What is Lakewood (near Denver) like? (Wheat Ridge, Sheridan: apartments, condos, houses)

[elvybeauti]

Hello everyone, I'm planning on moving to Lakewood this summer because I am applying to the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Since I live in NY, I'm trying to gather as much info about Lakewood as I can on the internet (kind of hard).

some general questions I have are:

is it heavily populated or a smaller town?
is it a nice area (in terms of crime/safety)?
how is the public transportation- good/bad?
are there many grocery stores and other conveniences?


any info would be greatly appreciated!!

-Sarah

[TinajaCo]

Hi Sarah,

Lakewood is essentially a suburb of Denver, one of the larger ones. I think the population is somewhere around 150K within Lakewood, but since everything runs together it would in general feel larger than that. As it is a larger suburb, you have all types of areas within Lakewood-- in the east and north parts of the city, where Denver and Lakewood meet, you will find older areas, and some areas you probably want to be cautious of. As you head south and/or west, you'll find newer development and, in general, nicer areas. There has also been a large, new development named Bel Mar, which has revitalized an area that had fallen on hard times economically. Now it's a mix of condos, apartments, restaurants, and shops, all designed to be walkable (like an old downtown area, except it's all new construction). It's really a pretty neat development. The Denver area has public transportation called RTD, and it has generally a usable network of buses and light rail (although currently, light rail does not go through Lakewood-- they're expanding it but it won't reach Lakewood for some years yet). As for shops, amenities, etc, like I said you're in a Denver suburb so you have all the amenities of the city and any store you want.

[de3962]

I have lived in Lakewood and found the people are not very nice, compared to other areas of the Denver area. Just my opinion.

[MattDen]

Lakewood borders West Denver. The line is Sheridan Blvd. Downtown Denver is about 5 miles away from the eastern edge of Lakewood.

Lakewood borders Denver so its hard to tell the difference when you first get in other then Sheridan Blvd if your in West Denver or Lakewood, I would say its a safe suburb over-all but they do have some areas that are a bit older and not as well kept but overall its fairly safe but not the safest Denver suburb. The public transportation in Eastern Lakewood is great most lines run until midnight but as you go West the times are more limited as transit demand isnt as high in Western Lakewood.

Its a middle of the road type of suburb. It is very similar to the West-central area of Denver. I think the location is great and the area has a very lived in feel to it (its not a new city/suburb). The eastern part of Lakewood is mainly older small homes while the western part is more medium sized homes from the 1960s and 1970s.

As far as suburbs go Lakewood is older then most of the suburbs, but its a very good location and suburb I would recommend it.

[tfox]

I think a lot of people are a bit turned off by Lakewood (particularly the older parts), because it's neither the urban scene of Denver nor the shiny new subdivisions of the far-out suburbs. It's kind of in that suburban middle -- houses are too "old" for the suburbanites, not old enough for the urbanites.

That being said, I think with the excellent location it offers things will come around. Urban Denver is getting expensive these days, the "new" suburbs are impossibly far out. Location wise, if you're going to be one direction away from Denver, wouldn't you want to be west? Schools are decent in Jeffco -- you have to think that places like Wheat Ridge and Lakewood are going to see their fortunes rise.

[elvybeauti]

thank you all!
I'm really excited..still waiting to hear back if I've been accepted to the college yet, but I'm really optimistic.

I really appreciate everyone's comments!

[41Willys]

I moved to Colorado from NY also. Lakewood is an older berb. Not bad, comparable to older towns on Long Island. Older houses,people but livable.

[CoCharlie]

I lived in lakewood for a year (union/simms) and found certain areas to be nice (Bel Mar) some to be acceptable and others to be pretty grim (Alemada, parts of Wadsworth). A mixed bag but if you pick the right area Lakewood is pretty nice with sufficient ammenities.

Other plus points - Quick access to 6th which gives a circa 10 min access to Denver one way and the same time to Colorado Mills for shopping the other.