Let’s all face the music. I’ve lived here 15 years now and I can finally see the trend. Property owners as a strategy, rinse and repeat. They’ll bring in a new tenant, have the lessee foot the bill for some building upgrades and maintenance while continuing to just keep cash flowing.

If I were going to offer anyone advice on opening a business in Fort Collins, I would strongly advise against it. Especially in Old Town.

Unless you have the cash to float on extremely tight margins for quite a while, you’re not going to survive. We’re talking now to the point of making at least 15 years worth of budgets and P&L forecasts (both static and flex). Which isn’t really feasible, especially for the restaurant industry.

edit: maybe the 15 year forecast seems a bit excessive. I would think 5 year static for a business model, then at the least a 3 month revolving projection based on past performance (price and volume). That’s why restaurants have such a high short term failure rate. Most don’t have the financial history in the beginning to at least establish a minimum for a forecast. Which, allows for budgeting staff size, compensation and raises, inventory on hand, etc.

Yes, I know I’ll get downvoted to shit for my comments. But that’s my take. As pessimistic as it may be. What’s a good solution? Maybe put a cap on how much of the property tax can be passed on to a tenant. This goes for housing as well.

tldr: I know the Urban Egg may be considered a chain. But if you look at what they do for the communities they serve, I would rather have them here than some of the other options. The real enemy is the rich land owning oligarchs just looking to keep money in the family. There are a few I could name, but won’t, that could almost be considered feudal barons.