Celebrating the Gamechangers of Adams County, CO

Fitzsimons Innovation Community

Each year, the Adams County Regional Economic Partnership (AC-REP) presents Gamechanger Awards to four people, projects or organizations that have made profound impacts on the local economy in one of four categories. 

In 2023, AC-REP recognized Fitzsimons Innovation Community for the Economic Vitality category, Maiker Housing Partners for Inclusivity, Vartega for Sustainability and Pretred for Innovation.

Economic Engine 

The Fitzsimons Innovation Community is the second largest economic driver in the Metro Denver region after Denver International Airport. The campus includes leading-edge laboratory workspaces where health and life science companies of all sizes can grow from conducting bench lab work to curing a variety of diseases. It is located adjacent to three major health facilities and schools – University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado. The environment allows practitioners to teach in the morning, see patients at lunch and focus on innovation in the afternoon. 

“We currently have 427,000 square feet of space and about 80 life science tenant companies here – everything from startups to well-established commercial firms with products approved by the FDA,” says April Giles, vice president of business development at Fitzsimons Innovation Community.

The project was established in the late 1990s and it continues to grow, as the campus undergoes a 10-year infrastructure and facilities expansion project.

“We offer a specialized laboratory and office environment and have many researchers, clinicians, scientists and other innovators on our campus,” Giles says. “In 2023, our tenants introduced 18 new innovations into the commercial market as well as nine new patents. Fitzsimons certainly plays a major role in the Adams County economy, bringing in over $692 million in research funding.” 

Inclusive Impact 

Maiker Housing Partners exemplifies Inclusivity; its mission is to provide affordable housing regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age or other factors. The Westminster-based organization currently owns 2,100 apartment units throughout Adams County and charges rent far below the market rates to income-qualified residents. 

“We are always looking to acquire more land to develop additional apartment units,” says Peter LiFari, CEO of Maiker Housing Partners. “We are contributing to the vibrancy and stability of Adams County by providing housing assistance and housing support for families and seniors.” 

LiFari says an example is if a one-bedroom apartment in Adams County normally goes for $2,000 a month, it would cost around $1,000 for a Maiker apartment unit. A two-bedroom would be about $1,200 a month. 

“We still need to make enough money through rents to, for example, replace the elevator in an apartment building or install a new roof,” he says. “We are like any other apartment community – only more affordable to renters who qualify based on their income.” 

Sustainable Solutions 

Vartega makes valuable carbon fiber more accessible to everyone by manufacturing scrap carbon fiber and turning it into new carbon fiber for a variety of products. 

The Vartega process produces a low-cost lightweight carbon fiber alloy that can be used in many industries, including automotive, aerospace, construction, marine, military, sporting goods and more. That business concept is why it was selected for an award in Sustainability. Vartega officials say their process allows for thousands of tons of waste to be diverted yearly from landfills. 

Industrial Innovation 

Capturing the Gamechanger Award for Innovation, Pretred is a company that transforms waste tires into industrial safety barriers that can be used in various capacities across different industries – including for crowd control, traffic safety, construction and more. At full capacity, the Aurora company can recycle more than 2 million waste tires annually, which diverts about 47 million pounds of tires from landfills or controlled burns. 

“The idea for the company began when our neighbor, Eric Davis, was fly fishing in a pristine stream and saw some old tires floating in the water,” says Toni Olson, Pretred marketing manager. “Eric is an engineer who came to me and my husband, Jeff, to see if we wanted to join this tire-recycling venture.” 

Pretred launched in 2020 and opened a manufacturing facility in Aurora in 2022, and today there are 12 employees. 

“We make 6-foot and 8-foot barriers that average about 1,600 pounds apiece, and each barrier uses about 75 waste tires,” Olson says. “We largely sell to construction companies around the U.S. that use the barriers on-site to keep pedestrians and motorists away from danger zones.”