Denver National Bank

A friend of mine was completing his Architectural thesis on the redevelopment of the Gates Rubber plant and invited me to come with him on a tour of the site. As it turns out, the grounds keeper unlocked the doors, told us not to fall in any holes and left us on our merry way. Very cool.

Gates Rubber Corporation was started by Charles C. Gates Sr. in 1911, after purchasing the Colorado Tire & Leather Company and making an initial investment of $3,400.00. Renamed Gates Rubber in 1919, it became an international mega corporation with over 14,000 employees. In 1996 the company was purchased by the British firm of Tomkins, PLC and still maintains it's headquarters in Denver.

Built over the first few decades of the 20th century, the Gates plant is a fine example of turn of the century industrial architecture. Vacant for years, it is now becoming one of the countries largest transit oriented developments with 1300 residential units and 500 to 600,000 square feet of retail. A light rail stop is an integral part of the development. The original plan was to salvage most of the buildings for use in the development, but environamental mitigation proved too much and most of the structures are facing outright demolition, though I believe some of the facades will be maintained.

Cherokee Denver LLC, part of Ralaigh based Cherokee Investment Partners is developing the project which is expected be completed by 2010 and cost $500 to $700 million dollars. To their credit, the company plans to recycle all of the concrete and rebar salvaged from the project. http://www.cherokeedenver.com/