Max Moss, the Colorado president of HF2M, Inc., introduced us, via Zoom, to the concept and plans behind Montava, a “walkable community” currently in the early stages of development in northeast Fort Collins.  Starting with the overarching vision that real estate is about people and the vision for developing community (rather than simply housing), Max is the local face of a team that provides vision and expertise in affordable housing, the New Urbanist Movement, walkable communities, small-town commercial, and environmentally efficient homes.   View the full presentation by Clicking Here.
HF2M's idea is to create a diverse community that includes all of the experiences and services that a community needs, all within an easy walk or bike ride of home.  This concept of organic expansion where numerous local communities break up the typical pattern of long commutes from home to work contrasts with the typical growth of a mature city where vertical and horizontal growth leads to over-expansion. 
 
One of their starting points is a walk-score data base, where areas are scored on the availability of services and experiences by foot, bike, or public transit, with scores ranging from 1 to 100 and in which a score less than 50 is poor.  Much of Fort Collins is doing OK with scores around 50 or better, but NE Fort Collins is very poor with scores or 10 or less: no walkability, poor bike access, and no transit availability.  Their plan for Montava has the commercial center of the development at the center of a circle 1.5 miles in radius, forming a “15-minute city”.  This area already includes some 4000 homes and a population of some 9000, so the next phase of development of the area has already begun.  The question is not if the area will be developed but how. 
 
Their concept of Montava is of a campus with a town center and some 400 acres for parks, schools, natural areas, and a working farm.  Partnership with the city will lead to access to natural areas and bike trails.  Their primary initial investment will be in a town center for service for NE Fort Collins.  As for housing, their focus is on affordability with an average price to income ratio of around 2.6, which they describe as healthy.  He contrasts this with Fort Collins’ current ratio of 5.5 (comparable to Boston, New York City, and Denver) and 8.9 for San Francisco.  A graph of housing availability in the Fort Collins area since 1990 shows that new single-family homes have been decreasing in number while increasing in cost so people are living farther and farther from town and commuting greater distances into town.  He suggests that this increasing commuting has a greater input to CO2 production than energy codes for houses cause it to decrease. 
 
Mr. Moss compared their plans with other, already existing successful communities around the world where mixtures of housing types (high- to low-end, commonly around 1200 sq. ft.), houses with “timeless” architecture close to the walkable streets with garages off alleyways in the rear, mixed-use housing (commercial on the first floor, homes above) combine to encourage both affordability and formation of community. 
 
Their water plan for the community is ground-water based with augmentation to allow for consumptive use in the community.  Their plan expects to use less water than was historically used for irrigation and includes a certainty of supply for every use.  As a result, they expect to be able to spend money on community rather than on water. They plan to return some 700 – 800 acre-feet per year to the river with a 95% reduction in farm-land “dry-up”. 
 
One piece of their vision is fostering a connection to food production by inclusion of a 40-acre vegetable farm in the community.  In other communities where the developer ran the farm, it has inevitably failed, so the Montava farm will be run by a farming couple and will be sited on the best agricultural land in the development area. One of the financial expectations is that residents will be paying a small amount to participate in the farm, giving access to some of the produce. 
 
In response to questions, building will be to zero energy standards.  Homes will be built solar-panel ready but solar installation will be on an owner-specific basis. 
 
As for public transit, the community will tie into local road infrastructure and the buildout will include locations for the city public transit system to tie into. 
 
The developers are buying the mineral rights under the development with the intention of never using those rights.  However, they will have no control over what happens immediately outside the borders of the development. 
 
Although there will be no dedicated retirement/senior-living spaces in the community, there will be a wide range of housing types and there are already some retirement/senior-living facilities in the 1.5 mile radius of the town center. 
 
Statistically, a community needs some 10,000 dwelling units in a 1.5 mile radius in order to be successful.  There are currently some 4000 units in the area and Montava is expected ultimately to have 3500 to 4000.  The remainder will be in adjacent communities. 
 
Historically, new residential communities have focused on wealthy or high-end populations.  Their expectation is that Montava will be focused on the wider market and the needs of the community. 
 
Given that one of the center pieces of Montava will be the city center but that a community needs some 10,000 dwellings to be successful, how successful will they be in recruiting businesses to the market area during the early phases of development?  Mr. Moss expects that the developing team will spend significant monies to draw in sufficient businesses to provide the necessary core experience.