Midtown Business Improvement District and City advance designs for a reimagined corridor
The Midtown Business Improvement District (BID) and City of Fort Collins invite the public to an open house to learn more about the proposed redesign for South College Avenue that will transform the area into a multi-modal corridor and create a sense of place for the district.
South College Avenue Design Open House
4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Gilded Goat Brewing | 3500 S. College Ave., No. 194
Last year, the BID committed $200,000 and the City committed $300,000 to advance preliminary construction documents for improvements to South College Avenue from Drake to Boardwalk. This is the portion of Midtown covered by the BID – a special taxing district established in 2017 to support Midtown commercial property owners and businesses in collectively planning, funding and implementing projects and programs. Simultaneously, the City has been developing a proposed redesign of the Drake and South College Ave. intersection. Both projects will be available for review and feedback at this Open House.
These projects are outcomes of the 2014 Midtown in Motion Plan and the 2013 Midtown Plan. Both plans aimed to make South College Avenue safer for all forms of travel, improve bicycle and pedestrian amenities as well as connections to MAX, and create a high-quality, attractive street that is truly a destination. The Midtown Plan includes high-level concepts for South College Avenue and establishes a vision for a mixed-use multimodal corridor. Midtown in Motion built on those concepts and visions to produce a preferred design concept for South College Avenue.
At the Open House, guests will have an opportunity to see proposed changes to the configuration of South College Avenue – including increased amenities for pedestrians and bicyclists – as well as proposed designs and placemaking that will aesthetically transform the corridor.
Following the open house, the BID and the City will finalize the corridor proposal in preliminary construction documents. The BID will continue to work with the City to prioritize capital and infrastructure funding to ensure the project gets built in the near term.
“The Midtown BID has been an incredible catalyst to make significant projects like this a reality,” said Luke McFetridge, president of the Midtown BID Board. “The partnership with the City to advance this effort is critical, and will ultimately yield millions in capital dollars to truly transform this important corridor.”
The team selected to work on this project includes:
- BHA Design – A Fort Collins-based landscape architecture firm with previous experience working on South College Avenue projects and with the BID on a design plan for placemaking;
- Wilson & Company – A Front Range engineer and surveying firm with experience on South College Avenue projects as well as the Midtown in Motion Plan;
- Fox Tuttle – A Denver-based traffic engineer with experience on South College Avenue projects as well as the Midtown in Motion plan and MAX.
To stay up-to-date on all Midtown happenings, visit MidtownFC.org and sign up for the monthly newsletter. You can also follow the Midtown BID on Facebook at @FCMidtownBID.