Cherry Creek Area (Denver, Aurora, Lakewood: condo, house, theatre)

[Iseman]

Appreciate any info.

We are looking at Cherry Creek Area. 2 kids, 8 and 6. Suggest nice residential areas and schools.

Thanks

[BlueWillowPlate]

Are you talking about the Cherry Creek residential (and commercial) area in central Denver, or the south Denver area which has Cherry Creek schools? I know, it's confusing.

[Dan6200alt]

Crerry Creek is a very nice, upscale area. Beautiful older homes, most of which have been through some high-end renovation. If I'm up around the area and have a few extra minutes, I like to drive along some of the streets off 1st Ave. Y'know, do some dreaming. In that immediate area, I'll bet $1-3 million is common. But I think you can find a smaller place, still very nice, at this adress/location a few blocks away for $400 or 500K. there are some upscale condo type buildings around the area too.

It has a very nice shopping area, very upscale, but not too pretentious. It has high-end jewelers, Elways Steak house (John Elways), misc higher end dept stores, but also more standards like Bed, Bath and Beyond. Theres even a target a few blocks away. There's an upscale health club, I think members only for CC residents (?) and a golf course off of 1st Ave.

Its only a mile or so from downtown, so that opens alot of cultural activities. Pro sports, arts, theatre, shopping, etc. The major museums and zoo are near by. Denvers downtown, like most big cities, has some bums, homeless and a criminal element, but its not terrible. You won't feel afraid for you life, just need to be aware of your surroundings. A good area to walk or bike to from and around Cherry Creek.

I don't really know about the schools there, but I'd guess that with its proximity to downtown, they aren't great. I'll bet most who live in Cherry Creek with kids the same age as yours send them to private schools. As .cil posted earlier, Crerry Creek schools (good) are not in Crerry Creek area.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by Dan6200alt

C

It has a very nice shopping area, very upscale, but not too pretentious. It has high-end jewelers, Elways Steak house (John Elways), misc higher end dept stores, but also more standards like Bed, Bath and Beyond. Theres even a target a few blocks away. There's an upscale health club, I think members only for CC residents (?) and a golf course off of 1st Ave.

There is the Sporting Club, open to anyone who can afford it. That's on the east side of Colorado Blvd, as is the Target. The east side of Cherry Creek is actually known as Hilltop.
On the west side is the Cherry Creek Shopping Center as well as the commercial district, Cherry Creek North.
The golf course is the exclusive Denver Country Club, home to wealthy WASP members as well as many coyotes.
What I like best about the area is its walkability, which is excellent.

I don't really know about the schools there, but I'd guess that with its proximity to downtown, they aren't great. I'll bet most who live in Cherry Creek with kids the same age as yours send them to private schools. As .cil posted earlier, Crerry Creek schools (good) are not in Crerry Creek area.

I am going to respectfully refute this just a bit.
We raised two children in this area. (We owned a home on High Street in Country Club North, just south of 6th Avenue, for 18 years).
Steck is a perfectly fine elementary school.
Bromwell Elementary is excellent; it such a good school that realtors use it to sell homes. Both my kids went through Bromwell.
East High is a very good school. You can look up their ratings on Greatschools.net, or take a look at their websites:
http://bromwell.dpsk12.org/about
http://east.dpsk12.org/
Where things tend to get difficult is middle school. You have to do your research and pick the right school for your child.
I sent my older son to Place Middle school, which had a gifted/talented program. The younger one went to Hill Middle School. My brother is sending his kid to Morey and is happy with it.
Indeed, some parents send their kids to private schools such as Catholic schools, St Anne's Episcopal, or Graland or Kent, but many do not.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Other Denver public schools:
Denver School of Science and Technology (charter)
Denver School of the Arts (very high academic standards)
George Washington High School (International Bacchaelaureate)

Obviously, these schools are ethnically diverse and some of the public schools must deal with overcrowding. Cherry Creek District schools will provide for a more homogeneous experience. I guess it all depends on what you are looking for.

[Iseman]

Thanks a lot for all the info.

I may be able to pose specific questions as we make up our mind.

[Iseman]

How long is the commute from Cherry Creek area to Madison Ave in the downtown during peak hrs.

Thanks

[xxman777]

I agree about the Denver Schools. I went to Hamilton for middle (a little far from CC and then to George Washington for HS. I'm currently working on my masters at Georgia Tech so I think I turned out all right. A lot of my classmates went to excellent colleges across the country including several ivy's and excellent small liberal arts schools. Just because it is the city doesn't mean the schools are awful. There are a lot of families in the city with money, who care about their children's education, and they make sure the schools are still good.

Originally Posted by Iseman

How long is the commute from Cherry Creek area to Madison Ave in the downtown during peak hrs.

Thanks

The commute to Downtown during peak hours usually takes between 10 and 15 minutes. However, there isn't a Madison Ave downtown so you might be thinking of another area. There is a Madison Street which actually cuts through Cherry Creek that you might be thinking of. However Madison St goes the length of the city so a commute time would be impossible without more info.

[2bindenver]

Denver and the immediate suburbs are built on a grid, except for the downtown area. Downtown follows the South Platte and is on a diagonal.

The dividing street separating East from West is Broadway. North/South is Ellsworth (and to the west in Lakewood it is Alameda)

So you could be in Highlands Ranch or in Northglenn and still be one block east of Broadway.

Colfax (1400 or 1500 north) is the longest continually paved street here starting in Aurora and ending near Golden.

Going north there are numbered streets.

Going south they follow patterns they start with trees and go to states, (Dakota & Mexico are single states), then colleges...

going east they follow the alphabet after Colorado one tree or plant & one name per letter, when they get to the end they repeat until Aurora.

going west they are also alphabetical, one letter per street, repeating.

there is more to it, but that hits the basics.

[Iseman]

It is Madison Street, Denver, CO 80206.

Thanks for the info.