Old Town Square named in USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards best public squares list

Most people who spend any time in Fort Collins come to love and appreciate Old Town Square. Often called the heartbeat of downtown, it is the place people gather in good times and bad. A place that nourishes our souls and feeds our hearts through the restaurants and businesses that call it home.

Now, the rest of the country knows about it, too.

USA TODAY's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards solicits nominations from an expert panel to identify the top 20 sites, then readers vote for their favorites.

Old Town Square was named the fourth best public square in the country behind Campus Martius Park in Detroit, Michigan; The Square in Oxford, Mississippi; and Market Square in Knoxville, Tennessee.

It puts Old Town Square in the same category as the iconic Jackson Square in New Orleans (No. 9) and Santa Fe Plaza in New Mexico (No. 7).

"It's a real honor" to be included in the top 10 list with Santa Fe and New Orleans, said Matt Robenalt, executive director of the Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority, which manages Old Town Square for the city.

Public squares have long been the keystones of American communities, serving as the stage for everything from farmers markets to historic speeches, according to Wednesday's announcement of the Top 10 Best Public Squares. "They're the heartbeats of cities, where culture pulses and people gather."

These 10 public squares were nominated and voted by readers not just for their aesthetic value, but also for their historical significance and communal importance.

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Here's what the judges said about Old Town Square: "The downtown district surrounding Old Town Square in Fort Collins features more than 20 restored historical buildings, including the art deco Northern Hotel. In fact, the charm and architecture found in Old Town Square served as inspiration for Main Street USA in Disneyland, which is modeled after this community hub."

That's all mostly true. The Disneyland model was based on "a combination of buildings in downtown," Robenalt said. "There were some buildings on Walnut Street, the Linden Hotel, old county courthouse that is no longer there and the old firehouse."

The bottom line for Brian Soukup, owner of Progressive Old Town Square Properties, which owns the 110,000 square feet of office and retail space around the public square, is that the list "tells you how outstanding our place is ... to be used in Disneyland, which is one of the premier entertainment centers in the world, it's a compliment to our buildings downtown and Old Town Square."

Soukup gave kudos to the DDA for the design of the plaza, its lighting and how well it's maintained. "The more and more you heard about how people love it down there, it doesn't get old to hear," he said. "It's something we can all be proud of."

Construction on the square, conceived by former Fort Collins businessman and developer Gene Mitchell, began in 1983/1984 at a time when downtown was little more than a collection of old buildings — a place where retailers struggled and few locals or tourists visited. Mitchell, who some say was 20 years ahead of his time, saw beyond the decay, envisioning a collection of retailers, restaurants and a true gathering place for city residents, the heartbeat of the city.

But it wasn't until much later that it became the financial success that it is currently. As the country plunged into recession, much of the square remained empty and Mitchell lost almost everything. Madsen Construction took ownership in March 1986 before defaulting on its loan two years later, leaving Chicago-based insurance company CNA, which insured the loan, as the new owners. CNA asked the courts to appoint Foxfire Property Management and Brian Soukup as the local managers. Soukup took over total ownership in 1990.

As the economy improved, businesses started to move in and residents and Fort Collins visitors discovered a new gathering place. The renovated Old Town Square served as a catalyst for the revitalization of the rest of downtown.

Today, "it's probably very rare" that visitors don't make it to Old Town Square during their visit, Robenalt said. "Locally, what it means is the stewardship of the plaza remains very important for the local community and for how we welcome and entertain visitors."

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins' Old Town Square named one of top public squares in US