Dealin’ Doug’s I-25/392 land listed for $28.8M

WINDSOR — Having scrapped plans for a row of car dealerships on the site, Doug Moreland has placed 113 acres of land at the junction of Interstate 25 and Highway 392 in Windsor on the sale block.

Moreland purchased the land at the southeast corner of the intersection in two deals last year — one in January and one in April — for a little more than $12.7 million. The land is now being listed for sale for nearly $28.8 million by broker Craig Hau of The Group Inc.

While the Harmony Road interchange to the north and the Crossroads Boulevard and U.S. Highway 34 interchanges to the south are development hotspots along I-25 now, Hau said it’s only a matter of time before development converges on the 392 interchange from both directions. He said he believes the price, which comes out to about $5.85 per square foot, is in line with other commercial values along the I-25 corridor in Northern Colorado.

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Moreland, better known from his car-dealership commercials as “Dealin’ Doug”, bought the northern 53-acre parcel from UCHealth, whose predecessor Poudre Valley Health had owned it for years. The southern 60 acres was purchased from Mutual of Omaha bank, which had foreclosed on the property.

Moreland was unavailable for comment Thursday.

“Doug bought it really well and probably below market,” Hau said. “It’s going to develop. The question is when and what those uses will be.”

Moreland, who co-owns Fort Collins Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram with Mike Downey, had proposed a plan for the northern 53 acres that would have included four car dealerships built on the west side of the property along I-25, with other restaurant and retail space to the east. In addition to Fort Collins Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram, Tynan’s Nissan and Tynan’s Kia had planned to move operations there.

But while the land is within Windsor city limits, the entire area around the I-25/392 junction is bound by an intergovernmental agreement between Windsor and Fort Collins that dictates design standards and approved uses in the area. Because car dealerships were not explicitly allowed as part of the IGA, the two cities were trying to come to terms on new standards that might accommodate Moreland’s plan. But the process dragged out too long.

“Doug spent a lot of money … to try to get four car dealerships approved and start developing this,” Hau said. “They got tired of waiting.”

And Moreland and Downey, at least, found a different spot. Moreland closed this week on the purchase of the former United Building Centers lumber yard at 224 W. Harmony Road in Fort Collins. Rather than completely vacate their current Fort Collins site, they now plan to build a new Jeep-only dealership on the UBC land. They’ll then renovate the Fort Collins Dodge Chrysler Ram facilities at 3835 S. College Road and keep a presence there.

Hau said he listed the 113 acres along I-25 about a month ago but is just getting signage and marketing materials in place. The property, he said, has 4,660 feet — nearly a mile — of I-25 frontage. Hau said already approved uses include a broad range, from offices to restaurants to lodging to mixed-use residential.

“There’s not a lot of places you can pick off hard corner sites (on I-25) with the demographics and growth that’s going to continue,” Hau said.