Popular regional retail destination in Fort Collins sells to local developer

DENVER, June 7, 2021 – JLL Capital Markets announced today its involvement in the sale of Foothills Mall and College Avenue Shops at Foothills, two retail properties totaling 662,619 square feet in Fort Collins, Colorado, and assisted new owners in securing acquisition financing for Foothills.

Cordes & Company LLP, the court-appointed receiver of the property, was the seller. Joint-venture partners, McWhinney and Prism Places, purchased the assets. Additionally, working on behalf of the new owner, JLL sourced the four-year floating-rate acquisition loan with a regional bank for College Avenue Shops at Foothills.

Together, the 493,287-square-foot Foothills Mall and adjacent 169,332-square-foot Shops are leased to a diverse mix of national retail tenants, including Nordstrom Rack, Ross, ULTA, Athleta and Skechers, among others. This midtown location is a popular regional shopping destination in Fort Collins, a rapidly densifying northern Colorado community approximately 55 miles north of Denver.

Fort Collins is home to technology, clean energy, aerospace and agri-tech companies along with the nearby 34,000-student Colorado State University, which is the second largest university in the state. The community is rapidly densifying, with the area within 30 minutes of the property expanding 23% since 2019, with another 10% expected to add to its nearly 600,000 residents. The retail properties are located at 215 E Foothills Pkwy, and benefit from its visibility from College Avenue, the primary north-south high traffic intersection in midtown Fort Collins.

The JLL Capital Markets Investment Sales Advisory team was led by Managing Director Bryan Ley, Senior Managing Director Barry Brown and Managing Directors Claudia Steeb and Jason Schmidt.

“The Foothills transaction illustrated the robust demand from investors for high-quality, value-add retail investments and the interest in Colorado’s high-growth Front Range submarket,” said Ley. “The sale process was incredibly competitive, and the new owners have an impressive development track record to enhance the asset.”

The JLL Capital Markets Debt Placement team representing the new owner included Senior Managing Director Eric Tupler, Managing Director Claudia Steeb and Senior Director Brock Yaffe.

“Our involvement with the Foothills property dates back to the early 1990s, and we are excited to see how the new ownership transitions and repositions the project, which is one of the best locations within the broader Fort Collins market,” Tupler said. 

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment advisory, debt placement, equity placement or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,700 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

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