Urban plants between the interstates rarely have room to grow outward, so most of what we do in north Denver is modernization: new docks, a roof-top equipment replacement, a freezer or process addition, a slab replaced in a production zone. The constraint is almost always the same. The plant has to keep shipping, and the tie-in has to happen in the window the owner can give us.
The corridor has been rebuilt around these plants. The Central 70 Project, a $1.2 billion rebuild of about 10 miles of I-70 from Brighton Boulevard to Chambers Road, finished construction in July 2023 and removed the 57-year-old viaduct between Brighton and Colorado boulevards, through the Elyria-Swansea area. The concession is a design-build-finance-operate-maintain agreement with Kiewit Meridiam Partners that runs to 2052, adds one express toll lane each way, and put a 4-acre park over a 1,000-foot lowered section. For a plant owner, that is a finished and maintained haul route, which simplifies delivery planning.
Industry here is both food and freight. Elyria-Swansea is bounded by the South Platte River on the west and Adams County on the north, has a major railroad crossing from southwest to northeast, and contains a Nestle Purina PetCare plant and the Denver Coliseum. A plant that handles food or pet food has different construction requirements than a metal shop: washdown floors, drainage, refrigeration, sanitary finishes and documented cleaning before startup.
Two interstates and a rail crossing
Both I-25 and I-70 cross Globeville, and the I-25 and I-70 Mousetrap interchange lies in the neighborhood; I-25 was built there from 1948 to 1958 and I-70 in 1964. The practical meaning for an owner is that the district is among the best-connected industrial areas in the metro, and a short trip reaches every direction.
The rail crossing in Elyria-Swansea adds another asset to some sites. We evaluate whether a parcel has rail access or the potential for it, and we coordinate rail spur improvements with the railroad's schedule and standards, treating the rail agreement as a critical path item.
Modernization inside operating plants
The projects we see most are refrigerated dock retrofits, process-area slab replacements, new mezzanines, roof and rooftop equipment replacements, and building additions. Each is built while the plant continues to ship.
Most of these buildings were built for the process they house, so we begin with a survey of the structure, the slab and the utilities, and we document what we find before design starts. The survey tells us where a new dock can be cut, which columns can take new loads and where a new mezzanine would meet existing equipment.
We plan the work in zones. A zone is isolated with temporary partitions, dust control and, where food is handled, hygienic barriers. The plant's quality team reviews the barrier plan before we start, and we hold a post-work cleaning and inspection before the zone returns to production.
Legacy soils and due diligence
Neighborhood activism in Globeville and Elyria-Swansea won a 1994 settlement with ASARCO that funded soil cleanup, a sign of legacy smelter contamination to check in due diligence near these industrial areas. We treat that as a prompt to ask for environmental history on any parcel, not as a finding about a specific site.
When the history raises questions, the owner's consultant sets the sampling. We then plan excavation limits, soil handling, dust control and worker protection to the consultant's recommendations, and we keep the disposal records in the turnover package.
Food, cold-storage and heavy users
The industries around us include food and beverage processing, cold storage, metal fabrication, building-material suppliers and trucking. A food plant needs sanitary floors, drainage and wall systems that can be cleaned. A cold-storage building needs insulated panels, vapor control, a heated slab and robust dock seals.
We build food and beverage processing and cold storage spaces to the owner's food-safety program, with documentation for each material and inspection, so the plant's auditors can see how the building was made.
Outage-based scheduling
We schedule backward from the plant's shutdown windows, which may be a weekend, a holiday or a seasonal low. Work that can be built outside the window is released first, and the tie-in work is prepared so that it can be completed and tested inside the window.
Before the shutdown, we hold a readiness review: materials on site, crews confirmed, inspections scheduled, test procedures agreed and a recovery plan if the work runs long. After startup, we verify performance and close out the change-control log.
Nearby submarkets and related scopes
North Denver owners often have a second site, or a supplier, in the Stapleton and Central Park area or in other parts of Denver. We use the same quality plan and change control across the sites, and confirm each site's permits and code edition separately.
Scopes that go along with a retrofit include slab replacement, roof work and process upgrades, which we deliver within industrial renovations and modernization projects. Owners pick the combination that fits the plant's capital plan, and we phase the work across several outages.
What an urban retrofit costs
Costs depend on the number of outages, the premium for off-hours work, the age of the existing structure and the amount of utility work. Pricing from verified existing conditions reduces surprises, so we open ceilings, cut test slots and locate utilities before we finalize the number.
Equipment lead time is another driver. Refrigeration systems, switchgear and dock equipment often take longer to arrive than the work takes to build, and we buy early or phase the work to suit.
Send the plant layout and the outage calendar
Send the plant layout, the shutdown windows and the equipment list. We will return a zoned schedule with the outages identified.
Common Questions
How do you work in a plant that can't stop?
We divide the work into pieces that can be built outside the production zone and pieces that need a shutdown. The shutdown pieces are prefabricated, tested in advance and sequenced with the maintenance lead. A readiness review precedes each outage.
What does legacy contamination mean for my project?
It means the environmental history of the parcel deserves a review before design. Your consultant determines the sampling and recommendations, and we build the soil handling, safety and disposal plans to match.
Does the Central 70 rebuild help my deliveries?
It provides a finished, maintained corridor, and the express lanes add capacity. We still plan haul routes against current conditions and the plant's own gate.
Can you build a freezer addition at an operating plant?
Yes, with careful planning. We build the insulated envelope, the slab with under-slab heating and the dock seals while keeping the existing operation separated. Refrigeration lead times and commissioning are the main schedule drivers.
Do you coordinate with rail operators?
Yes. Spur work follows the railroad's standards and schedule, and the agreement and track design are on our critical path from the start.