The Jefferson One Research Center is a 70 acre industrially zoned Research Park in Jefferson County.

Originally the home of the TOSCO Oil Shale Research facility,  it was built in the early 1980’s to scale up TOSCO’s proprietary research to extract oil shale from rock in western Colorado.(A precipitous drop in oil prices killed the oil shale industry and eliminated the need for this test facility.)

The 214′ high 8′ diameter Lift Pipe was designed and used to demonstrate that crushed oil shale rock could be moved from underground to the surface for removal of the oil from the shale.  It is visible on the skyline from almost anywhere in the western metro area. It may possibly be useable for fluid flow studies, including vertical wind turbine testing.

18300 W. Highway 72 was purchased by Ralston Development Corporation in 1987.  Existing buildings (roughly 60,000 SF) have been used for research and scale-up laboratories for a number of companies, from solar collectors (SkyFuel)  to NASA subcontractors (for the Mars Rover) and for contractors’ storage, and battery electrolyte development (Boulder Ionics.)

Potential, at full buildout, can reasonably accommodate up to 700,000 SF of office/flex space.

For many inventions or process improvements, such as those coming out of NREL or other institutions, there is no other place that allows the scale up opportunities in the metro Denver area. There are many industrial parks, but most want very pristine uses for their industrial spaces (no vents, lab hoods, welding and pilot plants), and most very young companies do not want to be committed for a long period of time to a space which will be inadequate in the future.

Each of the Big Four (NREL, CU,  Colorado School of Mines and CSU) regularly spawns inventions and innovations which can be made commercially viable with the right combination of ideas, people, funding, and space.  Each of the inventions or innovations requires people and can grow quickly.  Most of the inventions or innovations don’t work as well within the confines of University or government structure.  They need a new home.

Jefferson One Research Center can provide that new home.

The main laboratory 22,500 SF total, can accommodate a number of small companies in individual laboratory bays.  Other buildings can handle scale-up operations, and there is plenty of land for future build-to-suits.  Outside activities, such as the test facility for SkyFuel solar concentrator modules, can be located on site.

There is room for companies to grow at this location.

We welcome inquiries from companies looking to scale up innovations as well as developers who would like to provide additional workspace.