A well-known piece of Denver's past is gone and now there are new plans for the vacant land where the old Gates Rubber Plant once sat near Broadway and I-25.
The Denver Urban Renewal Authority first went to the city council with a plan for this site in 2003. That one fell through, but now with a unanimous vote on this new plan from the council, things will begin moving along.
"It's just vacant dirt right now,” said Tracy Huggins, the executive director of the Urban Renewal Authority.
But Monday night brought the agency closer to turning that dirt into residential units, an office campus and mixed-use space.
City council members approved $90 million of public investment to help with this redevelopment. That money will come from taxes generated as development happens.
The space has railroad tracks running right through the middle of it, which is why public help was needed to turn this space into something the community can use.
The site is next to Broadway Station, RTD’s second most trafficked stop after Union.
“And to not have the live, work, play, feel at the station is remiss,” said Lisa Ingle, the development project manager with Broadway Station Partners, the developers of the site.
Ingle says it will take about 10 to 12 years to complete.
"We're hoping to make it Denver's Midtown section and really revitalize that entire area,” Ingle said. “It's been a giant hole in the landscape of Denver and we're excited to re-connect the communities to the west to transit, and the communities to the east over to the river.”
Broadway Station Partners will start removing the foundation of the old factory at the end of this year.
Ingle isn’t sure when, but at some point there will be work along Santa Fe Drive, but the project will not include construction on Broadway.
