Moving from New York to Colorado next year (Denver, Lakewood: 2009, to rent)

[stromaple]

After eight years, my husband, two dogs and I have come to the difficult decision of moving from New York City to Denver. Because I have signed a year's teaching contract, our estimated move date is next July (2009). We just spent a long weekend there and enjoyed the LoHi area. We can cut down on our carbon footprint by walking/biking to restaurants, bars, cafes, and grocery stores. We loved that the park was close by where we can walk the dogs and go biking. The higher-rise condos/townhomes also afforded a wonderful view of the city and/or mountains. I think I will try to work in the local neighborhood schools so I can give back to the community. My husband works from home and simply needs access to the airport.

A few questions:
1. Does anyone know of an up-coming developments, possibly to be completed by next summer in this area? Yes, I've scoured the pages on this forum, done extensive searches online, and decided to post in case someone has more up-to-date information.

2. We did try to explore other neighborhoods (Wash Park, Congress Park, Park Hill, Capitol Hill) that we heard were similar, but didn't find the walkability of these areas as accessible as LoHi. Did we miss something? We live in Brooklyn, and know we won't duplicate the NYC urban feel, but are hoping to find something that isn't too suburban. Can anyone weigh in on this and let us in on something we might have missed and that we should take a look at next time we are in town to househunt?

Thanks for everyone and anyone's opinions, expertise, and advice. Please let me know if you need further information.

[2bindenver]

you have a one year contract, are worried aout your carbon footprint and want something to rent that is brand new?

[Spincycle]

Originally Posted by stromaple

We just spent a long weekend there and enjoyed the LoHi area.

LoHi? Do you mean LoDo or LoDo plus the Highlands area?

Originally Posted by stromaple

We can cut down on our carbon footprint by walking/biking to restaurants, bars, cafes, and grocery stores. We loved that the park was close by where we can walk the dogs and go biking. The higher-rise condos/townhomes also afforded a wonderful view of the city and/or mountains. I think I will try to work in the local neighborhood schools so I can give back to the community. My husband works from home and simply needs access to the airport.

Are you thinking of renting first or buying right away. I seem to think you may like (or be better suited) more for Boulder. How would Boulder affect your commute? Coming from NYC you should be able to afford it easily IMO.

Originally Posted by stromaple

A few questions:
1. Does anyone know of an up-coming developments, possibly to be completed by next summer in this area?.

Existing ones I could give honorable mention status include the Belmar in Lakewood and also the ones off North Broadway in Boulder (forgot the # and name of dev).

My advise is to rent 1st for 6-12 months before leaping to buy something and later regretting it. Also for some reason I think you should toss Boulder into the mix and maybe see if you can bus it into Denver on the RTD RT36 bus maybe.

[2bindenver]

Lo Hi = Lower Higlands