Centerra South is envisioned to be a place that doesn't exist in northern Colorado today. It is being designed to be a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use community – meaning a community where people can live, work, dine, shop, and enjoy outdoor amenities and green spaces that will be open to the public. It will be focused on the pedestrian first, with wide sidewalks and places for people to gather and enjoy coffee, art integration, community events or stroll through a farmers or artisan market.

McWhinney, the master developer, has been in talks with a major grocery store for many years; that grocery store signed on in 2022, opening up possibilities for the entire site. Now is the right time to deliver a vibrant, walkable mixed-use destination for northern Colorado, with parks and open space, a variety of housing, jobs and office space, food and beverage options, retail offerings, grocery, and much more. The location of the Centerra South property lends itself perfectly to a mixed-use development. This proposed development is the next step in bringing the full vision for Centerra to life.

Homes will be available at a variety of price points, including housing that is attainable for families in the 80% to 120% AMI. McWhinney feels strongly that a market-rate home should be available at these levels with no deed restrictions or inclusionary zoning. These families should have the same opportunity to build wealth through homeownership as others. Centerra has a strong track record of providing housing that is attainable at these levels.

Yes. McWhinney’s vision for Centerra South is to offer a mix of for-sale homes at a variety of price points.

If the public-private partnership financing is approved, we could break ground later this year. The first phase, which includes the grocer, is planned to open in 2026.

This new destination, with its robust mix of housing, restaurants, retail and office spaces, and an estimated $582 million in private investment, is expected to create a large number of new primary jobs for northern Colorado, strengthening Loveland’s position as a major economic anchor in the region. Today, more than 8,500 people work in full-time and part-time jobs at businesses within the Centerra community. With Centerra South, that number will grow.

McWhinney has been a part of the Loveland community for many years now. We've done several public-private partnerships over the years very successfully. We've helped build regional infrastructure, helped create many primary jobs, and helped bring a lot of additional sales tax revenue to the city of Loveland. When McWhinney originally designed Centerra in 2000, Centerra represented 20% of all the undeveloped land in the city of Loveland. We worked with the city of Loveland to create the master finance agreement, which was done in 2004. For Centerra, we needed to develop interchanges, secure water, sewers, and gas. Schools needed to be built, as well as police and fire stations and more. Public-private partnerships are critically important for developments like Centerra.

Public-private partnerships are essential to developing large-scale, mixed-use developments. Public dollars are used for public purpose, meaning a tremendous amount of public infrastructure is required in east Loveland to continue developing thoughtfully. Public-private partnerships leverage incentives from local government, and the expertise and capacity of an experienced developer, to create places that become public amenities, drive tax revenue, and fund future community amenities. Public financing is common and often necessary for large projects like this that lack public infrastructure like water, wastewater, electric, parks and roads.

The 2004 Centerra/McWhinney public-private partnership with Loveland resulted in major infrastructure improvements such as the I-25/US 34 Interchange, the I-25 express lanes and the mobility hub. Since 2004, the City of Loveland has received $57.7M in sales tax revenues from Centerra alone. The existing master financing agreement is set to sunset in just a few years, so a new agreement is needed.

• Approval of a service plan for Centerra South’s metro districts (residential and commercial).

• Adoption of an urban renewal authority plan while seated as the Loveland Urban Renewal Authority Board. 3

• Approval of a master financing agreement (MFA), which will include a contribution of sales tax to pay for improvements at the project.

• An amendment to the millennium general development plan (GDP).

You can learn more about these proposals at here [January link] and [February link].

A metro district is a public entity that is created under state statute that can be used at the beginning stages of a development to help pay for and build public infrastructure like roads and parks and utility systems that are necessary for the development to move forward. In Colorado, metro districts for mixed-use and master-planned communities are a common financing tool and are used for most if not all significant new development in this state. They are important because they can issue bonds, which then can be used to build the public parts of a community. Then those bonds are paid off with property taxes over time. For Centerra South, the metro district would be paid for through property taxes on homes and businesses, collected through a mill levy. It would be run by an elected board of directors, who maintain full transparency in how tax dollars are collected and used.

Unfortunately, the metro districts alone are not going to support the scope of public costs at Centerra South. It’s going to take a metro district, along with the urban renewal authority, and a contribution of some sales tax from the city to cover the estimated infrastructure, which is estimated to cost $90 million in today’s dollars.

McWhinney will work closely with the city and adjacent property owners to coordinate road design, water, wastewater and lift station improvements as well as funding and phasing of construction.