Westminster, CO (Denver, Boulder, Greeley: rent, houses, safe area)

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by livecontent

I go up to this area frequently. This is a very nice area and has a number of well established neighborhoods and much new growth. Front Range Community College is on 112 and has a number of nice neighborhoods.
The main branch of the city of Westminster Library is shared at the community college.

There is much growth along 120 with shopping and a new Walmart is being built near Sheridan and 120th. There is a Kohl's near this intersection. Across and a little down the street on 120 is Brandburn--a new urban development.
A nice area with many new homes is off of Midway East in Westminster and there are more new homes north. This area also extends west to the big park in Broomfield, near Main Street which runs south to north.

Westminster has a big park and a recreation center near 104th and Sheridan.
What is nice is that Hyland Hills Recreation and Westminster Recreation share the use of their facilities. Water World, under Hyland is in Federal Heights. There is a large new urban shopping Center on 104th West of the Park where the big new Ice Arena is under Hyland Hills. This is near the Church Ranch Exit off of 36. There will be a new commuter rail station built here under Fastracks. The area has a large shopping center, a super Target and all kinds of restaurants and stores.

I would not worry about Federal Height--it is east of Federal and South of 104th---which is southeast of the area you mentioned. I am hesitant to say it is such bad areas but it contains a great deal of mobile home parks.

Most of the shopping for this area would be along 120 in Broomfield, west of
Sheridan; at the Northglenn Redevelopment of the Northglenn Mall at I-25 on 104th.

The newest area of Shopping is north on 136th east toward I-25.

There is a brand new hospital, Good Samaritan, on 287 north from Broomfield, north of 470 and Dillon Road. It is just in the boundary of Lafayette which is in Boulder County.

Livecontent

another walmart?
holy crap, how many do we need in that area? there is already one at 92nd and sheridan lol its one of the super walmarts too

the whole area is growing up. Bradburn is an amazing subdivision. I have done 6 homes and two of the work/live loft buildings in the sub-division.
pretty much any where in that area is going to be pretty nice, I would not say that federal heights is bad, just not what most are looking for, I did learn however to follow the speed limits in federal heights to the exact speed, since they are landlocked, and small they have a very agressive police force lol.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by Noahma

another walmart?
holy crap, how many do we need in that area? there is already one at 92nd and sheridan lol its one of the super walmarts too

the whole area is growing up. Bradburn is an amazing subdivision. I have done 6 homes and two of the work/live loft buildings in the sub-division.
pretty much any where in that area is going to be pretty nice, I would not say that federal heights is bad, just not what most are looking for, I did learn however to follow the speed limits in federal heights to the exact speed, since they are landlocked, and small they have a very agressive police force lol.

shhh, now, now, The Walmart is on the old Barber Turkey Site. Construction should start soon. A new Walmart near me at 72nd. and Sheridan is going to open in about 8-10 weeks.

Livecontent

[oberon]

That's a pretty nice part of town. You might also consider the area near Westminster City Park / Rec Center as well as west of there, near the Heritage Golf Course. Most of this part of Westminster is middle class, with a few upper class neighborhoods, and there are many relatively good schools too. Along with a long stretch of open space running through it. Good Samaritan Medical Center is not as close as Livecontent implies, but it is a great ER. 104th & US-36 is about halfway between Denver and Boulder, another reason to look west of Sheridan.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by livecontent

shhh, now, now, The Walmart is on the old Barber Turkey Site. Construction should start soon. A new Walmart near me at 72nd. and Sheridan is going to open in about 8-10 weeks.

Livecontent

i guess its ok where the barber chicken place is, that area is well... in need of a facelift.

[txp]

Thanks for the info. How bad is the commute to downtown during rush hour? Does 25 get backed up all the way to 120th? Is 36 any faster?

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by txp

Thanks for the info. How bad is the commute to downtown during rush hour? Does 25 get backed up all the way to 120th? Is 36 any faster?

the commute can get pretty nasty. your best bet is to take side roads as far as you can, then hop on the highway. In the mornings I-25 is usualy backed up from 136th to the turnpike.

[Bradburn1]

I would estimate the commute during rush hour from those Westminster/Broomfield locations would run around 30-40 minutes (1 hour in bad weather). However, there is a great park n ride at 120th and I-25 and taking the bus is an easy 20-30 minutes.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by Bradburn1

I would estimate the commute during rush hour from those Westminster/Broomfield locations would run around 30-40 minutes (1 hour in bad weather). However, there is a great park n ride at 120th and I-25 and taking the bus is an easy 20-30 minutes.

I agree totally; the Wagon Wheel Park and Ride is one of the Largest in the Area. If you are commuting near I-36, there are numerous Park and Rides. The Broomfield Park and Ride is especially large and is being relocated to to accommodate the future rail station and the bus rapid transit---that would be a good idea to look at the 36 corridor with the completion of the BRT and and Commuter Rail. In addition it would also be prudent to think about the where any future rail station will be located.

Commuting Downtown by rail or bus is extremely easy--the trick is to find a residence that makes you a mass transit commuter and then you can
Livecontent.

[oberon]

I think the area around the Church Ranch PNR is ripe for TOD renewal, especially once it's redeveloped for a BRT+rail station. There is a lot of land in that area that's undeveloped or underdeveloped (farm plots etc), and there's two relatively new malls nearby. They've already redeveloped the PNR so it's on the other side of 104th Avenue, closer to the BNSF tracks that go under US-36. I think it'll look quite different in ten years. I expect to see high density housing, more commercial, and more office space near there. That's part of why I live near it.

It's also worth noting that this PNR has existing housing close to it (unlike the Broomfield PNR) and is roughly halfway between Denver and Boulder, which is one of the OP's desires.

[Bradburn1]

I've seen a posting recently by the city of Westminster looking for an urban planner to develop a TOD plan to replace/revive the rather run down Westminster Mall. I know the city is working with Fastracks to get stop there, should be interesting to see if that works out or not.

Westminster actually is pretty progressive (even though their building/permitting department can be difficult to work with--at least that's what all the builders in Bradburn tell me), Westminter has quite a few ongoing or in development mixed-use projects other than Bradburn such as Hyland Village which is just breaking ground on Sheridan close to 92nd street. There's also The Orchard which is up north close to I25 and 136th. That was supposed to be mixed-use, but I haven't heard of them going forward with a residential component (the horrible market perhaps). For a city of its size, I think Westminster is being pretty smart about growth, and so are other cities around Denver, Broomfield has the new Aritsa development for example, and most cities are developing many TOD plans along the future Fastracks stops. Makes me feel like this is a good place to have a future.