A contractor responsible for much of the work on T-REX was awarded the $126 million infrastructure contract for the Gates Rubber plant redevelopment Monday, the same day the Denver City Council granted initial approval to the project.
Kiewit Building Group beat out three other construction firms for the first major contract of the development.
The announcement came as community groups that had previously expressed concern about the project threw their support behind the redevelopment.
“If you had told me six months ago that there wouldn’t be a fight – or six weeks ago – I would have been amazed,” City Councilman Doug Linkhart said at a gathering of several community advocacy groups. “I’m truly amazed that all of these groups have come together to support this project.”
Leaders advocating for issues including affordable housing, good wages and local hiring said they were satisfied with the efforts of the project’s developer, Cherokee Denver LLC.
The selection of Kiewit helped solidify support from the coalition, said Robin Kniech, a research and policy analyst for the Front Range Economic Strategy Center.
“They have a history of providing health care,” Kniech said of Kiewit. “They have a history of providing pensions and a history of providing training for certified apprenticeships.”
The support was significant as the City Council granted initial approval to four ordinances regarding the Gates redevelopment on first reading Monday. Kiewit’s $126 million contract is contingent on the council’s approving an $85 million public financing plan. A public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 6.
The council approved the ordinances on a 12-1 vote with the dissent of Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie, whose district encompasses the Cherokee project.
“This project has lots of subsidy and little accountability,” MacKenzie said, stressing to her colleagues that she needed assurances that the council would have more control over how the development progressed.
Kiewit was selected for its experience with complicated urban projects, said Ferd Belz, president of Cherokee. Kiewit was the design-and-build construction contractor for the Transportation Expansion Project, or T-REX, on Interstates 25 and 225.
As the contractor, Kiewit will be responsible for cleaning up the contaminated site as well as building underground utilities, sidewalks, transit infrastructure and a list of “signature projects.”
The Gates redevelopment – Denver’s largest since Stapleton – is expected to cost $1 billion and take 10 to 15 years to complete. The city has pledged $85 million in public financing toward cleaning up the former rubber-factory site and rebuilding it into a transit-oriented residential and retail hub. The $85 million in so-called tax-increment financing would be supplemented with $41 million in taxes to come from future residents if the site is designated a special district in May.
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-820-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
