Foothills Mall financing package vote set

FORT COLLINS – The Foothills Mall redevelopment has been one of the most talked-about stories in Fort Collins for well over a year, with residents wondering when the long-awaited project might begin.

Next week, they might finally get an answer.

The city council is scheduled to vote on a $53 million public financing package on Jan. 14, after pushing the vote back from its originally scheduled date in December. If the deal is approved, the $313 million redevelopment of the mall once again will be given the green light.

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Under the newly revised agreement, Alberta Development Partners will pay an as-yet undetermined fee in lieu of providing affordable housing and will help Arc Thrift Store relocate. Also under the agreement, the Youth Activity Center will remain at the mall.

The road to this point has been bumpy. The financing agreement was first approved in May 2013, but problems with different amendments to the agreement derailed the project, eventually pushing the redeveloped mall’s opening date back a full year to the end of 2015.

Those issues have been resolved, although details on some of the solutions are still hazy.

For at least one of the obstacles, the way forward has been clearly mapped out. When the finance agreement was passed, city council members directed city staff to determine if there were any other locations for the Youth Activity Center, currently located on the mall property at 415 E. Monroe Drive.

In October 2013, the city and Alberta Development Partners agreed to keep the center, renamed Foothills Activity Center, at the mall between the existing Macy’s space and a parking garage that is part of redevelopment plans.

The center will encompass 24,000 square feet, according to the revised redevelopment and reimbursement agreement. The center makes up $4.8 million of the $53 million agreement.

Another element that had to be addressed was the project’s residential component. Alberta has pledged to build from 446 to 800 residential units as part of the project, but city council members wanted at least a portion of those units to be part of the city’s affordable-housing program.

According to the most recent agreement, dated Jan. 3, in lieu of building affordable housing, the developer will pay any fees enacted by the city council on or before Dec. 1, 2014. How much those fees might be is not yet known. The city has been working on a plan to alleviate Fort Collins’ shortage of affordable housing, and that plan might ultimately include fees levied on developments that do not include an affordable housing component.

Perhaps the most contentious element of the negotiations – the failure to craft a successful relocation agreement to move Arc Thrift Store off the mall property – apparently also has been resolved, according to the city memo, which says “… the developer has stated they have a deal with Arc.” No further detail on what the agreement might entail is available, as representatives from both Alberta Development Partners and Arc have remained mum on the subject.

The city council meeting including the vote on the redevelopment and reimbursement agreement will take place at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at in the council chambers at City Hall, 300 Laporte Ave.