On Tues., May 11, City Council voted to approve a resolution that would drastically revitalize the Foothills Mall in Fort Collins at a meeting that lasted until almost midnight.
“This is the culmination of about 9 years of work,” said City Manager Darin Atteberry.
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Historically, The Foothills Mall has gone through many attempts of redevelopment that have ultimately failed. As a result, Atteberry said the Foothills mall was of “high priority” for the city of Fort Collins. More so, he said that voting in favor of the mall will help realize a community vision.
Atteberry said the revitalization will launch a catalytic opportunity in the midtown area of Fort Collins and believes it will have a ripple effect through the midtown area.
The project is currently expected to cost $53 million in taxpayer money, with the entire cost of the revitalization being $312 million.
Despite the millions of dollars needed for the project, the city anticipates there will be no harm to their current balance sheet.
Many different groups were in opposition to certain aspects of the resolution. The ARC Thrift Store, a business that shares ground with the Foothills Mall, has much at stake if the redevelopment goes through, given they have agreed to move the store to provide more space for the revitalization process. However, their current landlord has not yet approved the new lease.
“We believe ARC would have added to the traffic and diversity; however, we agreed to move to a different location,” said CEO of ARC, Lloyd Lewis.
Collegian Writer Skyler Leonard can be reached at news@collegian.com.
