The fountain's gone. The arcade's gone. The Christmas tree that used to anchor the center court, gone. What's left of Foothills Mall is a ghost town with good bones and a developer who just made $15 million flipping part of it before breaking ground on anything new. Now Realberry, the local McQuinney family company that runs the thriving Promenade Shops at Centerra, wants to try again. But this time the plan looks nothing like the $300 million live-work-play vision they pitched in 2023. No apartments. No office building. No tearing down the old Macy's. Just $100 million in retail, dining, and entertainment, and a request for the city to extend a special taxing district so they can borrow enough to make it happen.

If you live in Midtown between Drake and Horsetooth, or you're thinking about buying near the mall, this redevelopment could be a legitimate amenity in a couple of years. Or it could be another round of promises that don't pencil out. My name is Patrick Soukup, and I've watched this mall go through four owners and two major makeovers. I grew up in Warren Shores, a three-minute bike ride away, back when every space was leased and the food court was packed. I want this place to succeed. But I also remember what happened the last time the city helped finance a Foothills Mall redevelopment, and it did not go well.

In this article, we'll walk through the new plan, how we got here, what the College Avenue sale unlocked, what the city has to do to make it happen, and what it all means if you're buying or selling in Midtown. If you're thinking about moving to Fort Collins or its surrounding area, whether you're three months out or three years out, give my team and I a call, text, or email. Links are in the description. We'd love to be an asset on your team.

Table of Contents

• The New Plan vs. the 2023 Vision: What Changed and Why
• How We Got Here: Four Owners, Two Makeovers, and Nearly $1 Billion Spent
• The College Avenue Sale: How Realberry Unlocked $15 Million Before Breaking Ground
• What the City Has to Do (and the Alberta Development Lesson)
• Midtown / Foothills Mall Area: What This Means for Buyers and Sellers
• Which Approach Is Right for Fort Collins?
• Conclusion

The New Plan vs. the 2023 Vision: What Changed and Why

The big idea hasn't changed: turn an old enclosed mall into an open-air lifestyle center. Think less "walk the indoor loop" and more "hang out on the patio and grab a beer." But the scope dropped by two-thirds. The new plan, filed with the city in October 2026, costs an estimated $100 million. The 2023 plan was $300 million.

Here's what's in. Realberry will tear out some of the indoor corridors and turn them into open-air landscaped walkways called paseos, a fancy word for a pedestrian street. One corridor runs from the main entrance off East Foothills Parkway out to the plaza. Another runs southwest past Auntie Anne's and Dick's Sporting Goods. The walkways will be partially covered, so you're not completely out in the Colorado elements. The buildings around the outdoor plaza stay. The architecture and landscaping get upgrades. They're considering a common consumption license, which means you can grab a drink in one spot and walk around the plaza rather than being fixed in one specific area. No changes are planned to the former Macy's, the parking garage, or the Cinemark Theater.

That's it. That's the new plan.

Here's what's out. The 2023 plan included up to 750 housing units, about 120 apartments over retail, plus townhomes and some 55+ age-restricted living. The new plan has zero housing. The 2023 plan included a four-story office building, about 70,000 square feet. The new plan has no office space. The 2023 plan called for tearing down about half the mall, 600,000 square feet down to 400,000, including H&M, Victoria's Secret, Spavia, Zales, and Rocky Mountain Chocolate. The new plan only touches select indoor corridors. The 2023 pitch was "live, work, play, and shop." The new pitch is "retail, dining, entertainment, and recreation."

Why did they scale it back? Higher construction costs, higher interest rates, a softer housing market, and a struggling office sector. I agree with them completely. Right now being conservative is what's going to help a developer stay in business, be profitable, and stick around for the long term. Realberry, the McQuinneys, are still at their core local, and I would love for them to stay in and remain in business for the foreseeable future.

The groundbreaking target is the third quarter of 2027, if it gets approvals. According to Clyde Wood of Realberry, they're talking with several possible anchor tenants. No names have been dropped yet, but it would be exciting to see some really fun, cool anchor tenants in that vacant ghost of a town we currently call the mall.

None of this is going to happen unless Fort Collins City Council says yes to one thing, and we'll get there. But first, how did we even get here?

How We Got Here: Four Owners, Two Makeovers, and Nearly $1 Billion Spent

The Foothills Mall has had four owners and two big makeovers. This would be the third.

In 1973, Everett Enterprises, Bob Everett, opened the Foothills Fashion Mall. Back then it was the spot in town. It was on the edge of town, not Midtown. In 2001, it was still the biggest retail draw in the region. Nearly every space was leased. This was right when I was going to that mall. There was the fountain in the middle. They would put up the Christmas tree during the seasons. It was absolutely fun. Food court, arcade center. It was one of those traditional malls. For me, it was about a five-minute bike ride, two-minute drive. It was almost faster to ride your bike than it was to drive there. Good parking. You had Sears, you had JCPenney's. It was a poppin' mall, an exciting place to be, definitely a hangout spot and a real draw in 2001.

In 2003, it sold to General Growth Partners, at that point the second-largest mall owner in the country. In 2005, the McQuinneys opened the open-air Promenade Shops at Centerra. This is the same company that now owns Foothills. But I would say that Promenade Shops drew tenants away. It was a newer concept. It was open air. It struggled while it was getting going, but now it is definitely a draw for the region between I-25 and 34. Very successful, looks beautiful, but it took away a lot of that draw and attention and retail shopping from the Foothills Mall.

In 2008 to 2009, the Great Recession hit. A deal with Dillard's fell apart, and General Growth Partners filed Chapter 11. In 2012, Alberta Development bought the mall for about $39 million. In 2015, a $313 million redevelopment reopened with a big bang, but it was definitely not what we hoped for. In December of 2020, the owners started to miss payments on what was left of their $150 million construction loan, about $46 million remaining. In June of 2021, the McQuinneys and an LA-based company bought it out of foreclosure for about $45 million. They bought the mall plus the College Avenue Shops, about 662,000 square feet on 63 acres, for $45 million.

That was exciting as a local. We were like, all right, finally we got somebody who's got kind of skin in the game who wants to come in and make this a special place again. In April of 2023, the big redevelopment plan, $300+ million, the big live-work-play plan, was presented. I was excited. It was cool. Apartments, townhomes, brownstones, office space. I was never a fan of the office space, but I was like, all right, cool. You maybe get people who are remote working, they want to work, have a little office space, maybe some anchor tenants, and be able to live and work and play all in the same area. I loved it. High level. But it just kind of started to teeter. You started to have some things that happened in 2023, like our water rates and fees were being discussed tripling. Never actually happened, but there was a lot of just challenges. We actually interviewed Clyde Wood on the Fort Collins Fellows podcast when that was running. We were excited about it, but it just never took place.

The College Avenue Sale: How Realberry Unlocked $15 Million Before Breaking Ground

In May of 2026, Realberry sold the shops along College Avenue for about $60 million. Remember, they had just bought the entire mall, including the center, the 600,000-square-foot facility, for $45 million and hadn't dropped a dime. So they're already $15 million in the positive. The College Avenue shops were the most successful part of that original Alberta Development $300 million redevelopment. So they sold an extremely successful portion of the mall.

But what that now allows them to do is look at the redevelopment of the main indoor mall, the former Macy's, the Cinemark, outlying buildings like Agave Underground, Bad Daddy's, the old CB & Potts building. These really are now kind of open to play with to a certain degree.

Here's the thing. You sell it for $60 million. You bought it for $45 million. There are extensive holding costs for that building, utilities, insurance, especially when it's been vacant for essentially the entire time they've owned it. But even selling it with a $15 million profit, here's the thing. Even with that cash, Realberry says the project is not financially feasible without the city.

And the last time the city helped out at Foothills, it did not go very well.

What the City Has to Do (and the Alberta Development Lesson)

The whole project right now hinges on City Council amending the Foothills Metro District Service Plan so that the district can borrow more money. Without it, Realberry says the project is not financially feasible as it currently is envisioned.

Basically, a metro district is a special taxing district that borrows money to build stuff like roads, parking, and plazas, and then pays it back with an extra property tax on the property inside the district. Right now the Foothills Debt Service Levy is capped at 50 mills. What they're asking for is for it to be stretched out, how long the district can levy those mills, so that it can borrow more against them for the common areas, the paseos, the plazas, and landscaping.

The mill levy hits the property in the district. Not every homeowner in Fort Collins. But shoppers do pay a public improvement fee on purchases at the mall. So if you're shopping there, you are chipping in.

Here's some history for you. The Alberta lesson from 2013 to 2020. City Council approved a $53 million public financing package in January of 2014. The Metro District issued $72 million in bonds to raise that $53 million, paid back with property and sales tax increment financing (TIF). Essentially, the new taxes the project creates get directed to pay its own debt, plus the public improvement fee. The pitch was about $117 million in new sales tax over 25 years.

But in reality, by 2016, the city expected to collect about half of the $8.6 million in sales tax it projected for that year because only 63% of the space was leased. In 2018, 77% was leased, but nearly 20% of the indoor space has never been filled. Then the foreclosure happened in 2020.

To be fair, there have been some phenomenal public improvements. The parking garage, the Great Lawn, the Foothills Activity Center. So I will say there have been good things that came of it. But I don't necessarily know if financially for the city it was the right play. The taxpayers got stuff. They just didn't get the sales tax boom that they were sold by Alberta Development.

So we'll see if Realberry's ask gets approved. This is about $100 million of private money going into Midtown. What it's asking is that it's extending an existing district. This isn't a fresh check from the General Fund. And this developer has proved that it can lease up, properly manage, and operate commercial space. But I do think that the city wanted that housing component, especially if there was going to be an affordable component of it. Retail is definitely a hard business. So with those two things combined, retail is tough, no more housing, is the city interested and excited about this project like they once were?

I'm sure they're going to ask questions like: Are anchor tenants signed before bonds are issued? Are the sales tax projections actually conservative? And who's going to eat the loss if the revenue comes in short?

Midtown / Foothills Mall Area: What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

Midtown sits between Drake and Horsetooth, off Stover, Lemay, and College in Fort Collins. The Foothills Mall redevelopment, if approved, will bring $100 million in private investment to this 63-acre site in the middle of town. The developer, Realberry, has a proven track record at the Promenade Shops at Centerra. The new plan includes open-air paseos, landscaped walkways, an outdoor plaza, a common consumption license area, the parking garage, the Great Lawn, the Foothills Activity Center, and the Cinemark Theater. No housing. No office space. Just retail, dining, entertainment, and recreation.

Here's what I like. This is the path of progress for the area. It's a vital site in the middle of town. The developer bought the entire mall for $45 million, sold the College Avenue shops for $60 million, and is now investing $100 million in redevelopment. They've already proven they can make money here. The Promenade Shops at Centerra, which opened in 2005 by the same McQuinney company, drew tenants away from Foothills Mall with a newer open-air concept. Now it's very successful. If they can replicate that model here, this could be a legitimate amenity for Midtown.

Here's what I don't like. The timeline is a reality check. Groundbreaking target is the third quarter of 2027 if approved. Then you've got construction. Realistically, we're a couple of years before you're walking in that paseo with a drink in hand that's open carry. Expect traffic and disruption during the construction phase on Foothills Parkway and adjacent streets. Realberry is saying it wants to keep parts of the mall occupied during construction, so this is going to be a work-as-we-go type of deal. No housing component in the new plan. The mall has struggled since 2005 when Promenade Shops at Centerra opened and drew tenants away. Nearly 20% of indoor space has never been filled since the 2015 reopening. The previous Alberta Development redevelopment from 2013 to 2020 underperformed on sales tax projections and ended in foreclosure. This mall has cost nearly $1 billion in investments over the last 20 years. History of failed promises at this location.

For buyers in Midtown, this is definitely a path of progress and potentially a phenomenal amenity. But no one's going to be paying a premium for two or three years down the road and potentially what's not even going to happen. Buyers will discount value until shovels are in the ground. If you're a seller, it's a legit talking point in your marketing. Major redevelopment planned for down the street. But buyers are going to discount it until shovels are in the dirt.

You don't have to worry about taxes per se. The Metro District property tax only affects properties inside the district, not all Fort Collins homeowners. You're only going to be paying for it when you're at the checkout stand, the public improvement fee charged when shopping at the mall.

This is not an overnight draw. This is a 2027 and beyond story. The council's got to approve this first. Groundbreaking right now is no earlier than Q3 of 2027. Then you've got construction. So realistically, right now we're a couple of years before completion. But I am excited about this. I'm born and raised Fort Collins, middle of town, Horsetooth and Lemay, Warren Shores. This was literally a five-minute bike ride, maybe three minutes. So I am hopeful just because it's close to my heart. It's a great piece of town. Sixty-three acres in the middle of town. I think it's vital to the success of Midtown that Foothills Mall does well.

Which Approach Is Right for Fort Collins?

We've made blogs about the Foothills Mall before and they've always kind of landed on deaf ears. Fool me once, fool me twice type deal. This mall was exciting up till 2001, and then after that it just kind of fizzled out, died out. Indoor malls fell by the wayside. New development did exactly what it once was, not reimagining things. So I think the city of Fort Collins is tired of the Foothills Mall. I think they've lost hope.

That being said, I think what the McQuinneys, now Realberry, have done by buying the entire thing for $45 million, selling off the College Avenue shops for $60 million, has allowed them to potentially make this a profitable and exciting endeavor. Hopefully it's a cash cow for them and they're able to bring in some really cool anchor tenants. And then maybe sometime in the future they can bring back the housing and office plans and look at it and say, hey, listen, we're killing it. Now let's look at something.

I'm a firm believer in invest as you go. And that's exactly what they've done. They've bought a great asset, pennies on the dollar, leased it up, got good sales revenue, sold that aspect of it. And now they're changing. Now they're moving their focus on their next step. So I'm all about taking steps, especially when you're talking hundreds of millions of dollars. This mall is nearing $1 billion when you look at potentially $200, $300 million investments over the last 20 years.

A hundred million dollars in investment is a big deal no matter who you are. But this is a 2027 and beyond story. This is not an overnight draw. The timeline is a reality check. The council's got to approve this first. Groundbreaking right now is no earlier than Q3 of 2027. Then you've got construction. So realistically, right now we're a couple of years before you're walking in that paseo with a drink in hand that's open carry.

Conclusion

So there we have it. A $300 million plan now down to $100 million. A lot of that cash was obtained by the sale of the College Avenue shops. And it's coming down to a City Council vote on that Metro District. I'm interested to know what your thoughts are. Would you vote yes? Drop it down in the comments. Would you support this plan?

If you're thinking of buying or selling near Midtown in the next three months or three years out, these are the types of conversations that impact values of homes. We'd be happy to talk to you about what it means. We're staying on top of this, keeping our fingers on the pulse. Give my team and I a call/text at 970-893-3533 or book a FREE consultation here. Whether you're three months out or three years out of making any types of decisions, we'd love to help you through that.