On Tuesday, Loveland’s power players traded council chambers for construction helmets, gathering at Centerra to break ground on Avenue South, a 140-acre mixed-use district that will stack new shops, offices, and thousands of homes along the city’s southern edge. The ceremony kicked off vertical construction at the retail core and brought out executives from Realberry, Loveland Mayor Patrick McFall, and partners from Prism Places and Hensel Phelps. Developers say the district is designed around a walkable main street stitched together with parks, trails, and a grocery anchor.
According to a company release from Realberry, the first phase is expected to deliver about 170,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, roughly 150,000 square feet of office space, and more than 800 residences. The same announcement notes that at full buildout, the district could support nearly 2,000 homes. Plans for the retail core call for 18 restaurants, 33 retailers, and a 37,000-square-foot Whole Foods as the grocery anchor, plus a 3.2-acre event lawn dubbed The Front Porch. Developers say vertical work on the retail core started this week, which officially moves the project out of grading and into full-on building mode.
What's planned for Avenue South
The office component will be anchored by a new Hensel Phelps corporate headquarters, with the Centerra project page listing the building at roughly 120,000 square feet. Developers say Avenue South will plug directly into nearby parks and the Centerra trail network, aiming to function as an extension of the existing community rather than a stand-alone island. “Avenue South reflects the kind of thoughtful and responsible growth we want to see in Loveland,” Mayor Patrick McFall said in developer materials. Planners are pitching the mix of housing, offices, and retail as a way to keep more jobs and spending in Loveland instead of watching residents commute and spend their dollars in neighboring cities.
Where it sits and construction milestones
The ceremonial shovels hit dirt at the corner of Hahns Peak Drive and Mountain Lion Drive, where Realberry and its partners staged Tuesday’s milestone event, according to local coverage in North Forty News. The company says horizontal site work actually started back in December, and the recent ceremony marks the shift into vertical construction on the retail core, per Realberry. Residential phases are slated to follow, with developers projecting that homebuilding will begin in 2027.
Local impacts: jobs, housing and groceries
Centerra already hosts more than 150 businesses and roughly 8,500 jobs, and Avenue South is pitched as a way to layer in more housing and employment density along the corridor, according to Centerra. Local housing advocates are quick to note that fresh construction does not automatically equal affordability. BizWest reports that Loveland home prices have climbed roughly a third over the past five years, while the Loveland Housing Authority continues to maintain a long waiting list for subsidized units. For additional context, listing data show median asking prices in Loveland sitting in the mid-$500,000s, according to Realtor.com, highlighting the gap between local incomes and for-sale housing.
What to watch next
Industry coverage suggests Avenue South will roll out in stages over several years, with retailers, the headquarters building, and housing coming online in waves and trade outlets projecting multi-year delivery stretching into the late 2020s, per ConnectCRE. As construction ramps up, city officials and nearby residents are expected to keep close tabs on traffic impacts, school capacity, and how the project addresses any affordable housing commitments. Developers say they plan to keep up public outreach and coordinate infrastructure improvements as each piece of the district opens.
CBS News captured footage from Tuesday’s ceremony and aired a short video on the groundbreaking. Developers say they will release more specific leasing details and construction timelines as contracts are signed and vertical work progresses across the site.
