What's News in Northern Colorado

Developer Bayer Properties is officially moving forward on a $100 million shopping center along Harmony Road, anchored by a Super Target and Lowe's Home Improvement.

If Bayer's Front Range Village is approved by city officials at a public hearing Sept. 21, a March groundbreaking is planned for the 800,000-square-foot shopping center. By comparison, The Promenade Shops at Centerra in Loveland is 700,000 square feet of shops and restaurants.

Front Range Village would open in June 2008, with a majority of the shops leased, including a second Target for Fort Collins, said David Silverstein, Bayer Properties principal. He said he will build only if the project can be successful.

"This is an important addition to retail in Fort Collins," said Mayor Doug Hutchinson. "Mr. Silverstein is a methodical developer. It's a good sign that he's submitted plans because that means he has enough in the bank to proceed with success."

Bayer Properties submitted official plans Friday afternoon.

"The main difference between this project and the last proposal is that this is a smaller number of larger stores, as opposed to a larger number of small stores," said Ted Shepard, chief planner with the city's Current Planning Department.

Shepard has been working on preliminary plans with Bayer for several months.

"This is a major, major project, and we're as excited as we were four years ago about this," Silverstein said. "We would have loved to start sooner, but that's the way things go."

The Birmingham, Ala.-based developer has been trying to build some form of shopping center at the Harmony Road spot for more than four years.

Two years ago, Silverstein won the battle to change the land zoning to host a shopping center instead of offices. By that time, key retailers looking to expand or come to the region had already committed to The Promenade Shops at Centerra in Loveland, the majority of which opened 10 months ago in Loveland.

Silverstein's team revised its plans the past couple years. He's been meeting with city officials and neighbors since last year.

The recently revised development plans call for about two dozen stores in three main clusters at Harmony and Ziegler roads. The shopping center would be on 101 acres extending west and north of the Harmony Corporate Center, formerly known as LSI Logic.

A 140,000-square-foot Lowe's and 174,000-square-foot Super Target would stand in the back of the project, with several other stores.

A second cluster of nearly 200,000 square feet of retail just east of Snow Mesa Drive on the west side of the development would have about a half dozen stores, potentially including an office supply store, sporting goods store and pet store, according to the newest Bayer drawings.

In the middle of the 101 acres, four more buildings totaling about 92,000 square feet with second-floor office space would face each other, with a road cutting between the buildings like a "main street." A site for a potential 10,000-square-foot library is included, though funding agreements have not yet been solidified, Silverstein said.

In addition to the 800,000 square feet, at least five parcels will be available to independent builders for restaurants and other stores along the north side of Harmony Road. Some of the 3,400 parking spaces would be shared with the Harmony Corporate Center.

The two primary auto access points would be off Corbett Drive and Ziegler Road, though several other secondary accesses are planned. Although a walkway from the English Ranch South subdivision to the north is planned, a road to the neighborhood is not included in updated plans.