HomeMy WebLinkAboutINVERNESS INNOVATION PARK FIRST FILING (ROCKY MOUNTAIN INNOVATION INITIATIVE) - PDP - 30-09A - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGPAT FERRIER, 224-7742
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NATION & WORLD / PAGE A9 Tuesday, November 4, 2008 A7
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Paris to help wmIth innovation
BY PAT FERRIER
PatFerrier®coloradoan.com
A new technology park
in North Fort Collins may
help North College Avenue
remake itself into an incu-
bator for innovation and
ingenuity.
DeveloperMike Jensen
_
of . Urban Development
Partners, - and a' Realtor
with Keller Williams, has
proposed four buildings —
between three and four sto-
ries high — on East Vine
Drive between Jerome
Street on the west and
Redwood Street on the
east.
The project, known as
Inverness Innovation
Park, will likely house the
Rocky Mountain Inno-
vation Initiative, or RMI2,
and other as yet unsigned
technology companies.
RMI2, formerly the Fort
Collins Technology
Incubator, has seven com-
panies strewn throughout
three city -owned buildings.
across Fort Collins but
wants to place them all
under one roof
The 30,000-square-foot
building will likely incorpo-
rate long -needed wet lab
Interested?
A neighborhood meeting
to discuss the Inverness
Innovation Park project at
6:30 p.m., Thursday, at
281 N. College Ave.,
Conference Room A.
Information: 221-6750.
space for bioscience compa-
nies :and room for future
expansion.
No formal plans for the
7.5-acre former home of
Waste Management have
been submitted, but the
city's planning department
will meet with neighbors
Thursday to explain the
proposal.
The property is now a
collection of half -used
buildings sitting behind
chain -link fence and one
house. All will be razed if
the project is approved,
Jensen said Monday.
The proposed site sits in
front of Old Town North, a
neighborhood' of single-
family homes, townhouses
and apartmentsr
"When you think of
Company asking to annex lots
BY PAT FERRIER
PatFerrier®
coloradoan.com
Michael Woolley
spends a fair amount of
his life traversing the
intersection of U.S.
Highway 287 and
Carpenter Road south of
Harmony.
He doesn't see the
need for more services
there but is willing to lis-
ten to developers' plans
to annex five properties
on the northeast comer
for future development
of a small shopping cen-
ter.
when Waste Management
had its trucks and roll off
Dumpsters here, it's a sub-
stantial improvement,"
Jensen said.
OtterBox, the manu-
facturer of super -sturdy,
waterproof cases for iPods,
laptops, smartphones,
even cigars, had ,initially
talked of consolidating its
Palmer Properties is
asking the city to annex
five lots for a 43,500
square -foot commercial
center.
"It is definitely the
gateway into Fort Collins
on the south side," said
Jimmy Palmer of Palmer
Properties. `Where is the
need for services within
the area."
Palmer said the main
reason for Wednesday's
meeting is to "engage
with the residents to
make sure the voices, the
needs and questions of
the neighbors all sur-
offices and warehouse
space on Jensen's proper-
ty.
CEO, Curt Richardson
said OtterBox is not mov-
ing to the site.
Otterbox doubled its rev-
enue and work force in the
past year and is just about
out of space at its current
Old Town location. "We
face," Palmer said.
The proposed annexa-
tion is bordered on the
west by Fort Collins and
is not part of the city's
Southwest Annexation,
said chief planner Ted
Shepard.
Woolley plans to be at
the meeting to see what's
planned for "the intersec-
tion that is significant to
my life."
There is already com-
mercial space that's
empty on the south side,
Woolley said. "I don't par-
ticularly see the need for
it."
haven't decided on another
spot yet," Richardson said.
We're starting to run out
of time."
OtterBox hopes to stay
in or near downtown but
hasn't ruled out other
space between Fort
Collins and Loveland. "It's
part of our culture at
Otter."