FORT COLLINS — The developers of the struggling Foothills Mall believe they have a pretty good shot at attracting high-end retailers paying high-end rents.

Retail trends at the moment suggest they’re right.

With the economy recovering, some of the nation’s biggest retailers are expanding again. At the same time, retail space is in short supply in the most popular shopping destinations in the region.

At the Marketplace at Centerra, for example, the occupancy rate of the 500,000-square-foot shopping center is 99 percent. Centerra’s management is considering building as much as 150,000 square feet of new space in light of demand. Downtown Fort Collins also has a high occupancy rate, with few vacancies.

The International Council of Shopping Centers, an authority on most things retail, said Denver-based Alberta Development Partners, which purchased the mall for nearly $40 million this summer, picked a good time for its purchase.

Alberta is looking to fill the mall with higher-end retailers, after it spends about $100 million redeveloping the mall, in time to open for the holiday season in 2014. It already said that some of the current tenants and nearby stores