Fort Collins council approves Foothills amendment

FORT COLLINS – Fort Collins City Council Tuesday approved an amendment to the $53 million public financing agreement for the Foothills mall redevelopment project.

The amendment was approved unanimously with Mayor Karen Weitkunat abstaining.

The amendment allows Alberta Development Partners LLC, the Denver-based company in charge of redeveloping the mall, to issue $72 million in nonrated bonds sooner, an important matter as the deadline for issuing the bonds approaches.

The agreement between the city and Alberta can be terminated if the bonds are not issued by June 30. The bonds are projected to include an interest rate around 7 percent, but the precise interest rate will not be known until the bonds are issued.

The amendment relates to the amount of space that must be leased before the bonds can be issued. In the original agreement, the developer was required to have signed leases on 240,000 square feet before the bonds could be issued. The amendment would allow Alberta to issue bonds when the developer has leased 155,000 square feet.

The motion was previously heard by council in April but was tabled when it appeared that it may not pass.

More than 30 Fort Collins residents showed up to the meeting, and nearly all expressed support for the deal.

Councilman Bob Overbeck, who had previously expressed opposition to the amendment, and to the finance agreement that passed council in January, said that the agreement had improved since council last saw it, and suggested the idea of forming an oversight committee for the mall, which was supported by other members of council.

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