former Gates Rubber Plant (Denver, Colorado)

USA / Colorado / Englewood / Denver, Colorado
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The original plant for Gates Rubber Corporation (now Gates Corporation, www.gates.com/) was to become a large Transit Oriented Development project. The site was divided between Cherokee-Denver, LLC (west of Broadway) and Lionstone Urban Investments. Trichloroethylene (TCE) was found in the ground and migrating offsite. This and other contamination has required extensive remediation, some of which is not complete. Over 4,000 residential units and 2.25 million square feet of office, retail and entertainment space were planned, but progress stalled after only a fraction had been completed. Cherokee ran out of money and Gates Corporation resumed ownership the main factory building. In May 2012 Gates announced plans to demolish and remediate the building, in hopes of attracting another developer.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_Corporation
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   39°41'57"N   104°59'19"W

Comments

  • When Charles Gates, Sr. bought The Colorado Tire and Leather Company in 1911 for $3,500, little did he know his small shop in Denver would evolve into a leading rubber products company. Colorado Tire and Leather made a single product, the Durable Tread, a steel-studded band of leather that motorists fastened to their flimsy car tires to extend their mileage. From this modest beginning Gates Corporation, formerly known as The Gates Rubber Company, has grown into one of the world's largest manufacturers of industrial and automotive belts and hoses, plus a host of related products. The company charted the course for its future success in 1917 when John Gates, Charles' brother, invented the rubber and fabric V-belt. It was a huge success and within a decade Gates established itself as the world's largest manufacturer of V-belts, a title it still holds today. In the years that followed the company aggressively expanded its product line. Today, Gates serves customers in the industrial and automotive markets with a full line of belt and hose products. Today, Gates is the only non-tire producing rubber company with sales and manufacturing operations in all of the world's major markets, including North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.
  • I worked for the company when it opened a plant in Rockford, Illinois in 1963. $2.50 an hour...good money for me at the time....I used to skive hoses ends and crimping same to a certain mike reading.....
This article was last modified 6 years ago