Abandoned Packing Peanuts - Martin Plastics - Englewood, CO

Martin Plastics is a story I've been saving for a special occasion. It's one of my favorite properties I ever took pictures of, because I had no story going in. Unexpectedly, I walked away with a great appreciation for a seemingly throwaway set of ugly industrial buildings. 

That special occasion never came, but I feel like writing about plastic now...

The former Martin Plastics property sat elevated from the roadway. Years before I moved to Englewood, a major construction project lowered several intersections in town, allowing traffic to pass under the railroad tracks, instead of crossing over them. I don't know when this was done, but I can't imagine the traffic back-ups today had these underpasses not been built.

At this intersection, both Oxford and Navajo were lowered, on two sides of the Martin Plastics buildings. Now raised above normal driving eye level, and set back further than the facing streets. It's faded grey color blended in with backgrounds. If you didn't know it was there, it really wasn't going to catch your eye. 

I readied the camera for my shot of the Martin Plastics building, from the red light at Oxford Ave. Set back behind two fences, high above the intersection. I wondered: How I could get up there for a closer look at those buildings? Before I could find any obvious access points, the light turned green and I continued on my way. Filing away those thoughts for later.

Martin Plastics was on the way to the River Point Shopping Center. In Sheridan. Home of the Super Target that Laura and I did most of our shopping at, from the point it opened in late 2008. I didn't like doing the bulk of shopping for everyday needs in Sheridan, but as the years moved on, it was the best option. The once great Englewood Kmart slowly faded into obscurity, and WalMarts was... Well... Just no...

This Martin Plastics story will be a greatly expanded re-write of my Martin Plastics story that appeared in Wasted Quarter issue #70: Abandoned Englewood. Writing photo heavy stories like this didn't fit the limited format of a self-published zine. Even a zine disguised as a 150 page, perfect bound book. The grandest issue of Wasted Quarter led to the creation of this blog. Out of my sheer disappointment with the end result.

While I'm proud of what I created there, I'm deflated by how it absolutely didn't work...

******

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Love it when the sun cracks the old vinyl sign letters.

This just looks cool.

After doing what I did at River Point, I circled back and parked the Blueberry Honksicle a block or so south of Martin Plastics, on Navajo St. They'd been closed for at least ten years, by this point. However,  the amount of vehicles and signs of activity behind the buildings, I wondered if they may still be open. At least on a limited scale.

Early on in my photo taking mission, I found a narrow gap between the railing on the rising cement retaining wall and the barbed wire topped security fence. A gap that would lead to the front of the property, and was wide enough to walk through.

Meaning my desired close-up photos like this, could now be taken! Grey-ish, tan-ish, white-ish paint peeled away on the surface of all the metal buildings. Yet the property was virtually free from tagging. Which was completely unexpected and nice to see.

An old notice of public hearing, at the Englewood City Hall, in August 2012, had been removed from the fence and was just laying on the ground. Later, I found this hearing was held when the new owners (Littleton Capital Partners) of the property were looking to do something with redeveloping it.

Although the property was still somewhat cool looking to me, reality said this place was ugly, and impractical for re-purposing as-is.

We should probably just knock it down.

And yeah... They're right.

But after Littleton Capital Partners chose this site for a total redevelopment, they took a closer look at the the only structure on site, that wasn't just sheet metal bolted to a frame, on a concrete block.

Original plans were to bulldoze the entire plot of land, but the uniqueness of this round-roofed building on the right, caused the entire project to be re-thought.

I really like this picture, taken from this odd vantage point, looking east down Oxford Avenue.

Technically, I hadn't crossed any barriers set up to prevent me from walking up here, between the two fences. So in my mind, that means I was on land that was ok to stand on. However, I would be out in the open, facing a busy intersection. I will be seen as I walked around up here. Rationalizing those thoughts in my head as I quickly walked between the fences, snapping pictures along the way. I wanted to make it around to the front of Martin Plastics, and back out to the street in under a minute. Keeping the amount of people who saw me and may get nosey, to a minimum.

I made it with close to 15 seconds to spare!

No one at Sam's Automotive seemed to notice, or care...

Same goes across the street at Meadow Gold Dairy. 

Back when I paid my monthly bills by giving rides to pizza, one of the phone operators took an order from here, but misunderstood the name: "Meadow Gold Dairy". When I grabbed the delivery and looked at the ticket, I recognized the address and didn't think twice until I got there and looked for my contact info.

The name the order was under?

Medical Fairy.

So that's what I've called this long standing Englewood business, ever since the Summer of 1998.

I did like the mural carved out of the retaining wall. But does the space shuttle really fit with what they were going for here?

******

Couldn't find much of anything about Martin Plastics on the Googles. Dates, history, previous owners, up to and including the Martin that Plastics was named in honor of... Without any solid leads, my patented half-assed researching brought up a long list of possibilities to the question...

Martin Who?

With your plant foreman, Sheneneh Jenkins!

Probably not the best of professional working environments...

Perhaps Martin Plastics was a subsidiary of British luxury carmaker, Aston Martin?

Or Minnesota Twins infield prospect, Austin Martin?

Well, he would have only been 3 years old when (not) his plastic converters business ceased operations. 

So I think we can rule the 6 foot hippie out...

******

Saturday May 16, 2015.

Been keeping an eye on the Martin Plastics property each time I drove Oxford to Santa Fe, which was quite often. Almost a year after I took my first shots of the buildings, I saw some activity on the site that told me it was time for another round of photos.

While I couldn't find a great deal of information about the history of Martin Plastics, a check with the Better Business Bureau brought the following: 

"According to information in the BBB files, it appears that the company is no longer in business. The phone numbers the BBB had for this company are disconnected and directory assistance does not have a listing for this company. The BBB's mail to this company also may have been returned as undeliverable." 

Martin Plastics produced a variety of packaging supplies during it's run, mainly loose fill Styrofoam packaging peanuts. 

Better Business Bureau's records indicated Martin Plastics started business at this location, January 3rd, 1955.

I couldn't find anything about what operated here before Martin Plastics.

Pre-dating Martin Plastics, was the bow truss building, at the center of the property, which was built in 1920. Additional structures were added on as the various business here needed. With the tallest sheet metal structure was built in 1954.

The BBB site did not list a date marking closure of the plant. 

Martin Plastics consisted of the old brick bow truss building, in the center, with cinderblock extensions to the south and west. Four ugly sheet metal additions of varying sizes, grew out of it to the south and east. The yard behind the buildings has been cleaned up considerably in recent days.

The back end of one building is wide open. I don't know if there were doors inside that were sealed shut, or if this was just an access point for whatever vagrant wanted to wander in. Obligatory wishes to explore the interior of Martin Plastics swirled in my head, that will go unfulfilled. Not saying I didn't do a very quick scan for more possible entrance points before realizing I would never follow up on any of that. 

Just not worth being arrested for trespassing over.

Whole lot of whatever those are (unfolded flat boxes?), had been pulled outside and left in the yard.

Two loading docks sit at the end of the building. The ground underneath them isn't paved, which I could imagine causing difficulty for heavy trucks to deal with in non-ideal weather.

Guess I'll squeeze through that opening between the fence and retaining wall, to go around to the front side of Martin Plastics. It's probably worth my time. 

The wild weeds and grasses in front of the building had been cut back a bit. Of course it was May, and I was last up here 10 months ago, and deeper into last year's growing cycle.

But those orange cones are absolutely new!

Yellow flags and spray paint leading up to the gas meters and pipes are a definite indication of something about to happen.

I knew nothing of this particular structure when I took these pictures, but it looked so different from the others, that I didn't want to see it torn down for the sake of new and ugly. Those other sheet metal building can go, they have no character. The fact that all of the old looking windows were still intatct, without being covered was something in and of itself.

Coming up here this time, I was less concerned about being noticed. So I took a little more time and shot my first pictures of the west side of Martin Plastics.  

Judging from the looks of the building, I wonder if this used to be a loading dock before Oxford Ave was lowered? Those appear to be covered up bay doors, with a bumper underneath them. With no access to Oxford at the front, this is just a small parking lot that needed to be access from Navajo street, nearly a block away.

ENHANCE!

And I still have no clue what that logo is supposed to be.

A poorly drawn globe being overtaken by a giant plastic packing peanut?

That really the message you want to convey?

The pavement has been marked for underground utilities.

That overgrown tree nearly obscures the path to the Martin Plastics front entrance.

I walked all the way around, to the end of the open area, before it was fenced off for the RTD Light Rail tracks. 

Plus I'm just a mark for that old out-of-focus-building-behind-barbed-wire shot.

******

An old Englewood City Council Newsletter had this blurb on Martin Plastics, in the Spring of 2012:

"In January 2012, owners of the property, Littleton Capital Partners, unveiled plans to build a residential and retail development on the Martin Plastics site. The two acre plot would be used to construct a four-story, L-shaped apartment complex, containing around 135 to 140 apartments. The current 41,000-square-foot metal structure would be demolished under Littleton Capital's plan. However, they will save the 8,000-square-foot bow truss building, incorporating it into the design of the new apartments."

Littleton Capital Partners hoped to have the buildings demolished and construction started in late Summer, 2012. 

That obviously didn't happen on this timeline, for reasons I'm not aware of. But in May 2015, clean-up and pre-demolition has been started on the Martin Plastics site.

******

But Martin who?

Lockheed Martin could have easily had a tiny plastic converters franchise under their vast umbrella of government contracts. Martin Plastics could be some sort of code name, for a greater and possibly more sinister project?

Project Wild and Crazy Guy?

HE MAKES THE BEST F*CKING FILMS!!!

Shout that in your best John S. Hall voice. 

(I was going to link to the classic King Missile video from You Tube, but they only have the censored version. Which loses a lot of the point when you leave all of the hilarious graphic violence in, but cut out the word fuck, just in case you offend?)

******

Wednesday night before work, I gave the City of Englewood's web site a routine check and read that demolition had begun on Martin Plastics. So I brought my camera with that night, and planned a stop on the way home. In two days...

Friday, July 17, 2015

Martin Plastics address has been painted on that nice sun cracked sign.

The sun was barely rising as I made my way to Martin Plastics, coming home from work. So all of these photos had to be adjusted for low light. The few of them that turned out...

The three small buildings on the south end of the Martin Plastics campus had already been removed. Almost the entire south wall of the tall building was gone, so I could see all the way to the back. Looked like a hole had been punched out near the top, but I figured out it from previous pictures, it was where the old vent used to stick out of the building.

Some of the center building's roof was torn off, allowing me a nice first look at what was going to stay.

The door was left open too...

Now there's some broken windows in the brick building. Also, the two sets of windows on the lower level, are no longer covered up on the inside. Bonus points if you recognized that from the pictures from two months earlier.

Separation in the broken brick between the two buildings.

The one on the right will go, the one on the left stays.

Dead end of fence area, by the RTD Light Rail tracks. Both south and northbound tracks were busy as I may have been questionably trespassing. Going back around to my car very quickly. I didn't want to be lurking around the property when the morning shift showed up to tear more of it down.

Would imagine working inside these buildings was cold in the winter, horribly hot in the Summer and noisy year round. I base than on nothing but what I see in these pictures. Sounds has to rattle and echo off those surfaces, which likely kept consistent with the temperature outside of them.

As the steel poles and sheet metal were cut off the buildings, they were pushed off the tall cement platform the southernmost buildings stood on. 

Shovels were sorting the debris into piles for recycling. Then loaded onto trucks and hauled offsite. Using Martin Plastics convenient access to Santa Fe Drive, up to I-25. Much like how Gates Rubber Factory was so easily disposed of.

In the corner of this picture, is a small metal sign frame, standing apart from the rest of the piles. I figured it may be saved for some reason. However, when I came back the next day, I watched it get smashed by the shovel. Which kind of amused me. Too bad I wasn't in a position to get a picture or video of it.

But what is that just above that sign frame?

ENHANCE!!!

Directly across Santa Fe Drive and the Light and Railroad Tracks, was Red & Jerry's. Which was another of those giant adult indoor playlands that started popping up in the 1990's. Where you combine an arcade, a restaurant, several bars, light physical games and other frat boy fun time activities. Then you fill up an entire warehouse with all of it. 

Red & Jerry's couldn't consistently fill up their giant warehouse of fun, and it closed for good in early 2017. By early Summer, the building was converted back into the warehouse it should have always stayed. This picture is of the demolished canopy over the main entrance. The neon used to be very colorful when lit...

I was glad to get this picture, because I only have one story of Red & Jerry's:

(Adapted from Wasted Quarter issue #61: Everybody Shut Up!)

On April 1st, 2007, Red & Jerry's had flown in The Honky Tonk Man for their Wrasslemania 23 bash. For a $5 cover, I could watch a show that I kind of wanted to see, yet didn’t really care about. After the Pay Per View aired, some local indy wrasslers would toss each other around in the ring, set up in the middle of Red & Jerry's, between two of the bars and like a dance floor and DJ booth combo. I hated being inside here... 

When I was a kid, The Honky Tonk Man was one of the more interesting wrasslers, given the casting of an evil Elvis impersonator as a chickenshit heel. One who always wins and keeps his championship belt by cheating, is pretty damn amusing. Even today. 

My friend Cheryl and I arrived a little after 4pm, and the parking lot was already packed full. The pacing of the show was terrible. Too little wrasslin and too much filler. If I’d paid $50 for this, I’d be pissed. We grabbed a small table in one of the bars, and watched the show on some TV's set above it. About half way through the show, I headed towards the exit for a smoke. In the entryway, I saw The Honky Tonk Man talking to the Pleasures Dudes. The Pleasures Dudes are not wrasslers, rather an obnoxious combo that does cheesy commercials for their chain of Denver area adult bookstores (a co-sponsor of tonight's event), on local late night TV. I wasn’t going to interrupt any of that, as amusing as it was to watch, so I continued outside to smoke.

The Pleasures Dudes...

Radical.

When I came back after my cigarette, the Honky Tonk Man was sitting down at a table, autographing a guitar for the Pleasures Dudes. He wrote on the guitar (after pausing to ask how to spell Pleasures): “Keep the beer cold and the women bent over!” After handing the guitar back to them, I said a few words to him, he acknowledged me briefly, and scribbled on my pocket notepad. Before walking into an employees only area. Following close behind a giant plate full of hot wings, that a stripper brought up for his dinner. When he stood up from the table to leave, I was amused that I was taller than him. 

And I'm not that tall.

I guess that scribble says Honky Tonk Man?

The Honky Tonk Man was in one of the feature matches of Wrasslemania 3, in 1987. In front of an alleged 93,000 fans, in Detroit, Michigan. 20 years later, he was headlining Red & Jerry's Wrasslemania 23 party, in front of a few hundred frat boys and their confused families, in Sheridan, Colorado.

One of the best $5 I ever spent!

******

Saturday, July 18, 2015

After taking over 300 pictures after work this morning, I stopped by Martin Plastics on my way home from the University of Colorado Health Services Hospital campus demolition, the demolition of the US Bank by Gates Rubber Factory, a compact car stuck in the middle of the South Platte River, and multiple points in between.

A full demolition crew was working at tearing down Martin Plastics, when I parked just south of the site.

The center building was now completely removed, with just a small pile of rubble at the end of the foundation block. The windows of the Bow Truss building are boarded up, with one door blocked by studs.

An American Demolition shovel sorts and chews up the sheet metal pieces, as they're removed from the ever shrinking buildings on the property.

One man was cutting beams from the tall building as I walked up. He was standing on a lift that moved him around the frame, as he cut chunks of it off.

See, now he's on the other side of the building!

While I was taking these pictures through the fence and framework, I was spotted by a man who came over and introduced himself as the owner of the property. Of course he asked what I was doing, so I explained my interest in the historic buildings in town, documenting them as they disappeared, which seemed to be happening faster and faster these days. Mentioning Flood Middle School (parts one and two), the London Motel and the Hill Top Motel, as examples.

I told him the Masonic Temple had just been demolished a week or so ago, which he hadn't heard about. Both of us felt it was disgusting the marble panels that covered the temple were destroyed in the process, as if they were insignificant. We discussed his plans for the Martin Plastics property, including reusing the bow truss building in the design for the new residential development that will wrap around two sides of it.

He then told me I should come back later with better shoes (I was wearing sandals) and he would show me the inside. I had my work boots in the car, so I changed and came right back. He gave me an American Demolition helmet at the foreman's trailer and we walked through the yard, towards the back of the old brick building. I was positively giddy to be allowed inside, to see it just before all identifying marks will be removed.

I asked him what the condition of Martin Plastics was when he bought it. He said it was pretty empty, with just two large cores for making the Styrofoam packing peanuts Martin specialized in, left in the buildings. Leftover peanuts had blown all over the property, now stirred by the demolition. A lot of them had been cleaned up by the crew. But they were still laying around the front yard, on both sides of the fences. 

Sitting behind that truck, the brick building on the left side will be demolished as well. For Martin Plastics, this was used for shipping and receiving, with a storage area located between the two buildings. Work had been started to separate the two buildings, with some damage appearing on the front, in yesterday's photos. Most of the roof has already been removed from the storage area between. 

He brought me to an entrance into the bow truss building. This would have been inside, underneath the sheet metal ceilings of the smaller buildings, on the south end of the complex, before they were torn down a few days earlier. Before I showed up to take pictures.

Parts of the old (now missing) building can be seen around the edges of the remaining drywall. Orange spray paint on that wall, instructing crews to "Remove Drywall Only". Because the brick structure behind it was being saved for the new development. 

 "Do not use this phone without permission from a supervisor first." 

A phone station was once placed on this wall, with some original notes still attached. One of which was a cute poem about a (now) missing pen. "something... something... draw- Use the pad, not the wall!!!" I'm guessing that popped up after someone took a sharpie and wrote "Bitch" with an arrow pointing right. Seeing stuff like that in a place like this is pure gold...

ENHANCE!!!

Since they made their in-house phone directory so blurry, I'll do my best to transcribe it. Just in case you need to reach one of these people, or contact a different department:

21 - Karen

22 - Le

23 - Chick

24 - Conference Room

25 - Dennis

26 - Jacquie

27 - Gary

28 - Shipping

29 - In-Line

30 - Rotary

31 - Utility Room

32 - ??? 1

33 - ??? 2

What a cool company! All you have to do is dial "23" and they'll send a chick over!

Immediately inside and to the left of the door we entered, were partially bricked up original windows, with indications of where past ceilings were. Interior color schemes of decades ago are now exposed by removed drywall and the original unpainted brick.

After reading about the discovery of the building's original roof, I was really curious to see what it was. Iron trusses held up wooden beams running lengthwise, every 8 or so inches. Narrow boards are nailed to the beams in an arch shape, spanning the entire area of the roof. According to my tour guide, this was a very rare and early example of that architectural style. Which was something they absolutely wanted to keep.

Doubtful these are the original 1920 boards, used to make up the roof. But they looked to be in great shape for whatever year they were installed.

That roof was hidden from sight for many years, covered by sea green plywood, which was being removed. In places, a partial drop ceiling covering that sea green plywood, was still semi-intact. 

Thumbtacked to the wall was a sketch of the building's evacuation plan. An awesome find for figuring out what Martin Plastics once looked like, in comparison to what I was seeing today.

A wall had been removed that once covered a large opening on east wall of the brick building.

He said that homeless people were living inside all the buildings on the property. Years earlier, they had pulled out all the wiring and sold it. Because of course they did.

Portions of the building had walls covering up the tan and sea green brick. Most of it had already been removed. Some of it still showed damage from the homeless people ravaging it for copper. Oxford Recycling sits about a mile west of here, so they didn't have all that far to carry what they stole. 

Yet, I wonder how they going away with it. I know the people running Oxford Recycling made me feel like a criminal when I simply brought bags of crushed aluminum cans to them, on the occasions that I put in the effort.

Series of holes ripped in the ceiling with bent and misshapen beams from the removed drop ceiling that was covering that up.

On the left was "Area IV".

Which was still covered by some drop ceiling.

The fire extinguisher is gone, and the orange spraypaint indicated the drywall will be gone soon too.

Looking through an open over head door, into the debris pile left by the center building. What is left of the tall building can be seen behind it. Just not for much longer.

Remnants of a storage closet, with some stuff left behind. I couldn't read the labels on the cans, because my camera didn't focus. Obviously, they was no electricity for overhead lighting inside Martin Plastics, at this point. So the inside was fairly dark. We were also moving through the building quickly, as he explained what the property would become in the future. So I was doing a great deal of point and click, without taking time to line up shots or worry about focusing. The name of game today was get as many pictures as I could, and hopefully there would be something decent I could work with. 

Although I did take the time to focus on the wall with pages of safety records, for the calendar years of 1998 through 2002.

1998...

1999, 2000 and 2001...

And 2002.

All were still tacked to the drywall, with incredible dusty thumbtacks.

With these records ending at 2002, I'm going to recognize that year as the official end of Martin Plastic Converters Inc. of Englewood, Colorado. I was living at Kenyon in 2002. Not that far from here, yet I had very little knowledge of the place. I know I never delivered a pizza here. Although I did get to hit up General Iron Works a few times, before they shuttered for good in 2001. Now that place was creepy and filthy...

Standing at the north end of the building, which was listed as the front office, on the evacuation diagram. Looking out towards the south exit. There is no doubt that as ugly as Martin Plastics tried to make this building, it has the potential to look incredible once refurbished.

That roof still looks to be in decent shape despite nearing 100 years old.

The window above still has a couple of unbroken frames.

Looking out you can see the short brick extension that was the main entrance.

These windows looked across the yard, with Oxford Street below, and the RTD Light Rail Oxford Station, on the other side of the street. 

When I took the photos back in May, this was one of the windows that was covered up on the inside. Guessing whatever that is left behind on the floor has something to do with that now removed covering.

According to the evacuation map on the wall, this was still part of the front office. All fixtures and walls have been removed, exposing an interesting pattern of bricks. 

Another missing window, which would have been a part of the Martin Plastics front office. 

More hints at removed walls around the front entrance.

Missing interior door, looking into the foyer.

The front doors to the building. Glass has been completely shattered out.

This entrance is hidden by trees from most sides. As an illegal entry point, you couldn't do much better... If this was indeed the way the homeless copper thieves entered Martin Plastics.

This area looks to have had a small platform built over the window. And marks from removed glue from whatever used to cover up the original bricks.

Entrance to the angled additions used as the Martin Plastics shipping and receiving department. On the wall next to it is one of the laminated U.S. Department of Labor posters with all the employee information required to by law to be clearly posted in a visible location.

2002... Back when minimum wage was only $5.15/hour... 

What is it today?

Yeeeeeeaaaaahhhh....

Looking into the angled shipping dock. With this part of the building being separated for demolition, I was told it was unsafe to go into the hallway or the rooms attached to it. Guessing some debris removed from the bow truss building had been plowed into this hallway.

I did sneak a quick peek behind the plastic curtains, which irritated my tour guide.

On my way out, I had to get a shot of this banner hanging next to a very dusty ceiling fan.

I wish I would have asked for it. Would have looked so good hanging off the vaulted ceiling of my Greenwood Point apartment. (Which is now renting for $1700/month) Hopefully they fixed the cracking walls and holes around the windows... That is way too much for that dump.

How can anyone afford Denver anymore?

Pile of debris and what looks to be one of those old massive inkjet printers, laying just inside the open south end of the bow truss building. This was just inside the space we entered and left through. More orange spray paint, indicating that wall is needing to be taken down as well. 

Printer probably isn't good anymore either...

A better look at the gap between the two buildings, and the debris left from partial demolition.

More Martin Plastics garbage with shipping and receiving behind it. Would have liked to seen the interior of that building. I bet it was pretty messed up.

One last look at the keep and toss of Martin Plastics before heading off to the Federal and Belleview King Soopers for weekend groceries. 

To commemorate my visit to Martin Plastics, he took my photo after the tour. I gave my helmet back, thanked him for his time and went on my way.

Pretty sure I hit up Del Taco after Soopers, before I went back home.

Could almost kill for a Del Beef Burrito right about now...

******

Now that I've met the current owner of the vanishing Martin Plastics property, the question still remained...

Martin who?

Martin Prince from The Simpsons?

Martin Short?

Unpopular take, Nathan Thurm was Martin Short's best recurring Saturday Night Live character.

So he may not have been the owner, but he could have been their legal representative.

Don Martin of Mad Magazine fame?

He was tempted away by all that sweet Cracked money, back in the late 1980's.

Certainly could've used some of it as an investment...

Fonebone... Sounds like Styrofoam...

See!

******

Sunday July 26, 2015.

Knowing that nothing at Martin Plastics could possibly top what I’d just seen, I didn’t go back for 8 more days.

Everything that was scheduled to be demolished had been reduced to rubble by now. So now comes the site cleanup portion of the Martin Plastics demolition. Smoothly transitioning into the new construction preparation phase. Which happened quicker than I would have expected.

Foundations of the newer buildings were being broken apart and ripped out of the ground.

The Bow Truss building is standing separated from the rest of what used to be there, for the first time in 50 plus years. Some of the doors and windows are boarded up, but for the most part it’s been left wide open. 

This thick concrete base used to hold up the tall sheet metal building on the northeast corner of the property.

A lone water tanker truck has driven up onto the foundation block, where it waits for the next Martin Plastics mission. In the foreground, a metal joint is bolted to the concrete base. The support beams it used to hold, has been cut off and bent. 

With a piece of the Red & Jerry’s sign across Santa Fe, visible just above a bolt. 

Wayne Ferris is nowhere to be seen.

At the north end of the tall building, the foundation has been pulled out, with some new fill replacing the concrete base.

Some sheets of metal, that used to serve as Martin Plastics walls sit in the grassy front yard. Awaiting recycling, but strangely left behind from all the parts previously taken away.

Martin Plastics looks so strange with all of the ugly sheet metal buildings removed. 

Funny how there’s a whole bunch of broken windows now, when for all of the years it was sitting abandoned, the windows stayed intact. Which in itself has to be some sort of record.

Looks like someone stopped by King Soopers and had a little picnic. Amongst the noxious weeds and a bunch of Martin Plastics Packing Peanuts. There’s probably still several million of them floating around under the new apartments that were built here. Doubtful they will ever all be gone. And with as many thousands of years it will take for them to break down naturally, Martin Plastics will survive at this location in some form, for centuries to come!

Walking around to where the small parking lot, in front of shipping and receiving last was. Well the parking lot is here, but the only thing that shipping received was a flattening...

A clean break from the part of the building that is going to stay.

Goodbye Martin. To both you and your plastics.

Well wishes in your new life as a community center for some overpriced apartments. 

In all seriousness, it is really cool that Littleton Capital Partners adapted their construction plans to accommodate a history building. Instead of simply tearing it down, as if it were completely worthless.

And get someone out here to clean up these old support poles. This looks really bad.

******

Saturday August 8, 2015.

About two weeks later, I snapped this photo, waiting at the red light (which turned green before I could actually take the shot) on my way to the River Point Targets. In Sheridan.

More clean up work is going on. The large overgrown tree in front has been removed, as has the barbed wire topped security fence. If you look very closely under the arm of the shovel, the bricked in foyer at the front of the building is gone. Not integral to the building's design, I thought it had restoration potential. But I guess it can easily be recreated better, if it fits the planned design down the road. 

******

You know, maybe it's not Martin at all?

Maybe Martin Plastics was named for early 1980's Japanese pop band, the Plastics?

Thanks Tim Ishimuni!

******

Sunday October 5, 2015.

On my way to either River Point Targets (in Sheridan), or the King Soopers at Belleview and Federal. That red light allows me to snap a quick hot on this damp and rainy fall day. I love days like this!

Foundations are going in for the tower on the east edge of the property. 

The large mound of dirt is where many of the Martin Plastics Packing Peanuts are buried.

I do not know that to be true. 

******

Saturday October 31, 2015.

Trick or treat Martinpartments!

None of my other four pictures from the red light and drive by, turned out this morning. Due to the reflectious sunlight, difficult shadows and crappy camera focus from a moving vehicle. But I did really like this network of scaffolding holding up the cement beams, to support future stories stacked on top. 

Quite the difference between this (and what it's going to become), and what had been there for the last 60 years. 

******

Monday November 2, 2015

Great deal of change here over the last month. The chunk of wall with the old west space shuttle mural has been removed and re-done. New concrete foundations have replaced a great deal of the dirt that used to fill Martin Plastics front yard.

The brick building with that sassy Bow Truss roof, has been sandblasted clean of the Martin Plastics color scheme. All windows and doors have been removed, leaving it stripped down to just it's shell. 

******

Sunday March 13, 2016

The former Martin Plastics site is taking shape in the last 4 months. I actually pulled the car over for this shot, I wanted to include part of the RTD Oxford Station, leading up to the property. Windows are installed in the brick building. Which looks great and is almost unrecognizable compared to what it was.

One block to the south of the new apartment building. The south wing was started a couple months after the east side went up. This forms a border from Navajo Street up to the light rail tracks. 

A driveway will cross between the two buildings. When these are finished, I can't imagine the incredible views you'd get through the west-facing windows on the upper floors. And unobstructed view of the Rocky Mountain horizon. With Sheridan far beneath your point of view.

Honestly, I have no issue with Sheridan.

You're a fine town.

Littleton as well.

Just loyal to Englewood is all. 

But f*ck Highland's Ranch!

******

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Work at the new Oxford Station apartments is complete. 

According to that there banner, they are now leasing. The end result of what they did with the Martin Plastics site is a tremendous makeover. It's not the largest chunk of land, and they could have easily made it more dense, had they simply mowed over the Bow Truss building, for another 75-90 units. 

******

Sunday January 28, 2018

The Oxford RTD Light Rail Station sits a block north of the Oxford Station apartments. As well as two blocks west of the Englewood Recreation Center. Making these apartments attractive to perspective renters. If you don't mind a walk, it's not overly far to get to the River Point Targets from here.

******

Saturday May, 12, 2018.

They did an incredible job with this.

Wish my camera would have cooperated with a decent focus. 

In an absolutely awesome touch I didn't see coming, they incorporated two of the metal support beams from the tall Martin Plastics building, as an entrance to the brick building. 

A nice nod to history... While saving a piece of history.

You don't have to squint too hard to see 1930 in this picture.

******

******

******

******

******

******

I've figured it out!

Martin Plastics was named for...

Martin Gore! 

Of early 1980's Depeche Mode!

It all makes send now!

He's the Master and Servant of fine packing peanut products!

Okay... I'm going to go do something else now...