HomeMy WebLinkAboutTHE PLAZA @ PAVILION LANE - FDP - 37-07/A - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCE6A I The Northern Colorado Business
www.ncbr.com I March 14-27, 2008
Pavilion Lane project fills gap in high traffic area
Fort Collins hotel,
retail, office spaces
break ground soon
FORT COLLINS — Start with the traf-
fic counts in order to understand why Fort
Collins real estate broker Dave Pettigrew
and his Spirit Hospitality partners, Bill
Albrecht and Rob
Unruh, have such
grand plans for a
three -plus -acre parcel
on the citys south
side.
Anyone who has
negotiated streets in
the sector northeast
of Harmony Road's
intersection with REAL ESTATE
College Avenue Tom Hacker
knows those counts
are rising, but num-
bets appearing in promotional materials
for The Plaza at Pavilion Lane, as the part-
nership's project is known, are startling.
Fed by traffic flows to and from the
King Soopers-anchored Harmony
Marketplace, the Home Depot just east,
and nearby retail draws like Circuit City
and Linens-N-Things, daily counts on
Harmony Road both east and westbound
top 36,000 vehicles, according to city mea-
sures taken nearly two years ago.
The strategy that takes advantage of all
that traffic begins with a new, 84-room
extended -stay Candlewood Suites Hotel
that Spirit Hospitality will build. Three
other buildings, marketed to professional
offices, retailers and a high -profile restau-
rant, will build around the hospitality core.
"The attraction really is the anchor,
Pettigrew said. "These retail franchisers are
very conscious of where they want to be.
People are kind of cooped up in the their
hotel rooms, so they're looking for the
kinds of amenities, like a great coffee shop
and a quality restaurant, that will locate
there."
Pettigrew and partners are staying ultra -
flexible in presenting options for prospec-
tive users of the space. They will build to
lease. They will build to suit. They'll pro-
vide core and shell with tenant finish. They
sell pad sites outright. Anything the market
might bear, they'll provide.
For instance, a prominent downtown
Fort Collins restaurant owner is consider-
ing expansion in south Fort Collins, and he
and Pettigrew are talking.
"With our setup there, with pad sites
for sale, he can own the dirt and the build-
ing both, and that's how he prefers to
operate;' Pettigrew said.
Located on the northwest corner of
John E Kennedy Parkway and Pavilion
Lane, a thoroughfare that is becoming an
increasingly popular option for drivers
seeking to avoid the clog at Harmony and
College, the Plaza project offers speedy
access from either of the major routes.
Spirit's Albrecht said he and his part-
ners will break ground on the $6 million
hotel in August, and intend to have it open
Courray Spirit Hospitality
INFILL OPPORTUNITY — An 84-room Candlewood Suites extended -stay hotel, plus at least 18,000 square feet of
office, retail and restaurant space, will occupy a prime inflll parcel in southeast Fort Collins under the name The
Plaza at Pavilion Lane.
in April 2009.
"The key is we're in a specific niche
that's being underserved at this point,"
Albrecht said. "We differ from the
Residence Inn concept in that we're lower
priced. We still will offer full kitchens, free
laundry and will make it feel more like a
home than just being on the road some-
where."
Albrecht said room rates would be
keyed to the per diem figure offered by
government agencies, about $80 nightly,
compared with Residence Inns $135
room rate.
The partnership plans a total of three
Candlewood Suites projects in Northern
Colorado, with another hotel under con-
struction at the Crossroads Business Park
in Loveland, and land ready to build in
Greeley near the intersection of 35th
Avenue and 29th Street.
Editor Tom Hacker covers real estate for
the Northern Colorado Business Report.
He can be reached at 970-221-5400, ext. 223
or at thacker@ncbr.com