said they are excited to move forward toward a new space.

“We’re going to renovate that building and keep the exterior walls but everything on the inside is going to be torn up,” said Edwards. “We’re going to build that appropriately for all the other spaces, the cat space, is the guinea pig spaces, staff volunteers, those type of operations.”

The City of Ames will soon be launching a fundraising drive to help pay for the new property. It is possible the project could open in a year or so.