Multi-Family Homes in Development Around Foothills Mall Makes Odd Request

Many people in Fort Collins are eagerly looking forward to the construction surrounding the Foothills Mall to be complete for a variety of reasons, but one property under development in that area has made what can be considered a strange request.

We are in the middle of a housing boom in Northern Colorado, with so many people from across the state and country wanting to relocate here. There is a shortage of quality, affordable housing in the Fort Collins area. This is why a request submitted by Walton Foothills Holding VI LLC comes across as odd.

You would think in the housing environment we currently live in that any new housing being developed around the Foothills Mall location would look to get as many units built as possible. However, Walton Foothills Holding has recently requested a major amendment from the city, asking for their Multi-Family project to reduce their number of potential units from 800 to 256, a new density of 28.9 units per acre from its original 56.98.

This is a huge drop in available housing, and would look to once again raise rates for these units. Understandably, the original number of units would have required them to be "smaller," and the new units will be much larger. This leads me to believe that they will be more of the "luxury" type of condos. It's simple supply and demand. With the original 800 units, there would be more supply to reach the demand, in turn, keeping the cost of the units down and more affordable. However, with less units in a newly developed area when there is still increasing demand for housing, the rates will be driven up.

When it comes to business and making a profit, I'm sure this is what they are trying to do. However, since we're having a current housing shortage, is this something the city should consider, or should they force them to stay with the original 800 units that were first approved?