Young Family Looking for Urban Neighbourhoods in Denver (Aurora: best neighborhood, apartments)

[vg79]

Hello,

My husband recently accepted a job in Aurora, CO which seems too car dependent and suburban for our tastes so we're looking to relocate to Denver and he'll commute out to Aurora (probably by car).

We are committed urban family (have a 1 yr old) and are looking for a walkable/bike-able neighbourhood that's socio-econimically diverse and reasonably safe. We're not phased by pan-handlers, litter or graffiti but prostitution, gang activity etc. isn't good. We like to live near city parks, cafes, restaurant, galleries, bookshops etc.

Ideally we'd like to a 3 bdrm or a 2 bdrm with a den/basement/attic/alcove that could be turned into a small workspace. We could make largish 2 bdrm (say 900 sq ft) work. Ultimately location is more important to us then space and we'll consider renting apartments, condos, duplexes, town homes or houses..it doesn't matter.

We're hoping to keep rent under $1500/mth and figure we should probably stick to the east side of Denver to keep the commute reasonable. (e.g 30-45 min each way). So far we've looked at Capitol Hill, LoDo, and City Park are there other neighbourhoods we should consider. Are their areas of the above neighbourhoods that should be avoided?

Schools aren't really going to factor into our decision as our kid is only 1.

Thanks in advance for your help

[davebarnes]

Look in Hale and other neighborhoods east of Colorado Blvd.
This will help.
http://www.denvergov.org/denvermaps/...ghborhoods.pdf

[Dupont]

Hi there - My husband and I recently visited Denver with the same thing in mind. I would consider the Uptown and Lower Highlands in addition to Lodo and Cap Hill. I do not consider City Park to be very urban or walkable - maybe to a few things but the core of "urban" in Denver is near the Cap Hill/Uptown Lodo, and LoHi (since you can walk over the bridge to get to Lodo).

The problem is that Denver really isn't a true walking urban city. Well I suppose it depends on where you are coming from and what you want to walk to, right? Have you actually been to Denver? A small retail strip with 2 so-so restaurants, a nail place, a cell phone store, a Dunkin Donuts, and a coffee shop might be walkable, but is that what you want to walk to? I want to walk to places I go to frequently like a quality grocery store, bus, light rail, dry cleaners, a movie theater, doctor's office, library, gym, trails, etc. That's possible in certain places in Cap Hill/Uptown/LoDo/LoHi and really, that's about it. Other retail areas in Denver are limited.

One place we didn't see was Lowry, on the East Side of Denver. It is a planned community with a town center. From what I could see online, the retail options were very chain-oriented and not too inspiring but the location would cut down on hubby's commute so you have to balance it out.

You won't likely get everything you want , so you'll have to decide what's most important.

[vg79]

Thank you for the responses.

Everything east of Colorado Blvd. gets under a 70 at walkscore.com so I don't think that's what were looking for at all.

Thank you for the info on City Park and the 'urban-ness' of Denver. We've never been to Denver and are from Toronto. We don't really consider a community of strip malls walk-able. I think we'll want to live in the most urban area of Denver we can and if that means a bit more time commuting so be it. We're currently living in a city were any commute less then 1hr is considered good.

[Dupont]

OK, then I wouldn't look outside of the Cap Hill/Uptown, Lodo/Lohi areas. FYI, there is a free bus that runs the length of 16th St. Mall. It has tons of shops, restaurants, movie theaters, cool bookstore, etc. That's why if you live in one of those areas and you can walk to say the top of 16th St. where the bus starts, it gives you a lot of access to stuff without a car. Also, there is a Whole Foods grocery (organic produce, etc.) in Cap Hill. So if you lived there, you could walk to the grocery and 16th St. area plus 17th St. in Uptown which has a bunch of restaurants, an upscale food market, coffee shops, beautiful old buildings, etc. And it's neighborhoody while Lodo is kind of missing the neighborhoody feel.

[Dorthy]

I would look at City Park West, Capitol Hill, Congress Park, Cheeseman Park, Uptown, Park Hill and Whittier.

P.S. Dupont, there are no Dunkin Donuts in Denver. And I totally disagree with your characterization of City Park as not being walkable. It's an extension of the Uptown neighborhood and it's a short walk to E Colfax which has plenty of interesting places to walk to. ie. Not strip malls. It's also not a very far walk to downtown.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Dorthy

It's also not a very far walk to downtown.

Its a long walk, but an easy bike ride

Also, consider Cherry Creek North, which is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Denver (although not very economically diverse and maybe beyond your budget).

I'm seeing more and more families moving into what were once considered "family unfriendly" neighborhoods. In the past year, two families with elementary aged kids have moved onto our block in baker. i think this more reflects changing attitudes among urbanites rather than any inherent change in the neighborhood itself. Suburban flight in reverse, a very positive development IMO.

[co_native_sweetie]

I grew up in University Hills, Wash Park, and the DU area. These are definitely the most family friendly urban areas of Denver.

Wash Park isn't cheap, very hip and trendy place to live. It's all wrapped around one of Denver's biggest and best parks (Washington Park) and is definitely family friendly. Just south of there is University Park neighborhood where the homes are a little larger and further apart (fewers bungalows, more mini-mansions) but there are still many older, small homes for rent in this neighborhood. I know, because I live there and we rent a 3bd 2ba for $1400 a month. Everyone who comes to our house tells us we have the BEST neighborhood, large trees, friendly people, beautiful homes, and Observatory Park is 2 blocks away.

There's also the University Hills neighborhood just to the south east of us, which is definitely more affordable, plenty of rentals, though the neighborhood is starting to turn into bigger homes--it has a lovely large park, too, called Eisenhower but is a little less in the culture district it sounds like you're looking for.

Bonnie Brae is pricey but lovely, and again there will be a handful of smaller affordable homes there as well. It's just east of Wash Park.

If you want the urban feel to be at a level 10, however, look into Capitol Hill, Cherry Creek North, Park Hill, Cheesman, and maybe the Highlands.

[DenverBigTime]

Wow Toronto to Denver. That's a big change. If you're wanting urban then you're probably going to want to stick to downtown, LoDo, LoHi. However those areas are rather pricey. Have you ever thought about Stapleton?

[robertgoodman]

Stapleton? Not Walkable as it is right now it's a place where you have to drive to be able to walk to places. Stapleton aspires to be walkable, and if you were planning to raise your family there than it might be worth waiting around for that. However as it is now it is not what you are looking for as it's a neighborhood still in it's infancy and that hurts it's walkability.

University Hills? Wash Park? Bonnie Brae? Hale? Nice areas to walk in and have a few areas you can walk to for basic services (IE South Gaylord). But if you are looking for a wide array of services within walking distance as walkscore supposedly measures you are not going to find enough variety of services in those neighborhoods and will have to drive.

I would add Platt Park and echo Baker for your list. Nice neighborhoods for families, economically diverse (at least for now), and walkable. But not sure where in Aurora your husbands job is and how that fits into his commute.

If you go the Capitol Hill route I would try to aim for the southern part as more families live there than the northern part, and close to Colfax between Franklin and Broadway can be seedy (drugs).

LoDo has a giant just out of college party scene and not sure if you want to be around that.

The City Park neighborhood sounds right for you but has some drawbacks: Small area to look for housing in and no 'real' grocery store nearby within walking distance. Also although Colfax is safe and predominately pedestrian friendly along that stretch it still had some strip-maillification efforts in the 50's-80's that nearly ruined it (same can be said for stretches of Broadway).The zoning that encouraged suburban style development along Colfax/Broadway has been changed and their are some incentives being offered along East Colfax to strengthen it's pedestrian orientation.

As far as ethnic diversity goes you may still find pockets of it (IE Curtis Park/Five points) in walkable areas, but gentrification has been pushing most of the minorities into the suburbs or suburban style neighborhoods in Denver.