Longmont’s Great Western Sugar factory is a hulking shadow of the city’s agricultural past and the target of previous redevelopment plans that never came to be. A new effort by the Urban Land Institute, however, could offer city leaders a path to reshape the rusted 118-year-old edifice.
Any facelift for the property would have to overcome a variety of obstacles including skeptical city council members, who see more potential in revamping other sections of southeast Longmont.
Those efforts include the Building S.T.E.A.M facility, a center for science, technology, education, arts and mathematics along the St. Vrain Creek corridor. The S.T.E.A.M area is ultimately envisioned by council “to become the center of a vibrant economic, residential, cultural, and entertainment district that is sustainable and respects the natural environment,” according to a city staff report.
Council — during a study session last month — also looked at other projects deemed important for southeast Longmont, including a performing arts and conference center and Main Street Corridor revitalization from Colo. 66 on the north to Plateau Road on the south.
Council members at the study session said breathing new life into the sugar mill is likely too complicated compared to other projects in the southeast portion of the city.
“I’d rather prioritize other things,” Councilmember Aren Rodriguez said, citing the considerable infrastructure problems at the sugar mill as a major stumbling block.
The Sugar Mill area lacks water, sanitary sewer, and drainage infrastructure to support any development, Tony Chacon, redevelopment manager for Longmont, said in an email.
“The infrastructure issues will be assessed as part of planning efforts going forward over the next couple of years,” he said.
Full of hazards
The Longmont plant, like all abandoned sugar plants in northeast Colorado, is full of asbestos as well as other on site contaminants such as abandoned electric transformers and underground wells, Lyn Deal, a Fort Morgan City Council member and longtime advocate of redeveloping sugar mills, told the Fort Morgan Times in 2010.
The dangers inside the Longmont facility have prevented firefighters from battling flames inside the concrete structure. Fire crews have responded to three fires at the plant over the past decade — including one in December — with at least one blamed on vandals, according to media reports.
Buildings on the sugar plant property are pretty “dilapidated,” said Doug Saba, deputy fire marshal for Mountain View Fire Protection District.
“There are holes in the stairwells and the interior and exterior walls have been damaged so badly from vandals in the last few years, the stability of the structure is in question,” Saba said.
Materials and chemicals from impromptu meth labs also have been left inside the building, making for an unstable and potentially hazardous environment for firefighters, he said. If people are inside the building during a fire, crews will do everything they can to get them out. Otherwise, calls are weighed on a “case by case” basis, Saba said.
Obstacles, priorities
Reshaping Longmont’s Main Street should get top billing over the sugar plant property, Councilmember Polly Christensen said.
“There is a great deal of environmental remediation that needs to be done at the sugar mill,” she said, adding efforts further east of the mill would get faster results.
An Urban Land Institute team last year conducted a study of the sugar mill site and is scheduled to present its findings and recommendations to council on March 30. The ULI report won’t be distributed to the public until just prior to the meeting, Erin Fosdick, Longmont’s principal planner, said in an email.
Since 1947, the Urban Land Institute has tackled downtown redevelopment, revitalization and affordable housing problems worldwide, Marianne Eppig, ULI Colorado director, said in an email. In Colorado, ULI advisors have provided solutions for the Colorado Convention Center, Coors Field and the Denver Justice Center, she said.
The 120-acre sugar mill area presents a variety of obstacles including crumbling infrastructure and asbestos embedded in two of the structure’s massive boiler systems, city planners told council earlier this month.
Chacon, the city’s redevelopment manager, told the council during the Feb. 16 study session the sugar plant has the potential to become a signature redevelopment project for Longmont.
“There is an opportunity to start something out there that would be rather unique,” he said.
Key piece of city’s past
The sugar mill was built in 1903 at the prompting of several leading residents to take advantage of the abundant sugar beet crops in northeastern Colorado, according to Erik Mason, Longmont Museum curator of history.
At its peak, the factory employed more than 700 men, women and children, processed 3,650 tons of beets and produced more than 1 million pounds of sugar per day, according to Colorado Encyclopedia.
By the 1970s, both the Great Western Sugar factory and the Kuner-Empson vegetable cannery closed, severing Longmont’s last links to its agricultural past, Mason said.
Vandals, mischief and more
The sugar mill has since fallen into disrepair and is now the target of photo essays, vandals and trespassers.
The sugar mill falls into the jurisdiction of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
“I would say that the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office regularly responds to the sugar mill property for trespassing and criminal mischief incidents,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Haverfield said.
In 2020, deputies responded to 11 calls to the sugar mill and filed reports for criminal trespassing and criminal mischief.
Among those incidents according to sheriff’s office reports:
- Four suspects broke into the building using a sledgehammer and spray-painted a portion of a wall, causing $500 in damage.
- A group of suspects broke into the eastern portion of the plant and broke 12 vehicle windows, causing $1,400 in damage, according to sheriff’s reports.
In August 2019, Longmont police and the Colorado State Patrol responded to reports of shots fired and several individuals standing over a body. At one point during the call, Longmont Police held five individuals at gunpoint, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office report.
Officers later learned the suspects were budding filmmakers who were shooting a movie. They had in their possession three fake handguns and movie scripts, according to the report.
“No real firearms or illegal contraband was found. Each party was released without action and advised to call dispatch next time they film movie scenes that may disturb the public or generate law enforcement attention,” according to the report.
Interest in redevelopment is not new
The owner of the sugar mill site, Dick Thomas, in 2019 said he had talked to several groups that expressed interest in bringing modern mixed commercial and residential structures to the property, according to the website Longmont Build Out.
Thomas also has been involved in the Urban Land Institute’s study of the property, Longmont planner Fosdick said.
