Fort Collins Rescue Mission Nears Reopening in Larger Building More Than a Year After Fire

The Fort Collins Rescue Mission is getting ready to reopen in a new and much larger building, more than a year after a fire forced the shelter to shut its doors. The move comes as colder weather approaches in northern Colorado.

The shelter closed after a kitchen fire in August 2025. The new facility is expected to nearly triple the number of people the mission can serve, giving more people experiencing homelessness a place to go during the winter months.

Seth Forwood, the mission's executive director, said the closure had a heavy toll. He said the organization could not make room for everyone who came to it in the months after the fire. "Between August 23 and December 22, we turned away people 1,089 times who came to us, but we just didn't have space for them," Forwood said.

The size of the change is considerable. The original building was just under 5,000 square feet, while the new one covers approximately 43,000 square feet, according to Forwood. Shelter capacity will rise from 89 beds to 250.

Forwood said the design is meant to do more than add space. Sightlines throughout the building, including at the exterior, are intended to let people see what to expect as they arrive. "That can help relieve a lot of their fears and anxieties," he said, describing the experience of entering an unfamiliar environment.

The project cost $27.5 million and was made possible with community support. Forwood said the mission hopes to fully open the new building in January.

Robert Gensmen understands what the closure meant for people who relied on the shelter. He has since moved out of homelessness and into an apartment in Fort Collins, but he said he spent about two or three weeks outside after the mission closed. "Being homeless out here, most of the time, especially at night in the wintertime, you cannot sleep. It's just too cold," Gensmen said.

During that time, Gensmen said he went to churches to collect blankets and worked to make sure others had clothes and coats. The closure left people who depended on the shelter searching for other places to stay.

Although he no longer needs the shelter, Gensmen said the added capacity could change lives. "It's gonna be life-saving," he said. "If you have the ability to shower, and to sleep at night and to wake up and get a meal in the morning, that's all we need to go out and get a job and be able to work."