Fort Collins is easily broken into 4 quadrants, but in reality, I believe it has six main sections. Today, we’re starting with a bang – Downtown Fort Collins. This is my favorite section where I spend most of my time, work eight to five, and enjoy quality time with my family. Here’s everything you should know about it.
3 Pros of Downtown Fort Collins
Character is in no short supply
Downtown is a charming and fantastic place to be; just walking up and down the street, seeing different building styles, and spending time in Old Town Square is so much fun.
As I mentioned a few times, Fort Collins served as an inspiration for building some parts of Disneyland, which says a lot about its amazing character.
It’s very safe
For being a Downtown, it’s safe and comfortable. I wouldn’t recommend walking around at 3AM volunatrily, but between 6-12PM, downtown Fort Collins is amazingly safe. You can bring your family down for ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s, listen to music and walk around without worrying about your families safety.
There is some transients, yes, but generally speaking you will feel comfortable in Downtown Fort Collins.
More commercial opportunities coming
What comes with the most densely populated area in Fort Collins? Well, commercial opportunities. You’ve got Social, Ginger and Baker, Tula, The Rio… Fort Collins a very sprawled out community, but downtown Fort Collins is definitely the most dense. With it though comes a lot of the entertainment/retail/restaurant options.
3 Cons of Downtown Fort Collins
No smoke zone
With pros come the cons, so here’s one of the biggest cons of Downtown Fort Collins. We have a no smoke zone but I think you can really just throw that law away.
Although there is a LARGE no smoke zone in Fort Collins, you won’t find TOO many people adhering to that LAW (you can get ticketed for smoking in that zone). You won’t find the drugs or needles like you may in BIG cities (typically), you will every now and again smell cigarettes or even marijuana.
The train(s)
We’ve got trains going east and west near Cherry and College avenue and also North and South on Mason Street. You may occasionally get stopped by one of them for 10-15 minutes while you’re trying to do your groceries or run some errands.
This may interfere with your daily life and let’s face it, can be very frustrating.
The price per square foot is crazy
The price per square foot is the craziest in Downtown Fort Collins and it’s probably going to get more expensive soon. Condos in this area can reach $700-800 per square foot and for a single-family, $300-$400+ per square foot.
Surrounding areas of Downtown Fort Collins
Elementary schools in this area are Dunn, Laurel, and Putnam. Middle schools are Lincoln, Leshner, and Boltz. And high schools can be Poudre and Fort Collins.
So what do the statistics look like for these areas? Well, the median sales price is $382 per square foot. But if you think about it, the cost of driving around the city makes up for it as you could be driving back and forth every day and spending up to $400 on gas every month if, like me you live in the South East Fort Collins and commute downtown.
Final thoughts
Finally, it all boils down to perspective. You have to weigh up the pros and cons and decide if this first “Sections of Fort Collins” Downtown Fort Collins is the place for you.
If you need any help or you have any questions about Fort Collins or Northern Colorado, please reach out!
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