Colorado State Closes on Land at I-25 and Prospect for Renewable Energy Business Center

Colorado State University and the city of Fort Collins on Tuesday closed on a land exchange that provides the university with a site for a prime research center.

The transaction will provide CSU a 143-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Prospect Road and I-25. In exchange, the city’s Natural Areas Program will obtain 267 acres at the northern end of the Foothills Campus, which expands the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area.

Development of the I-25/Prospect intersection – one of the city’s major entrances – will announce Prospect as the gateway to CSU.

CSU has enlisted a top-tier master planning firm to develop an overall plan for the I-25 property by early 2008. The university plans to use the I-25 land to develop a CSU-themed and branded office and research center with a focus on renewable energy companies. Discussions are under way for AVA Solar, the

CSU-founded start-up, to be an anchor tenant.

The center provides the university with yet another tool to contribute to regional economic prosperity, creating jobs in the region while solving some of the world’s most overwhelming problems.

"We view this research site as yet another way to speed groundbreaking technology developed at the university to the marketplace," said Victor Holtorf, director of the CSU Real Estate Office, operated by the Colorado State University Research Foundation, or CSURF. "This is an exciting time for Colorado State, Fort Collins and the region."

CSURF, which facilitated the land trade, aids the university with intellectual property patenting and licensing management; university start-ups; equipment leasing and municipal lease administration; financing of equipment, real estate and buildings through mortgage debt obligations; and land acquisition, development and management.

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