Hurried drivers on Shields and Drake might not even notice Woodwest. But things slow down when you cross into this Fort Collins neighborhood. There you’ll find ranch and split-level homes, students from elementary to CSU, and a community that brings new meaning to the phrase “school spirit.”
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Woodwest FAQs
The median home price in Woodwest is $525,000 (12-month median, homes.com, November 2025), down slightly from the prior year. Single-family homes typically range from $500,000 to $700,000+.
Beattie Elementary, Boltz Middle School, and Rocky Mountain High School, all within the Poudre School District.
3-3.5 miles
53% of homes are owned, 47% are rented
Shields forms the western border, and Drake the northern border. From there you can get anywhere pretty quickly!
About Woodwest
As you turn north from Horsetooth onto Shields you might notice houses on the other side of the fences. From Shields you can turn east onto Drake and at the Worthington stoplight are the “Woodwest” signs. Although…you’re more likely to be looking across the street at Drake Centre. If you keep driving on to Meadowlark you will have missed it altogether, because Woodwest’s eastern border is the “New Mercer Ditch” that runs parallel to the Mason Bike Trail.
But mess with their schools, and you’ll learn all about Woodwesterners. This community made their voices heard by the Poudre School District, when the latter planned to shut down and consolidate schools in 2025-2026. I learned this because of the QR-codes on “Beattie Proud” signs around the neighborhood, celebrating their triumph in convincing the PSD to reverse course. You can read more about it in this 2024 article in the Coloradoan.
That family-centered, school-spirit vibe is felt all over Woodwest, where work trucks are street-parked in front of houses, rather than in the driveway, so as to not obstruct the basketball hoop. One woman appeared to be carrying a teddy bear from her truck to the house, when I drove through the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I thought it was probably somebody’s Christmas gift but it was actually a child in the finest bear-eared onesie ever. A gift indeed.
Life in Woodwest
Location
All of South FoCo is at the fingertips for Woodwesterners. The retail corridor along Shields, Woodwest’s western border, and Drake to the north are a fabulous convenience. In Woodwest families are only minutes from the grocery, restaurants, retail and even the gym. Going east/west through the neighborhood is Swallow Road, used a lot by locals who don’t mind a somewhat slower, but low-traffic route from Shields all the way over to Lemay. In about 10 minutes you can get to Old Town, west to Horsetooth Reservoir, or east to popular parks and natural areas. Location is definitely one of the great things about Woodwest.
Getting Around Woodwest
Cyclists will appreciate how easy it is to get over to the Mason Trail on the eastern side of the neighborhood. Mason is one of the main thoroughfares of FoCo’s signature bike trail system. You can ride for hours on the trails, and with little connectors from the neighborhood to the trail you can avoid traffic, too. The trail access is especially convenient for CSU students in the neighborhood, who can get to campus in about 5 minutes using the trail.
Other students will walk or take the bus. Walkability is good–there are sidewalks. But Rocky Mountain Way, Worthington Avenue, and Swallow Road see quite a few cars going through the neighborhood. So cross guards will help your Beattie Elementary and Rocky Mountain High students who do not get school bus service. School bus service is available for your middle schoolers attending Boltz.
There is great opportunity to use Transfort, our *free* bus system in Fort Collins. You can hop onto free transit at the Max station over by Meadowlark to head downtown, a good way to avoid the fuss of parking. Transfort bus stops can be found all along Sheilds, Drake and Swallow.
What To Do In Woodwest
Woodwest is very close to one of my favorite spots in Fort Collins: the Gardens of Spring Creek. The Gardens are of course beautiful, and they also host events that are a lot of fun. I went to a jazz concert in Summer 2025 that was wonderful. There was a light rain that day, but the audience was unfazed, and enjoyed music well into the evening. Plus, I’ll take a light drizzle over the heat any day!
It’s also a short trip over to Rolland Moore Community Park (and Ballfield Complex), a family hangout if ever there was one. Spring Creek winds through the park’s open fields, along with its namesake bike trail. Soccer, baseball and softball, tennis–this is a great place for those living the active Colorado lifestyle.
Adjacent to Beattie Elementary is Beattie park with its baseball/softball diamond, playground and open space for running kiddos. Technically part of the Meadowlark neighborhood, I don’t think I’d challenge Woodwesterners on their claim to the park, with all those “Beattie Bighorn” signs around. A Church of Christ, the Har Shalom Preschool and Kindergarten, Foothills Assemblies of God all add to the family feel of Woodwest.
Homes in Woodwest
Market Overview
This is the kind of neighborhood you’ll never hear about on real estate websites, where Old Town, Bucking Horse and Fossil Hills dominate the headlines. But it’s a neighborhood with a lot to offer, especially buyers entering the Fort Collins housing market. Even with over 60% of Woodwest homes priced above $550,000 (according to homes.com), Woodwest appears to be a working family stronghold.
My go-to sources of homes.com and the City of Fort Collins reveal the following:
- Median single family sale price of $525,000 for the last 12 months, which is actually a bit of a dip (by 2%) from the prior 12 months.
- On average homes spend 40 days on the market
- 53% of homes are owned, 47% are rented
- Average price per square foot is $278
- In the last 12 months 52 homes sold. There are 1593 homes, so that’s an annual turnover rate of 3.2%.
- Average home size is approximately 1852 sq.ft.
What I Learned On The Ground In Woodwest
When I first looked at these stats the high fraction of rentals surprised me, because the homes looked genuinely cared for (not always the case with rentals). Talking with a local, I learned that a lot of the rentals are on the “perimeter” near Drake and Shields. They especially serve CSU students and there are some AirBNBs along that stretch, too (a good spot if you’re in town for graduation, I suppose).
A lot of Woodwest’s 1970’s-built homes are split level with 2-car garages, and some of the smaller homes are ranch-style. I saw a few ranches with only a one-car garage. If something is listed as a 4-bedroom house, it’s probably had the basement finished with a closet and bathroom added down there, to come up with that 4th bedroom. The neighborhood is well cared for, and you can see that some houses have undergone cosmetic upgrades.
Speaking of upgrades, Woodwest also doesn’t have an HOA. An HOA can be a blessing or a burden, but in a neighborhood with older homes that may be due for repairs and upgrades, no HOA means more “creative” freedom. Just make sure, if you buy into Woodwest, that all renovations done by previous owners were properly permitted by the City. I wrote a little about that in this blog about things I wish I’d known about buying in Fort Collins.
Is Woodwest Right for You?
This neighborhood reminds me a bit of where I grew up, so it gave me an almost nostalgic feeling. I could smell the construction paper and glue as I drove by the Beattie school, and was thankful that the playground lacked the concussion-inducing merry-go-rounds of my day. I could hear the holiday football games on the TV. While writing this I kept thinking about teddy-bear-child, and hoped that she would go to school here, and that wherever she landed in the world, this type of neighborhood would still be an option for her.
If you’re a transplant from the Midwest like I am, Woodwest should be on your Zillow searches. The sticker shock isn’t quite as harsh, the homes are nice, and if you have kids it’s a great neighborhood to land in.
Woodwest is perfect for working families seeking an established community where neighbors look out for each other, kids play in their yards or the park, and schools are a point of pride.
If you’re a retiree with disposable income looking for amenities like golf courses, pools or tennis courts, I don’t think Woodwest is your spot. You’ll probably have to actually ride your bike or car to get to the closest pickleball game.
But to me, Woodwest just feels good.
Want to explore more Fort Collins neighborhoods? Go to the complete local guide!