5-story building to house CSU students awaits OK from P&Z

FORT COLLINS — The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission will decide Feb. 5 whether to approve a plan for a five-story market-rate apartment building that would house up to 785 Colorado State University students — but even if that panel rejects it, CSU could go ahead with the project anyway.

The plan for Prospect Plaza calls for the demolition of 164 units of CSU student housing in 11 three-story buildings, on the southern edge of CSU’s main campus, as well as another building that houses the popular Panino’s Italian restaurant, and construction of a massive building at 304 W. Prospect Road that would include around 225 apartments ranging from studios to five-bedroom units.

Andrea Coy, communications director for project applicant CSU STRATA, an 84-year-old private nonprofit corporation that supports CSU’s initiatives, said the plan was for the new apartments to have market-rate rents, well exceeding what the nearly 240 students had been paying in the doomed buildings. However, she added, “we are looking for options to subsidize the housing.”

City planner Arlo Schumann said those affordability questions came up at a lightly attended neighborhood meeting.

“There also were some members of the public that joined and asked questions about traffic and traffic volume,” he said, “and other questions revolved around pedestrian safety.”

Because CSU owns the property, only the university’s students will be eligible to apply to live in the new apartments, Coy said. But Schumann said that also means that Planning and Zoning might not have the final say on whether the project is built. He said the city’s review of the project comes under its Site Plan Advisory Review process, but that CSU’s home-rule status under state law as a land-grant institution allows it to operate as its own municipality independent of the city.

“Say we didn’t approve it,” Schumann said. “The applicant could go to the CSU Board of Governors, and they could evaluate our decision and overrule us if they so chose to.”

According to a narrative issued by CSU STRATA, the existing buildings “are at the end of their serviceable life,” and that includes the one-story structure that houses Panino’s.

“They had a good long run, that’s for sure,” Schumann said.

Plans call for the existing buildings on the 4.5-acre site to be demolished this summer and the new building, designed by Holland Basham Architects and built by Tetrad, to be in place in time for the start of fall classes in 2027. The plan includes a 419-space parking that would be shielded from view except from its access roadway and CSU’s adjacent parking garage on Lake Street to the west of the complex.

The Planning and Zoning hearing will begin at 6 p.m. Feb. 5 in Fort Collins City Council chambers, 300 Laporte Ave.

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