McWhinney Begins Work on New Apartments in Northern Colorado

McWhinney has broken ground for Lake Vista at Centerra, a 303-unit apartment development in the northern Colorado town of Loveland

Lake Vista

Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Loveland, Colo.–McWhinney has broken ground for Lake Vista at Centerra, a 303-unit apartment development in the northern Colorado town of Loveland. Leasing for the lakefront property, which will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units, is slated to begin this summer.

The development is part of a larger mixed use, master-planned project by McWhinney, the 3,000-acre Centerra near Loveland’s Equalizer Lake and the junction of I-25 and US 34. According to the master plan, the project will ultimately have 6,500 residences and 5 million square feet of commercial space.

Currently Centerra includes the 136-bed Medical Center of the Rockies, the 700,000-square-foot Promenade Shops, the 500,000-square-foot Market Place at Centerra, as well the 168-unit Eagle Ridge apartments. The 100,000-square-foot Range View IV office building is under construction, and will be occupied by Agrium Crop Production Services in June.

Unusually, Centerra also includes an “automotive lifestyle center”–a retail development along I-25 devoted to auto sales, featuring five car dealerships and with room for 11 more. The most recent dealership to open at the Motorplex at Centerra was Mini Cooper, representing that brand’s second location in Colorado.

“Construction rates and interest rates are at discounts compared to the last decade or more, and demand for new apartments in Centerra is significant,” Mike Hill, director of development and operations-multifamily for McWhinney, tells MHN. “We’ve been 100 percent leased and have a waiting list at our existing apartment community, Eagle Ridge, for the last year.”

Demographics are probably on Centerra’s side. The population of Larimer County, Colorado, which includes Loveland as well as Fort Collins, grew from about 251,500 in 2000 to about 291,900 in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite the recession, median family income for the county grew 8.7 percent between 2005 and 2009, and now stands at $75,200.

“Things are very active here in Centerra, and the need for new housing options for our customers is no exception,” continues Hill. “We are already have a waiting list for Lake Vista apartments even though we won’t have available units until November.”

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