On November 20, Ed Goodman, Chief Experience Officer of Spiral Experiences, LLC and a native of the Fort Collins area, introduced us to the current plans for development of a new destination “downtown”, currently called “The Brands”, for northeast Colorado. It will be located near the Budweiser Events Center and, thus, centrally located between Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley. It will be developed on both sides of I-25 to the east of the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport, toward Windsor. By 2022, there are expected to be some 875,000 people living within a 25-minute drive of this location. The development is conceived as part of the Larimer County master plan for the area which is growing rapidly, both in residents and in tourists. The airport is expected to be re-worked with a virtual tower allowing some 12 to 14 flights per day bringing some 20 million passenger seats per year. The Budweiser Events Center will probably be either renovated or replaced with a larger and more capable facility. Mr. Goodman pointed out that Fuzzy’s, a chain restaurant already in the area, is the busiest installation in that chain. His point is that there are already retail facilities in the area but there is no tourist destination to attract those tourists.
The plans include a wide diversity of attractions, many of which would be included in “The Great Colorado Experience”: “All Colorado All The Time”. These are currently expected to include a 4D flight ride (3D film with seat movement), a 5D theater (3d film with seat movement and other special effects), and the opportunity to experience many of the Colorado superlatives without having to drive long distances between them. There will be 120-foot “mountain peak” (similar in shape and construction to the peaks at the Denver airport) on which 360-degree digital art can be projected at night and on which shows and live action may be projected at any time. A ropes/climbing course is expected to be included.
The number of visitors expected will require significant parking arrangements. The plan envisions shuttles moving people to a gondola system which will move some 5000 people per hour from the extended parking area, largely on the west side of I-25, into the center of the downtown. This system will cost about 1/3 of the cost of a bridge across I-25.
Funding for the project is largely overseas-sourced and appears to be in place. Getting the project started is waiting on Larimer County approval.