High-end student housing to transform Campus West

A six-story student-housing project will soon replace St. Paul's Episcopal Church and a handful of shops on West Elizabeth Street, promising to transform much of Campus West from a retail center to a residential enclave. 

EdR of Memphis, Tennessee, and local developer Dino DiTullio recently purchased the properties at 1208 and 1220 W. Elizabeth St., west of CSU's Moby Arena, for more than $6 million. 

The purchase gives St. Paul's, Panhandler's Pizza, Butters, Village Vidiot and other shops until the end of the year to vacate the property. Once they are gone, the buildings will be razed to make room for the 429-bed building that includes about 7,000 square feet of retail space, 119 apartments and a rooftop pool. 

DiTullio said the project should be open by fall 2019.

More:3,400 new beds to ease Fort Collins student housing crunch

EdR has been building or buying student housing in Campus West for the past couple of years. It is building a 200-plus-bed project on Plum Street and already owns Lokal, Carriage House and Pura Vida. 

Combined, EdR will control more than 1,050 student-oriented beds.

"As a local developer, I am sensitive to the mark it will leave on Campus West," DiTullio said. "We want to embrace the (city's) central west plan and build a project we can be proud of." 

Room to grow 

The church, which started in 1959 as a mission to Colorado State University students and faculty and moved to Elizabeth Street in the early 1960s, has outgrown its aging building that lacks parking, said Rev. Lynn Burns, interim rector. 

The congregation has three options: buy a piece of land and build a new church; renovate an existing property or share space with an existing church, she said. 

The group working on finding the church a new home has looked at about 100 properties and is beginning to narrow its options. It hopes to be relocated by the beginning of Advent on Dec. 3. 

As CSU's enrollment grows and apartment vacancy rates remain below 2 percent, land near campus is being snatched up for retail and housing to meet the needs of students.

More:CSU opens $59 million medical center

That makes land in Campus West extremely valuable at the same time that St. Paul's needs more room.

While St. Paul's initiated its relocation, some of the other businesses at 1220 W. Elizabeth face nothing but uncertainty. 

Scott Shepherd, owner of Village Vidiot, thought he'd have to close, but is now undecided.  

He's found another potential spot near campus that might work but has to decide if he wants to keep going or move on with his life.

"A week ago, I would have said I was 95 percent sure we would close, but my family doesn't want me to do that," Shepherd said. 

John Olson of Panhandler's Pizza, said he is trying to find a new location. "My intention is to find another permanent location with very little, if any, downtime between locations," he said. 

Representatives from Butters, a 3-year-old breakfast spot, were not immediately available for comment. 

Saying Goodbye

Leaving home is never easy and often fraught with sadness and anticipation. 

It's no different for the parishioners of St. Paul's, many of whom have been members of the church for decades. 

Leaving "will be very emotional," said Becky Sheller, former senior warden at the church. 

While a church is more about its people than its structure, she said, "buildings are important to a lot of people.There are people who attended in college, got married here, had their children baptized here, and we've watched them grow up.

"It will be a really sad time for a lot of folks," she said.

The congregation has already begun the long process of saying goodbye.  

There's also more work to be done as St. Paul's figures out its next steps. 

More:500 planned homes tied to Lemay bypass, Suniga Road extension

Sheller said all three options have their ups and downs. 

"We know we have a space to land and that will give us time to regroup ... and make a decision," Burns said. 

St. Paul's hopes to remain centrally located: west of College, north of Trilby and south of Laporte. But more important is ample parking and meeting space and room to grow. 

Parking that it doesn't share with popular restaurants will provide more opportunities for weeknight events.

"Parking is so restrictive this will give us an opportunity to do a lot of things we've been chomping at the bit to do," Burns said. 

Interested?

A neighborhood meeting to discuss the student housing plan will be held from 6-7:30 p.m., Thursday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1208 W. Elizabeth St. 

New student-housing development by the numbers 

• 6 stories
• 429 beds
• 119 units
• 355 parking spaces
• 55 acres