Workers preparing the former Gates Rubber Co. for a $1 billion redevelopment will receive prevailing wages if Denver taxpayers fork over $85 million in public financing, the site’s owner said Wednesday.
Although no state or city law requires market prevailing wages on publicly funded projects, owner Cherokee Denver agreed to pay them to workers cleaning up the site and building infrastructure.
“We had planned to do this all along,” Cherokee president Ferd Belz told City Council members.
The promise of prevailing wages does not extend to vertical development handled by other private contractors.
Cherokee’s costs would be reimbursed as city property and sales taxes are generated by the redevelopment over 25 years. This so-called tax increment financing, or TIF, will be supplemented with an additional $41 million in property taxes paid by future residents in a designated special district.
Because special districts are required to pay prevailing wages, Belz said he would funnel all the public funds through the district to ensure workers are paid fairly.
Representatives from the Front Range Economic Strategy Center, a union-backed group, said they were pleased by the news.
“It’s an important step in the right direction,” said Robin Kniech, a research and policy analyst with the group.
Health care for all workers and a certified apprenticeship program are also being pushed for by the center.
How much Cherokee Denver stands to profit from the deal is unknown.
Earlier Monday, council members and administration officials barred the public from a meeting, citing an exception to the state’s open records law. The meeting was to review financial information about Cherokee Denver.
The City Council will set a public hearing date for the proposed public financing deal Tuesday.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
