FoCo in 15 Minutes | Major Health Care Sale, Land Swap, Paid Parking Debate & New Year's Events

Welcome to Fort Collins Lifestyles, your weekly insider look at life, real estate, and community across Northern Colorado.

This week in Fort Collins & Northern Colorado:
🏥 Columbine Health Systems Sells Five Facilities — More than $62M in skilled nursing and assisted living properties in Fort Collins and Windsor change hands as Legacy Health Care–linked LLCs acquire the sites. Daily services and staffing continue uninterrupted under Cottonwood Healthcare management, while Columbine retains ownership of its independent living communities.
📚 Barnes & Noble Plans New Colorado Store in 2026 — The bookseller continues its national expansion strategy, confirming at least one new store for Colorado following two openings in 2025 — with location details still to come.
🏛️ City & County Approve Downtown Land Swap — Fort Collins will transfer seven downtown parcels near the justice center to Larimer County while receiving nearly 9 acres on East Vine Drive for transit maintenance, parks, and storage uses — along with nearly $1M in value offset. Transfers will occur by the end of 2028.
💼 City Executive Salaries Set for 2026 — The City Manager and City Attorney receive modest 2% raises aligned with citywide increases, while the Chief Judge’s salary remains unchanged heading into 2026.
📈 Greeley Metro Area Poised to Surpass Fort Collins Metro Area in 2026 — Weld County’s faster population growth — fueled by lower housing costs and available land — could edge its metro total above Larimer County next year, even as the City of Fort Collins remains larger than Greeley itself.
🅿️ Paid Downtown Parking Plan Advances — Fort Collins continues evaluating a phased rollout of paid on-street parking to increase turnover, stabilize parking revenue, and encourage garage use — though local debate remains strong.
🌲 Winter Break Family Fun — From Garden of Lights and public skating at EPIC to museum visits and library activities, Fort Collins families have plenty of local options while PSD schools are out Dec. 22–Jan. 6.
🥩 Food Co-op Moving Into Former Beavers Market — The Fort Collins Food Co-op will relocate in early 2026 to a much larger space on West Mountain Ave., adding deli, butcher, bulk goods, and on-site parking.
⚡ Colorado Ranks #1 for Lowest Utility Burden — A Move.org report finds residents spend just 6.4% of median income on utilities — the lowest share in the nation — at an average of $568/month across eight utility categories.

• Resolution Run 5K — Dec. 31 | EPIC
• New Year’s Day Hangover Games — Jan. 1 | Old Town Putt
• Riverside Renewal Cold Plunge — Jan. 1 | Poudre Canyon
• Lego Build Club — Jan. 2 | Old Town Library
• AMA Arenacross Championship — Jan. 3 | Blue Arena (Loveland)

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Patrick Soukup
📞 Call/Text: 970-893-3533
📧 Email: patrick@soukuprealestate.com
🌐 Website: soukuprealestate.com

🎆 Things To Do This Week & New Year’s Events