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Old 11-18-2007, 10:15 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,147,178 times
Reputation: 35920

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I agree with Mike From Back East. In fact, I have posted many times about the old houses in Denver looking very much alike. In some blocks, ALL the houses look the same, because they were built by the same builder at the same time. The same is true in almost every city. Someone posted some pictures of a Chicago residential neighborhood here on City-Data, same thing. This cookie-cutter thing is not new. As time goes on, the houses look less alike due to additions being built, different paint colors and/or siding, landscaping maturing, etc. The same will happen in HR and even in Weld County, in due time. BTW, DH and I once rented one of those 20 X 40 built on a concrete slab houses in Champaign, IL. Bad news if your pipes freeze, as was common there in the winter. Could break the slab.

 
Old 11-18-2007, 10:16 PM
 
26,111 posts, read 48,696,623 times
Reputation: 31481
Quote:
Originally Posted by formercalifornian View Post
Tell you what, I'll send all the "bleach-blond, gum-cracking, tummy-tucked, hyper-parenting, thirty-something [women] driving [their] three or more gifted & talented progeny around in Hummer H3s" to live in the city, and you can come out here to the exurbs. Deal?
Oh no, please don't ruin a great city - that way!
 
Old 11-18-2007, 10:40 PM
 
5,747 posts, read 12,008,849 times
Reputation: 4511
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east View Post
I grew up in Baltimore. Old industrial city. Block after block of row homes. One block extends at least a full quarter mile, an endless string of identical brick fronts with Baltimore's legendary set of four white marble steps. New? Hell no, they go back a hundred years. Total sameness. But you know what? For some reason, nobody ever referred to them as being cookie cutter.
Yep. Loved those old places. I miss Baltimore.
 
Old 11-18-2007, 10:50 PM
 
Location: Denver,Co
676 posts, read 2,787,622 times
Reputation: 157
Quote:
Originally Posted by formercalifornian View Post
Tell you what, I'll send all the "bleach-blond, gum-cracking, tummy-tucked, hyper-parenting, thirty-something [women] driving [their] three or more gifted & talented progeny around in Hummer H3s" to live in the city, and you can come out here to the exurbs. Deal?
He he.. I think we've had this thread somewhere on here before. Careful though they are all in denial though and those are fighting words. Just wait till one of them reads that then a whole can a worms is opened
 
Old 11-18-2007, 10:55 PM
 
Location: Just south of Denver since 1989
11,810 posts, read 34,265,174 times
Reputation: 8926
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfox View Post
Around the time Highlands Ranch was first being built, National Geographic did a memorable article about how suburban sprawl was eating up America's open spaces (which it is), and Highlands Ranch was featured as the epitome of sprawl of the worst sort imaginable, complete with "before and after" pictures of pristine rural countryside transformed into row after row of cookie-cutter houses.
That article was written in 1999. HR is not the epitome of cookie cutter or sprawl.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfox View Post
(In hindsight, that was an unfair characterization, compared to some of the monstrosities we're seeing today.) At the time, it was worse that was wholly built by one single California Company called Mission Viejo homes (since acquired by Shea Homes), which had built similarly sized "communities" in Southern California, including the namesake Mission Viejo in Orange County.
Mission Viejo was owned by tobacco giant RJ Reynolds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfox View Post
Well, of course, it's been 25 years since Mission Viejo bought the huge piece of land.
Closer to 30.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfox View Post
Time passed. I think most people have softened their attitude toward Highlands Ranch and Shea Homes (Mission Viejo's new name).
No. Shea bought the development rights and land from RJ Reynolds.
 
Old 11-18-2007, 10:59 PM
 
5,747 posts, read 12,008,849 times
Reputation: 4511
Quote:
Originally Posted by steveco. View Post
He he.. I think we've had this thread somewhere on here before. Careful though they are all in denial though and those are fighting words. Just wait till one of them reads that then a whole can a worms is opened
Bring it on. I can take 'em!
 
Old 11-18-2007, 11:07 PM
 
2,756 posts, read 12,931,864 times
Reputation: 1521
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2bindenver View Post
[font="Century Gothic"][color="SeaGreen"]That article was written in 1999. HR is not the epitome of cookie cutter or sprawl.
Ahh... well I stand corrected on the date of the article then -- somehow that got misplaced in my mind. The article would have been written a good 20 years into the development of HR, then, not at the beginning. Well, shows how memory can be kind of fuzzy. Thanks also for filling in the details of the corporate history of Mission Viejo.

In any case, 2bindenver, I actually agree with you -- HR is now, in hindsight, hardly the epitome of sprawl or cookie cutter, and many of the things that Mission Viejo did in planning the development now seem rather forward thinking. As I've said before, the fact that HR is still considered so desirable 30 years into its development is impressive.
 
Old 11-19-2007, 05:27 AM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,407,924 times
Reputation: 17827
Quote:
Originally Posted by ditto View Post
Pretty soon the area from Castle Rock to N. Colorado Springs will be filled with more cookie-cutter tract homes instead of open space.
I understand your point however I think the area in extreme southern Douglas County is protected Greenland open space, but other than that you may be correct. Unless of course the open space becomes developed...which I doubt will ever happen.
 
Old 11-19-2007, 08:55 AM
 
Location: Denver,Co
676 posts, read 2,787,622 times
Reputation: 157
The only way for open space to become open to development is if they have a public vote on the issue...(like it would even reach that far in the first place) when that happens I doubt anyone would vote for it
 
Old 11-19-2007, 09:04 AM
 
Location: here
24,873 posts, read 36,015,649 times
Reputation: 32725
Mike and tfox, I think you hit the nail on the head. Suburbs have been cookie cutter for decades. This is not new. if anything, the smaller lots are a better use of land than years ago. If someone wants a newer house that isn't cookie cutter it takes a lot of money to get it. Not that many families have that kind of money.
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