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2005 – 2006
Team digs in on historic downtown Fort Collins project
Jim Sell Design team faces “what lies beneath” Penny Flats
Fort Collins, Colorado – Six feet, under. It wasn’t a casket, but a six-foot, underground storm drain that presented a deep challenge for the 2.6-acre Penny Flats development on Mason Street in downtown Fort Collins.
Adjacent to the city’s historic trolley barn – between Cherry and Maple streets – Penny Flats is believed to be one of the largest mixed-use projects as well as the largest public/private partnership development ever planned near the heart of downtown Fort Collins.
Preserving history in downtown Fort Collins
Architect and developer Coburn Development, Inc., of Boulder has planned 147 Penny Flats residential units and 30,000 square feet of commercial space. But what lies beneath that space could not be ignored. The landscape architects, engineers, and planners at Fort Collins’ own Jim Sell Design, Inc., faced the test, head on.
Because of the city’s devastating Spring Creek flood of 1997, Fort Collins has built enormous storm-water inlets to minimize the risk of another flood. “Penny Flats has a huge storm drain right down the middle of that project,” explains Jim Sell, president and principal landscape architect for Jim Sell Design. In addition, the more-than-a-century-old city block has significant design constraints with existing utilities, nearby railroad tracks, and residential and commercial projects in all directions.
Ensuring compatibility and safety
All of these issues required special handling in the Jim Sell Design team’s site design. The team handled pedestrian traffic with a “linear park” via an alley right-of-way through the center of the site, linking the courthouse and city offices on the south and east, Howes Street on the west, and access to Lee Martinez Park and the Poudre River Trail on the north.
Every project has runoff issues, explains Sell, but the massive Penny Flats storm drain makes the project’s runoff challenges unique. “We can literally drop the runoff from parking lots and buildings right into the storm drain,” says Sell. “And because we’re right next to the Poudre River, the water can return to the river faster and move on.” In addition, states Sell, runoff water provides additional moisture for landscaped areas.
Although the Penny Flats design and engineering work to date is complete and ready for the project’s planned groundbreaking in September 2006, the Jim Sell Design team will be involved with ongoing engineering projects as Penny Flats phases in over a period of years.
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