The City of Fort Collins has closed on a land purchase of five acres of undeveloped land behind 1475 N. College Ave. (the back half of the property where Rocky Mountain Battery Center is located).
The parcel is now part of the City’s Land Bank Program, through which the City acquires, holds, and sells real property to help housing providers build affordable rental and homeownership housing. The “bank” is back to five properties. The City sold a land bank parcel in 2017 to Housing Catalyst who built the 96-unit Village on Horsetooth.
The purchase is the Fort Collins’ first land bank addition since 2006.
The City intends to hold this property for between 5 and 15 years to allow for development impediments to be improved by surrounding future development. For now, the City has leased the property back to Rocky Mountain Recycling Center for continued use as storage.
Eventually, the City of Fort Collins plans to sell the land to a qualified development team to produce new homes for families making no more than 80 percent of the Area Median Income ($55,800 for a couple, $69,750 for a family of 4). The number of homes will be determined by site configuration, but it is estimated to produce about 75 homes.