<== Site of the Week for 2019-05-07 ==>

Great Western Industrial Park

Great Western Industrial Park is a heavy industrial park developed by Broe Real Estate of Denver. The plans for the park were approved by Windsor in 2006. The park includes heavy industry including a factory that produces blades for windmills.

Back in 1986, Broe had acquired the Great Western Railroad from Great Western United. This short line railroad was constructed in 1901 to bring beets from Johnston to Loveland for processing.

The railroad became part of one of the most spectacular business failures of the 20th century.

Great Western Sugar merged with Colorado Milling and Elevator Co and renamed Great Western United Company in the 1970s. GWU had aspirations of becoming a conglomerate. They bought mines in Idaho, the California City Development Company (which had aspirations of creating a city in the Mojave Desert) and Shakey's Pizza.

The Federal Government deregulated sugar destroying its main profit center. The people who bought lots in California City sued GWU.

Things looked up when when billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt of the Hunt Family Fortune GWU. The Hunt brothers had the crazy idea that they could corner the silver market. They invested their fortune in silver and drove the price from $10 per ounce to $50 per ounce. The Hunt Brothers ran afoul of the Federal Reserve and Us Commodity and Futures Commission. The Feds banned investors from buying silver on margin. Silver fell back to $10 per ounce and the Hunt Brothers went bankrupt.

Pat Broe and friends acquired Great Western Railroad and renamed it OmniTRAX. They then began shortline railroads across the country. They also extended service to Fort Collins and Greeley. OmniTRAX is now the largest privately owned railroad.

The Broe Group gained approval for the industrial park in 2006. The company has been successful at attracting companies in the energy sector. The video shows an overview of the park.