Phased redevelopment of a portion of the former Gates Rubber Factory into a high-density, mixed-use, transit-oriented development adjacent to the Broadway Light Rail Station.
In 1911 Charles Gates Sr. purchased the Colorado Tire and Leather Company for $3,500. Over the course of the next 85 years, the Gates Rubber Company became one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of rubber products, including tires, belts, and hoses for the automotive and manufacturing industries. Gates’s holdings grew to approximately 80 acres and over time became a mixed-use campus of industrial, administrative, recreational and retail uses, all designed to maximize employee efficiency. At its height, more than 5,000 people were employed at the Gates campus.
However, as with much industry in the U.S. during the 1980s and early 1990s, Gates manufacturing effort began to move abroad and by 1995 Gates ceased manufacturing in Denver. In 1996 Gates became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tomkins plc, and in 2003 relocated its local operations to a modern office building in the Central Platte Valley.
Given the site’s proximity to the major thoroughfares of I-25, Broadway, and Santa Fe, and the nearby transit stops for the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD’s) southwest and southeast commuter rail lines, the site’s redevelopment potential is strong. However, the site is burdened by significant environmental contamination and lack of urban infrastructure. In order to help overcome these obstacles and to ensure that the opportunities presented by the transit stops were maximized, DURA and Denver’s City Council approved the creation of the Cherokee Urban Renewal Area in June 2003 and a General Development Plan (GDP) in 2005.
Cherokee Denver originally purchased the heavily contaminated, 62-acre western portion of the site in 2001. However, amid the economic collapse of 2008, Cherokee faced financial trouble and Gates took back the land in 2009.
The owners have continued remediation of contaminants and demolition of the main factory building begun in late 2013. Developers, DURA and the City and County of Denver are currently considering a new redevelopment proposal.