"I hate to tell y'all this," Nevitt wrote in an e-mail blast to interested parties, "but someone has filed to designate the old Gates factory buildings as historic, thereby bringing to a screeching halt the process that would have made it possible for them eventually to be demolished...It's particularly disappointing that the application comes from someone who is not even a resident of Denver.
"I had a long and polite, but ultimately fruitless, conversation with Mr. Elliott. He appeared to show no interest in the opinions of the neighborhoods that have been invested in this site for all these years, nor to show much concern for the economic importance of redevelopment of this keystone site for Denver...Ah, the blissful self-confidence of the young."
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Gates wants to demolish the remaining buildings. Eugene Elliot wants to designate them as historic.
For decades, Gates was a major Denver employer and a landmark on South Broadway.
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Elliott recalls the conversation somewhat differently. "Toward the end, it definitely got very heated," he says. "He defends the property like it was his child or something. The way I look at it, if the public wants to preserve it, it will get the designation."
It didn't help Elliott's cause that opponents of his application quickly discovered that his interest in the Gates site was more than that of an armchair historian. Using the handle "geneboy," he's been a frequent poster on the Urban Exploration Resource, an online forum for people keen on prowling abandoned missile silos, underground tunnels and industrial complexes; Gates is considered one of the prime locations for such forays in the region. In one public thread, Elliott admits having been inside the complex himself at least five times. Many of the donations to cover the application fee came from supporters on the UER site, including one who describes herself as a "serial trespasser."
Steve Harley, a member of the Baker Historic Neighborhood Association who's worked extensively on Gates redevelopment issues over the past decade, has mixed feelings about the application. "We put a lot of work into trying to come up with a plan everyone could agree on," he says. "It was kind of insulting to see someone come in from out of the blue — and when I discovered that it was underground explorers, so to speak, it was even more insulting."
But as Harley tracked the discussion between Elliott and his donors online, he developed a grudging respect for the crowd-funding effort. "People have criticism of the 'explorer' aspect, but I think they're being creative about this," he explains. "There's some genuine, gut-level appreciation for the preservation of old buildings. A lot of us would sympathize with that. But they were doing what they thought was best without consulting the community. That bothered me."
Elliott won't comment on his interest in urban exploring, saying that "people will use it to try to invalidate me in some way." He insists that his application is the first step in trying to come up with a way to honor the Gates legacy and repurpose the existing buildings, not leave them vacant.
"I'm not naïve enough to think that this is a good way to delay demolition, so urban explorers can have access to it," he says. "In all honesty, having a presence on that site and seeing pictures people have posted got me curious about these locations. I followed up by doing research on them. I feel like these buildings have a strong importance in the community and that there's a strong case for trying to reuse them."
Last week, Denver's Landmark Preservation Commission found that Elliott's application met the criteria for the landmark-designation process and scheduled a public hearing on the matter for September 4. That's triggered a larger discussion among officials about whether the city's historic-preservation ordinance makes it too easy for people who aren't property owners or even neighborhood "stakeholders" to stymie major redevelopment projects.
Even if Elliott's bid wins approval from the agency — despite what's anticipated to be a barrage of objections from Gates, community residents and others — the measure would then move to Denver City Council for approval. Nevitt is confident that approval will be denied, given the longstanding desire to have a transit-oriented development at the site. But considerable damage will already have been done, he maintains.
"I know Gates has had a number of people express serious interest in the site," he says. "These kinds of barriers are holding them off. It's bad not only for this site, but for sites all over town."
He sighs. "It's not like we're trying to knock down a beautiful old building in the dead of night," he says. "Here's a company trying to do the right thing — and someone living in Boulder can pay $250 and say you're all wrong."
As for Elliott's hope that some portion of the buildings can remain? "He's young, maybe idealistic," Nevitt says. "He's sure the answer's out there. But he doesn't have any recognition of how much time and energy has already been expended trying to find an answer — and coming up empty."
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Denver's landmark-designation process allows for buildings or entire districts to be considered worthy of preservation if they meet criteria in at least two of three categories. Wisely, Elliott's claim for the Gates property didn't include any contention that the buildings have architectural significance; although the brickwork has a few interesting features, the buildings have undergone so many modifications and poured-concrete add-ons over the years that they're hardly emblematic of any distinctive style.
