- 165 rooms
- 85%2C000 square feet
- 2 acre site
- Completion set for 2017
After decades of fits and starts to build a hotel and meeting space in Old Town Fort Collins, Bohemian Cos., Loveland-based McWhinney and Sage Hospitality are teaming up to bring the long-held idea to reality.
McWhinney and Sage Hospitality announced plans Wednesday to build a 165-room, 85,000-square-foot luxury hotel with meeting space and ballroom at 354 Walnut St. — the former Armadillo restaurant property Bohemian bought in 2010. The plan is supported by local investors, including Bohemian Cos., billionaire philanthropist Pat Stryker's real estate company.
Sage and McWhinney will lease the site from Bohemian Cos.; Denver-based Sage will manage the hotel and also open a restaurant.
Construction is expected to begin next year with completion in 2017, according to a news release.
"It's exciting news for downtown," Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry said. "This is something this community has been talking about ... for more than 30 years. There's been a lot of work between the city and Downtown Development Authority to have a downtown hotel come to fruition."
The hotel "will only strengthen downtown Fort Collins and differentiate us from other cities," Atteberry said.
Developers are still finalizing costs and many details, including the hotel's number of floors, the size of a ballroom and meeting space, and the final design. They declined to comment on whether they would seek financial help from the Downtown Development Authority. Atteberry said they have not as yet requested financial incentives or help from the city.
DDA Executive Director Matt Robenalt said his agency expects to talk with developers about public funding. "The DDA has expressed interest in finding ways to look at the use of public funds to enhance the environment around the hotel product."
The downtown hotel will be smaller than the Marriott or Hilton Fort Collins, which have 229 and 255 rooms, respectively. It will be about four times the size of the 45-room boutique Armstrong Hotel, the lone lodging in downtown Fort Collins.
With Bohemian's purchase of 363 Jefferson St. at the end of October, developers have 2 acres for the hotel and parking. The site, now home to Iasis church, is adjacent to the Armadillo, giving the hotel key frontage and access from Jefferson Street.
The Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority and city officials have long envisioned a downtown hotel with meeting space as another economic driver for Old Town.
"This hotel will fill a longstanding need for a downtown lodging and meeting facility," Robenalt said.
"With the success downtown has seen in other development sectors — whether that's been private offices or residential developments or its revitalization of the historic retail core — this has been that one use that has escaped us over the decades," he said. "To see this coming now is a critical piece of the puzzle for having a well-rounded downtown."
McWhinney and Sage Hospitality have partnered before, including on the redevelopment of Denver's historic Union Station with the luxury Crawford hotel, restaurants and high-end retail, and the historic Windsor Dairy Block buildings, for a mixed-use concept, including a Sage-operated independent hotel.
Sage Hospitality owns or manages hotels in 18 states, including 21 in Colorado.
"We're looking forward to providing a great space for visitors and locals alike," said Chad McWhinney, CEO and co-founder of McWhinney. "Fort Collins' vibrant culture will be apparent in everything from architecture to food offerings."
Bohemian Cos. CEO Joe Zimlich said the hotel will increase the vitality of downtown. "We're pleased to be working with other investors to move the project forward. Fort Collins is in good hands with their (McWhinney and Sage's) history of outstanding projects throughout the state."
McWhinney, best known as the developer of Centerra in Loveland, has developed several projects in Fort Collins, including the Trails at Timberline high-end apartments at the intersection of Timberline and Drake.
"Bohemian, McWhinney and Sage are all very reputable companies and do very tasteful, appropriate work and I'm delighted by the partnership," Atteberry said.
Past efforts
In 1984, the DDA and city agreed to provide $6 million in financing toward a 200-room Radisson Hotel on a triangular block bordered by College Avenue, Pine Street and Jefferson Street.
The deal never materialized, but the Fort Collins Marriott and University Park Holiday Inn — now the Hilton Fort Collins — both broke ground on their projects during the same year.
It looked like the city would finally pull off a hotel in 2008 when it contracted with Kentucky-based hotel developer Corporex to build a hotel and conference center on city-owned land on Remington Street.
The deal for the 150-room, nine-story project between East Oak and Olive streets hit the skids as the economy soured and banks clamped down on lending.
In August 2009, the DDA announced it was continuing its search for a hotel partner. It hired consultants to figure out what kind of product was needed downtown and identified several potential sites.
The DDA went ahead with a request for proposals in 2012 to gauge interest in a hotel as the economic recovery began to take hold. It got three letters of intent but the discussion quickly morphed when the Armadillo closed in early 2013, when Woodward Inc. announced it would expand its global headquarters and manufacturing facility on the edge of Old Town, and OtterBox continued to grow its employment base downtown.
The convergence of events raised speculation Bohemian would fill the void and build the hotel itself, leading the DDA to back off from its plans.
Fast Facts: Old Town hotel
•165 rooms
•85,000 square feet
•2-acre site
•Completion expected in 2017
•Sage Hospitality will manage the hotel
•McWhinney and Sage Hospitality will lease the hotel site from Bohemian Cos.
