Harvey Park area..nice? (Denver, Lakewood: relocating, rental, housing)

[sunflowers00]

Hi. My husband and I are relocating to Denver next week and found a small house to rent in the Harvey Park area. We were wondering what the neighborhood is like (nice...family oriented), crime rate, commute time with traffic to downtown Denver, etc. Any advice on nice and affordable (we don't want to spend more than $1200/3bdrm rental) areas to live, please let me know.

Thanks,
Patsy

[tfox]

It's probably not one of Denver's nicest neighborhoods, but it's not the worst either. Housing stock is mostly 50s ranches of fairly modest character. Crime is higher than you'd like to see in a neighborhood, but not quite as bad as some of the tougher southwest Denver neighborhoods further to the north. Although it's in Denver, it's not really all that close to downtown, being situated somewhat in the southwest end of Denver.

I live in Denver and usually try to encourage people to consider Denver as an option in comparison to the suburbs. However, in this case, I think you could do a bit better than Harvey Park. I suggest looking to the west in Lakewood, or to the south in Littleton area. Or, if you want to stay in south Denver, cross over Santa Fe and you'll find some great neighborhoods to the east (though maybe out of your price range). While the suburban areas would be a little bit further out than Harvey Park, it wouldn't be significantly so. Finding a 3br/2ba for $1200.00 a month might be a challenge, but I think it's doable as long as you're willing to live with somewhat dated housing.

Craigslist is a great resource for finding rental housing, so I suggest doing a search there.

[Labweiler]

Wash Park & Denver Highlands take a step back as The Harvey Park nighborhood is one of Denver's greatest little secrets. If you like all the character found in some of Denver's old neighborhoods such as Wash Park and the now the Denver Highlands, but don't have 400- $700K to spend on a house than Harvey Park may be right up your alley.
The Harvey Park neighborhood is a perfect blend of well built brick houses and tall mature trees that bring so much color to the area especially now that spring has sprung. The streets are wide and the yards are big which isn't the norm in most Denver neighborhoods. The park itself is a great place for runners and bikers with contant lake views. Speaking of lakes, lakes are abundant in this neighborhood if you just explore a little bit. There is one private lake with expensive houses surrounding the lake in the heart of Harvey Park, but otherwise most houses are a steal.
We are starting to see some fix ups (flips) of houses become more and more common in this neighborhood, but most in Denver don't know much about this great little neighborhood.
With it's proximity to Bel Mar, all the shoping on Wadsworth, and 15-20 minutes from downtown Harvey Park is definitely a great find.

[TropicanaRose]

We had a thread awhile back on best kept secret neighborhoods, including Harvey Park, and there is a lot of good information there. Try a search for "Harvey Park." There is a ton of great information in that thread.

I think Harvey Park is a good option for a couple who wants to be in town in a pleasant neighborhood. Harvey Park is not upscale, so if that's what you are looking for, it won't meet your needs. Also, if you like MCM architecture, there are some gorgeous places, including some Cliff Mays.

[Katiana]

Try looking at this:

Comment Thread on Denver - Harvey Park - Photo Tour

There is a companion picuture thread as well, which can be found in the index.