Innosphere buys third parcel to help with possible Powerhouse expansion

FORT COLLINS — Innovation tends to be an overused word, but a new try at expansion for Colorado State University’s Powerhouse Energy Campus could qualify as it pulls in other players and seeks city input on how to proceed.

“We’re in an ‘innovation district,’ which doesn’t exactly have a definition,” said Mike Freeman, a partner at nearby biotech accelerator and investor Innosphere Ventures, which is also involved in the envisioning of a new, four-story, 150,000-square-foot building dubbed Powerhouse 2.

Powerhouse’s first building was completed in 2014, and an initial attempt at planning a second building was filed with the city in 2018 but later withdrawn.

Early-plan documents on the new effort are with the city of Fort Collins.

Innosphere is backing the Powerhouse push initially with a $3.3 million land purchase on Sept. 27.

“This is a very, very significant project,” Freeman said. It reaffirms commitments through the past decade by the city and several groups, including Powerhouse, Innosphere and CSU’s Research Innovation Center at the college’s Foothills campus about six miles away, to biotechnology and clean technology work, and innovation more generally.

“Biotech and cleantech are two industries we are absolutely trying to support and grow,” Freeman said. “It’s been a coordinated effort for a long time.”

He said facilities are one part of an industry need, especially in biotech and clean tech, where particular kinds of physical spaces are vital. Recent lab space expansion for Innosphere is also part of that, he said.

First steps

Freeman said the multi-step process — securing the land, conceptual input, detailed drawings, a budget and financing — is just beginning.

The land has been largely secured via property purchases over the past three years according to Larimer County Assessor records. Two parcels were bought for a combined $4.1 million with the support of local philanthropist Pat Stryker in 2018 and 2019. A third was bought on Sept. 27 for $3.3 million with Innosphere backing. The fourth needed parcel is city-owned.

With the land largely coming under control, city input begins.

The new building could add to a CSU energy and climate effort and is set for a preliminary design review on Wednesday, Oct. 20. It’s sought at the northeast corner of East Vine Drive and North College Avenue, a planning summary said. Because it’s in the innovation district, it needs Planning & Zoning review but is not presently expected to go before the City Council.

Freeman couldn’t put a specific timeline or cost on the project.

“For perspective, it took two years to do the small lab,” he said. That building is about 5% the size of the new Powerhouse project. Construction costs on it were $5 million.

Further steps

Financing is another question and will likely include alternative sources such as tax credits and grants, Freeman said. Innosphere’s wet-lab expansion secured $500,000 from the Colorado Office of Economic Development.

“The vision is, there’s going to be a variety of uses, different things happening,” he said, and all this will affect the cost and timeframe. “That’s how these projects come together. But you have to do all of them.”

One potential wrinkle: A question in the planning packet by formal applicant BHA Design Inc. in Fort Collins asked, “Would it be possible to close Jerome Street between Pascal and Vine for periodic events?”

Jerome is between Innosphere Ventures and the proposed Powerhouse 2 site.

Planning documents also mention an outlier potential property use. Along with the expected — labs and offices — were mentioned “retail, food services, and farmers markets.”

Freeman hasn’t been involved in discussions of land use, but with Powerhouse and Innosphere bracketing the area, various options come into possible play for internal spaces that could develop a community feel to the innovation district.

Current uses for the site include “truck sales [and] service garages.” The new site asks for just more than 200 parking spaces.

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