Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary part 12
Like a shining beacon on the horizon…
Going back to Gates as kind of a palate cleanser. Not only am I scratching that persistent itch of homesickness, but writing the last story (Video Vision in Winona, MN) depressed the crap out of me. So I’m going to look at a massive Rubber Factory getting slowly dismantled. That’ll cheer me up! Since work was concentrated to a much smaller area, I’m going to cover my three visits to finish out the month of March. The last entry in the Gates Demolition Diary, covered March 9, 2014.
Demolition work was now focused on the north end, so I didn’t take as many photos. Buildings that were very close to the RTD Park & Ride were now going away, Each of the March visits were pretty much contained to photos from the Park and Ride. I learned there wasn’t much point to parking at US Bank (at Broadway and Mississippi), then walking up the block for some redundant pictures, before moving to the more convenient spot.
It just occurred to me that I didn’t have a picture of the entrance to the RTD Park & Ride overflow lot. Access was closed off shortly after Gates was fully demolished. Previously you would follow the narrow path at the southeast corner of the main lot, marked by concrete barricades. Then drive under the bridge, through the temporary fenced in driveway into the lot. As these fine parkers are demonstrating on some morning in September, 2012. (Notice in the distance, Gates is fully intact.)
******
March 16, 2014
Knowing there wasn’t much point in spending time on the southern part of the Gates property, I drove directly to the RTD Park & Ride overflow lot. A fenced in area, directly in front of the oldest part of the Gates complex. Separated by only a (roughly) six foot tall fence, wrapped in a translucent canvas. You can see over it, you can pretty much see through it. For the most part, I’m just going to hold the camera above the fence. Unless there’s a handy gap, with something interesting behind it.
Demolition has been paused on this part of the factory. What had already been torn down left a massive amount of debris. Crushed up concrete, piles of tangled Angel Hair rebar, and large pieces of metal. All of which were being reduced in size and steadily hauled down 1-25 by a fleet of semi trucks.
If I’m remembering something I read a long time ago, correctly, everything that wasn’t recyclable was sent to a landfill just east of Colorado Springs. All of the concrete was contaminated from decades of marinating in the industrial chemicals used at Gates, so it had to be moved to a Subtitle D Landfill. Which is specially equipped to hold this material, while (allegedly) keeping it away from the groundwater.
This building had been obscured by the rest of the Gates factory, so I really hadn’t seen it before. Now that a big part of Gates was gone, there it is!
Gates from Santa Fe Drive, October 2011. Thanks Googles!
The building I just mentioned is in the center of this picture.
Also, I wanted to remember those pieces of inexplicably tangled-up temporary chain link fence. Sitting arranged like this for years, along the shoulder of Santa Fe, in a closed off access point to the Gates property. There used to be more Gates buildings in this area, which were demolished years before the rest of the factory.
There’s an orange temporary fence, just underneath the water tower, on the left side of this picture. That fence is (poorly) blocking off a tunnel under the railroad tracks, connecting the Gates factory, to the rest of the buildings on the opposite side of the tracks. Without knowing for sure, I’m assuming this side would have been mainly warehouses and shipping docks. With easy access to I-25, via entrances on Santa Fe, this would make more sense than any place on Broadway.
Just north of that suddenly exposed concrete building, is the rapidly disappearing oldest part of Gates. The large metal whatever-that-was has now fallen to the ground, after the floors holding it up were removed. Likely earlier in the week.
When I was here seven days earlier, the large metal whatever-that-was was barely hanging on to the edge.
Wish I would have been here to see the large metal whatever-that-was fall off the roof.
It was probably loud, but it would have been awesome!
Also now getting my first real looks at the separate building behind it.
This part of the factory had some really cool brick work, that wasn’t replicated in later expansions to the factory. It’s really sad that none of the Gates buildings could have been saved. I don’t doubt they were coated and soaked through with toxic chemicals, but a building (even a small part of it) like this would have made a nice, historic, starting point to future redevelopment.
Same deal, slightly different angle.
Before leaving for elsewhere, I’ll walk over to the edge of the Park & Ride for some shots of the newer sections of Gates, with their demolition currently on pause.
Blueberry Honksicle, sitting alone in the parking lot. Appears that I left my drivers side window open. Must have not been an overly cold morning for mid-March.
A bunch of the concrete “inverted umbrella” support posts laying out, awaiting separation for recycling. There had to be over a thousand of these posts, supporting all of the weight of five or six levels of rubber factory.
For years, I wanted to see the inside of Gates.
Stuff like this was the best I was ever going to do.
Would have liked a picture clear enough to read the grey sign on the beige door, on the 4th level.
Before getting back into my car, I snapped a few more pictures from this angle. The sun was in the perfect angle to create these colorful prisms. I’m not educated enough in digital photography/sunlight, to know what causes this effect. Nor am I interested in researching it for this story.
So it’s back in my car, light a smoke and head south…
Instead of taking Broadway, I was going to take Santa Fe Drive. Which means taking Mississippi Ave. west, along the south side of Gates.
Fun Fact: The platform extending from the 5th level is where lazy employees were forced to walk the plank. If they survived the fall onto Mississippi, they were allowed to keep their jobs!
I don’t know that to be a fact, any more than just a daydream I’ve had at my various jobs over the years…
Iconic Breakfast King sign, at the corner of northbound Santa Fe and Mississippi. To go south, you cross the Platte River in between, but if you turn into Romantix, you went too far. Should be turning left on South Platte River Drive, which connects to Santa Fe, a few blocks south. Where the Platte River turns to the west.
I wrote a story about this segment of South Platte River Drive, earlier this year.
Coincidence?
Shortly after Santa Fe is reassembled as a 6 lane divided highway, you pass Xpress Mart. A fairly large convenience store/gas station/car wash, that was closed for a period of time in 2014. Wasn’t that long before it was rebranded and reopened. There was a stretch where it was a Sinclair affiliate a few years back, but it’s now known as the catchy Gas Express #4.
Hiding under the Evans Avenue entrance ramp was a pair of Kansas City Southern train engines. These were fairly rare, as Denver tracks were dominated by BNSF and Union Pacific. Kansas City Southern was purchased by Canadian Pacific Railway for $31 billion, in December 2021.
Looks like Red & Jerry’s is having a Wrasslemania viewing party, again this year.
Wonder if the Honky Tonk Man was invited?
Or the Pleasures Dudes?
The Pleasures Dudes arch enemy (not really) resides inside Santa Fe Books, a mile or so south…
Terrible photo, snapped while driving by with the window closed. Which is never a good idea for taking passenger window photos. Just wanted to document the classic triple X sign, even if it’s blurry as hell. I’m sure I have better pictures, but this was my attempt for today.
Exited off Santa Fe at Belleview, and took that to South Lowell Blvd.
Chubby’s Mexican Food (#14) sat near the entrance to my destination. Chubby’s had good food. I was a fan of the the steak and queso burrito, that was almost too spicy for my suburban white boy from Minnesota pallet. Only almost, as that thing was fantastic. Didn’t even care how much it hurt later.
On the way home I stopped for grouches at the Littleton WalMarts Neighborhood concept test store. A few of these opened up in Colorado, from 2012-2014. This particular store operated inside of an abandoned Albertsons, so it was already set up for grocery sales. WalMarts wanted to test the idea of running stores that operated as grocery only. No clothing, housewares, electronics, automotive sections… Just what you’d find a a regular grocery store. They had an on site bakery and butcher shops, a pharmacy of course, but that was pretty much it.
Their “Kroger-Killer” never materialized, as WalMarts abandoned the idea in the spring of 2017. I went by the store one day and they had just closed up and cleared out. All of the windows were covered with black plastic tarps, on the inside. Didn’t mind shopping there. The prices were comparable, and it wasn’t overly busy (as a full scale WalMarts would have been). Apparently, the results of the test didn’t wow the Marts.
May explore this subject deeper some day…
That probably won’t be written while staying at the Essex House Motel, at 5390 South Santa Fe Drive. Which looked so much better painted this grey and blue. At some point in the next year, the motel was painted a burnt orange with red trim. Doesn’t look near as good. That said, the Essex has better reviews than I expected for a motel like this. They get extra bonus points for having an in-ground swimming pool…
That is filled with dirt and now used as a garden.
******
Sunday, March 23, 2014.
For a twist on today’s photography mission, Laura decided she wanted to come with. We’d discussed driving up to Riverside Cemetery, for reasons I can’t remember. Anyway, we started out north on Broadway, with a quick pit stop on Mansfield to check progress on the…
Englewood High School demolition!
I lived behind the school from 1996-2003, at the Kenyon Place Apartments. I drove by the school all the time. While I had no ties to it, watching it disappear after years of serving as a backdrop, was kind of sad. Laura waited in the car as I did a quick walk around the sidewalks of Mansfield and Logan.
From there, we took Logan north to Mississippi, then to Broadway and the RTD Park & Ride. Broadway in the area of Gates was in very poor condition. Large holes in the pavement that were inadequately patched, ruts in the road from years of heavy traffic without repaving, and lack of decent turn lanes were a problem for the amount of vehicles using this area every day.
The much needed reworking of Broadway through this area, took place in 2016-17.
I parked the car and got out to walk around for a few shots of demolition progress. Laura said she was going to take some as well, but stay at the car. I thought it would be cool to see what her perspective would be…
Laura’s photo was pretty similar to mine…
The excavator in this picture had a longer reach than the others on site. Enabling this machine to reach all the way to the roof of Gates building, from the ground. Most of the front building had been torn down in the last week. Now I was able to see the smaller building behind it. There would have been an alley in-between, with a three level bridge connecting the two buildings
All that’s left of the front building. The large metal whatever-that-was is completely gone.
The rest of the building will be gone by next week.
Turning to the southwest to see what the larger parts of the factory are looking like today.
Sorted piles of metal on top of crushed cement, with visible holes dropping down into the basements of Gates.
All but one segment deep left for an outer wall.
So much to see in what was left behind.
Moving left for the rest of what’s left…
Pulling back for perspective…
The fire escape is still attached to what’s left of the outer wall. There’s also a very small sign on the corner of the building. Sadly, I never tried to take a better picture of it…
ENHANCE!
That’s a terrible enhancing… Nothing like what the Crime Drama shows on the TV can do with a digital image:
“Keep Alley Clear”
And some other words I can’t read beneath it.
Well, that alley isn’t clear at all. I don’t think you could get any sort of delivery truck through there.
Someone isn’t reading the signs…
Oh look, there’s the RTD Light Rail, I-25 line.
The wrap is advertising “2 Days in Seattle”, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
From her post at the car, Laura took this photo of the former Gates electrical plant.
Likely the next building on site to be torn down.
Concrete bases of various sizes, previously used to anchor electrical equipment to the building.
My patented half-assed research dug up this image of the Gates Electrical building, with all of the ancillary electrical equipment still attached. The date on it was 2008, but the area looks too intact for 2008. 1998, maybe… Regardless of date, I love the effect of falling snow over it. Kudos to the original photographer, whoever you are.
Kind of not the same angle, 2014.
Front side of the Electrical building.
Laura was busy taking pictures of the RTD Light Rail bridge, as I was staring at the Electrical building.
With Broadway on the right side, and I-25 behind it.
She also took one of the recently opened 1000 Broadway South apartments, on the other side of Broadway. These were built in place of the old Gates professional building, which held a medical clinic and dentist office, amongst other Gates services and offices. They extended back to Logan, and were demolished back in 2005.
At one point, I walked into the lobby of 1000 Broadway South, and grabbed one of their flyers. No idea what 2025 prices are, but these prices were several hundred a month higher than where we were living in March 2014.
Laura got me in her photo of the apartments, without trying. This one was intentional. That flannel shirt is still in my rotating wardrobe today. I’d already had it for 17 years on this date in 2014. It’s probably my oldest shirt that still sees consistent wear.
What was I taking a picture of?
Well, it has to be Excitable Boy #2!
After leaving Gates, we got on I-25 north to I-70 east, on the way to Riverside Cemetery.
Sunday morning traffic on I-25 was at its typical slowed to a crawl pace, so I had time to line up a decent shot of Mile High Stadium, between cars. Or Sports Authority Field (at Mile High), which replaced the name Invesco Field (at Mile High), which would soon become Empower Field (at Mile High). Too bad the name Mile High Stadium doesn’t pay millions of dollars, so people can’t ever become attached to a stadium name. That’s three names in 25 years. All of which require a parentheses in order to clarify the location.
Doesn’t matter as this stadium will be demolished in 2031, with a new one built about a mile south of here.
Exiting I-70 at Brighton Blvd., I wanted to get a good picture of the Denver Coliseum.
Think this was a success.
Of course, I’ll never think of the Denver Coliseum, and not have this pop into my head.
General Hafaaz Supacat (1996-2009) says hi!
From there, it was a drive north to Riverside Cemetery, with this really old office building near the entrance.
Which is not the entrance anymore, after a reconfiguring on the area necessitated by the RTD Light Rail adding an extension up Brighton Blvd. This was covered in a story I posted a couple of months ago, involving areas north of Denver. With specific mention of Deno’s 6 & 85’s tragic end.
******
Sunday, March 30, 2014.
If you remember all the way back to a few paragraphs above, I was talking about the former Gates Electric building.
So here it is today (not today)!
But we’ll drive on past that, park and look at what the newest no longer there parts of Gates…
There’s now a pretty wide gap along the back walls. Including that windowless concrete building that was intact last week. It’s gone now. Along with the last few segments of the main Gates structure, before you get into the newer additions. It’s hard to see from the photos, but there are more gaps opening up over the basement.
Gates former water tower is resting on the ground next to their building that will soon fall. The water tank was mounted to the roof of this part of the factory. Before demolition began, the tank was cut in half and lowered to the ground. It was one of the last part of the factory to be removed from the site. Eventually it will be refurbished and used in some fashion with the new residential/retail area planned for the site.
And looking up plans for the site, that residential/retail area isn’t scheduled to be fully built until 2035. Nearly 20 years after the factory was demolished. Over 40 years since production work ceased at Gates.
You can’t say they’re rushing redevelopment…
This was my first look at this building in full, since the one in front of it is just a pile of crushed brick. My camera decided that with the lack of sun this morning, it didn’t want to take very sharp photos. Most of the ones from this day don’t look all that good. But you get the idea.
Closer look at the cut out section where a bridge between the buildings used to be.
Small hint at the basement between the buildings.
Zooming in to catch the RTD Light Rail train passing through, with the mountains behind it. Always enjoyed riding the train through this area because it took you very close to the side of Gates that you couldn’t easily see from walking around the place.
Power Plant Unit No. 13.
So I guess that Gates power plant was the 13th building of the complex. I’ve read that when Gates was still fully operational, there were between 30-40 buildings on the campus. Most of which had been demolished between 2004-2012, with these main buildings left until 2014-2015.
All of that ornate brick work that used to adorn this building is being crushed by the excavator.
A sad ending to unappreciated beauty.
Looking down the temporary chain link fence at the factory.
Just about done here for the day. Before moving on, I’ll follow the fence around the bounds of the RTD Park & Ride and take a few pictures from that vantage point.
Looking at the Rocky Mountains in a widening gap between the Gates buildings.
Scrubbed clean Gates basement. Interesting how the new additions to the Gates factory fit together. Given the openness of the floor plans, only seeing a few breaks in the basement walls is kind of surprising. A large amount of crushed concrete sits at the far side of the basement. That’s still being sorted for recycling, but is rapidly clearing out.
Guess it’s time to walk back to the Blueberry Honksicle and make my way home. For whatever reason, I opted to skip driving around this morning. After dropping by Gates when I finished my overnight shift, I took Broadway south to get home.
Nothing really caught my eye before crossing into Englewood.
When I decided I should get a blurry photo of Smoke Signals, because I liked their Fruit Stripe gum paint job. Sadly, Smoke Signals closed in 2019, and the building was painted gray to match their neighbor, Birdsall & Co. Eventually, Birdsall spread into the closed up head shop. Guess the smoke cleared enough to sell designer garden gnomes.
Funtastic Fun sat a few blocks south, and was just over a month away from demolition. Note the asbestos removal cycles cut into the plywood. Always a good sign to breathe deeply.
Probably have to write a Funtastic Fan story someday.
A few more blocks south, the future Alta Cherry Hills apartments are seeing the beginnings of actual construction. The near 100 year old Flood Middle School was demolished a year earlier, and these are some of the first of many concrete slabs that will make up the parking ramp.
Staying on Logan south, I took some more pictures of the Englewood High School demolition, then connected back with Broadway, at Tufts Avenue.
Why that there’s the Lucky U Motel!
With only slightly worse reviews than the Essex House! The Lucky U also features its own in-ground pool… That has also been filled with dirt.
Looking to my left while wait for the light to turn green, there’s Discount Liquor and 7 Eleven. Don’t need anything from either place today, so I’ll just go home.
I may or may not have stopped at Del Taco on the way.
I probably did.
I miss Del Taco.
Almost as much as I miss the Colorado sunsets from the Third Floor Dungeon’s deck at Greenwood Point.
Well, this didn’t cheer me up a whole lot either…
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