More changes in store for Interstate 25 interchanges

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

The Fort Collins City Council has given a green light to exploring actions at three Interstate 25 interchanges, positioning the city to capture more tax revenues from retailers bound for northern Colorado.

On March 4, the council will consider adopting a plan for improving the Highway 392 interchange and pursuing a speedier review process.

At the same time, the council will weigh potential changes in the city's structure plan and I-25 Corridor Plan. The modifications would enable consolidation of a 96-acre retail site on the northeast quadrant of the Prospect Road interchange.

Then, at a March 25 work session, the council will discuss creation of a Harmony Gateway District. It would make possible mixed-use and urban-density development on the southwest quadrant of the Harmony Road interchange.

The proposals are aimed at responding to the increasing trend of retail development gravitating to the Interstate 25 corridor, now widely characterized as the region's new "main street."

So far most new stores have landed in Loveland and Timnath, with the exception of the Front Range Village shopping center on Harmony Road. But financial consultant Josh Birks in a Feb. 12 study session told the council that plenty more is on the way.

He estimated the market could absorb some 1.5 million square feet of retail development in the next seven years. In terms of scale, that compares with the 900,000 square-foot Front Range Village and the 700,000-square foot Promenade Shops at Centerra in Loveland.

"The primary question is who gets that development," Birks said, "Growth will continue to happen. To assume we're sitting here in a fixed situation is misguided."

New realities also are fueling the proposals. The rush for retail has made moot the city's original plans for transitioning to open space and less-intense employment-oriented development surrounding the interchanges in an effort to preserve a buffer between communities.

Chief planner Ken Waido said that reality is particularly evident with Timnath, which he said rejected Fort Collins' vision and rezoned the entire east side of the Harmony Road interchange for regional commercial development - including a Wal-Mart supercenter.

"We have significant differences," said City Manager Darin Atteberry. "I think it's fair to say it's an abandonment of the work that has been done."

The city still wants to acquire an open-space separator between Fort Collins and Timnath, he said, but has suspended acquisitions pending efforts to repair relations between the communities.

Additionally, on the west side of the Harmony interchange within Fort Collins, there is a demand to better define the land uses and designs required to facilitate development of a Harmony Gateway District envisioned by developer Jay Stoner.

Situated in a to-be-reclaimed 270-acre gravel-mining site, the gateway concept includes a pedestrian-oriented district with a mix of employment, retail and urban-density housing up to six stories high. It would serve as a transit hub. A station on the northwest quadrant would offer access to mass transit along Harmony connecting to the Mason Corridor, and eventually along the interstate to Denver.

The approval to proceed followed an elaborate presentation to the council. The council requested the session after members balked at adopting the Highway 392 interchange improvement plan before comprehensively examining issues surrounding all five of the city's I-25 interchanges.

The 392 improvement plan was crafted by Fort Collins, Windsor and the Indianapolis developer proposing to construct a regional shopping center on the northeast quadrant of the interchange in Windsor. The developer agreed to split with the municipalities the $154,000 cost of an expedited review aimed at accelerating replacement of the inadequate interchange. Improvements costing up to $25 million are required before any significant development can occur on the surrounding prime commercial and residential property.

"We've got to get this right," said council member Kelly Ohlson. "This should be 25 years of vision, 50 years of vision."