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If all goes as planned, the vast white oak laminate ceilings and often-empty beige halls of the Foothills shopping center will one day be a distant memory.
McWhinney and Prism Places — the developers who purchased the troubled 63-acre Midtown mall in 2021 — unveiled preliminary plans for a sweeping redevelopment of the site at a public open house Saturday. The redevelopment is estimated to cost more than $300 million, according to Clyde Wood, McWhinney’s vice president of commercial and mixed-use development, possibly making it Foothills’ second $300 million makeover within a decade.
The plans include deconstructing of a broad swath of Foothills’ enclosed mall to make way for a mix of residential units, a new 70,000-square-foot office building and open-air shopping.
What parts of the mall may be deconstructed?
A large section of Foothills’ existing interior mall is on the chopping block in McWhinney and Prism Places’ preliminary designs, according to project maps presented Saturday. That includes central and northeastern swathes of the mall that currently house:
- The former Macy’s department store
- Forever 21
- H&M
- Torrid
- Zumiez
- Maurice’s
- Buckle
- Hot Topic
- Bath & Body Works
- Vans
- Finish Line
- Shoe Department Encore
- Victoria’s Secret
- Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
- Spavia
Whether these tenants will stay at Foothills is unclear, and McWhinney will be meeting with them to discuss future plans as the redevelopment progresses, according to Wood.
“When we bought it, we knew we’re not buying this because we want to own a struggling mall or keep the mall,” Wood said at Saturday’s open house. “There’s 662,000 square feet of retail — way too much retail for this market to support — so we looked at it as 62 acres of opportunity to do something really cool and special in Midtown.”
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What will demolished portions of the mall become?
The northeastern section of the enclosed mall will likely be transformed into Foothills’ planned residential district, which could include anything from apartments and condominiums to brownstones. The planned housing units will be available at a range of price points, with an emphasis on “meeting the middle” with a good midpoint between affordable and luxury housing, Wood said.
Parts of the existing enclosed mall will be deconstructed, stripped down to its original structures and recladded as part of an adaptive reuse approach aimed at creating more open-air shops and a “charming outdoor village” feel, Wood said. That means Foothills’ restaurants and stores will largely be outdoors, with some outdoor roofing over walkways to protect shoppers from the elements, renderings show.
Why developers want to ‘rewild’ the Foothills site
The goal of the interior mall’s deconstruction is to “rewild,” the site, Wood said, noting a need for the mall to have outdoor spaces and natural elements that are more reflective of Fort Collins. In its preliminary plans, McWhinney hopes to go from 4.2 acres of outdoor space on the edges of the existing mall to 11 acres of open space woven through its new, open-air design.
“Right now, you look at the mall from an aerial (perspective) and it’s like a fortress surrounded by a moat of asphalt parking. There’s very little permeability and very little — beyond that courtyard out there — really no place to gather,” he said.
As part of this “rewilding” plan, McWhinney and Prism Places also hope to redo the mall’s existing east lawn, turning it into a larger outdoor area that is more connected to the shops and restaurants around it, according to Wood. This will also include the addition of a permanent outdoor stage and bandshell where more live music and entertainment will be offered, he said.
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What’s staying at Foothills shopping center?
After purchasing Foothills for $45 million back in 2021, Wood said McWhinney and venture partner Prism Places started taking inventory of what was and wasn’t working at the shopping center.
The biggest winner? The stand-alone strips of shops along College Avenue that are currently home to Cava, Chico’s, Lululemon, Torchy’s Tacos, Crumbl Cookies, Native Foods and more, as well as perimeter shops like Nordstrom Rack, Ulta and Ross Dress for Less.
Because of that, those shops will largely remain untouched in the planned development, Wood said.
The following will also remain part of the mall’s planned footprint:
- The stand-alone strip of shops that’s located just northwest of the mall’s main entrance and is home to Color Me Mine, Brewed Breads and KoKo Fitness
- The former C.B. & Potts restaurant
- The existing parking structure
- Cinemark Movie Bistro
- The restaurant buildings lining the shopping center’s existing east lawn and adjacent shops like X-Golf
- The southeastern section of the enclosed mall, which is currently home to Dick’s Sporting Goods, Auntie Anne’s and an Xfinity store as well as its adjacent building occupied by Ohana Salon and School of Rock
- The Foothills Activity Center, which is owned and run by the city of Fort Collins
What else is new in Foothills’ redevelopment plan?
The redeveloped Foothills will likely have something it never has before: office space.
A 70,000-square-foot office building is planned just off the shopping center’s new central outdoor area and, “is probably the most aspirational part of the project,” Wood said.
The mall’s new office idea was hatched as a way to give Fort Collins businesses office space that’s both big and located near a walkable space filled with shops and restaurants.
“From a financial standpoint, it probably doesn’t make sense,” Wood said, noting the change in in-office working after the COVID pandemic. “But having that weekday crowd is part of the whole project. Having people who work here and live here can help populate the retail (businesses) 18 hours a day.”
“What we’re creating here is an ecosystem. None of these things work on their own, they only work if we do them all together,” he added.
Foothills’ redevelopment timeline
Following Saturday’s public open house, Wood said McWhinney and Prism Places planned to take the feedback they gathered and work it into their preliminary design before submitting it to the city for review later this month or in early May.
They estimated that the preliminary design review process could span through this summer and that a one-year development entitlement process could end around next summer. McWhinney anticipates construction could begin in the first part of 2025, Wood said.
Until then, Wood said there will plenty more opportunities for the public to learn about the project and throw their thoughts into the ring.
“This will evolve,” Wood said, gesturing toward the redevelopment renderings offering Fort Collins its first peek into the new Foothills.
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