Jax Outdoor Expansion
Jax Outdoor expanded their flagship store in Fort Collins and had a large area behind the main store that had been a muddy gravel parking lot for decades. The new store expansion included a new building as well as renovating an older existing building. All these would be tied together by creating an incredible outdoor space in the old parking area.
The first phase was to install the trees, shrubs, turf and irrigation in the new parking lot outside the new building. Honeylocust, Linden, Pinion Pine, Spring Snow crab and Catalpa trees were installed as well as many native and drought resistant shrubs.
Pond – Waterfall – Outdoor Expansion
A plan was created for the old parking area. Included is a pond with a waterfall that could be used to test kayaks and canoes. In addition, the pond would be a great demonstration area for fly fishing and gear testing of all kinds, as well as a great outdoor space to host a variety of sales events.
Elements included in this project.
The pond is what is referred to as a LIVE BOTTOM pond. This means there is no rubber liner to keep the water in the pond. After excavating the pond, a layer of natural bentonite clay is added to the bottom of the pond. This is then tilled into the existing soil, then compacted before filling the pond. The bentonite particles swell to hundreds of times their size, and effectively creating a sealed pond bottom. This is a preferred method when you want to have a more natural type of pond. This allows for crawdads, frogs, water plants etc to live IN the pond bottom itself. We added water lilies as well as several varieties of native water plants along the banks of the pond.