Arvada? (Denver, Lakewood, Westminster: new house, construction, schools)

[kimmer]

My DH has a job offer from a company located in/near Arvada. I didn't see a lot of information about Arvada listed here & the search function doesn't seem to be working.
Can anyone shed any light on this part of CO? Older?/younger?/any racial diversity? family-friendly?

We prefer the south burbs' over north of Denver, but hubby doesn't want a hellish commute from, say, Highlands Ranch to Arvada area.
Mapquest says his commute would be around 40 minutes long from HR (excluding traffic, I'm sure).

Any ideas how long the commute would realistically be from HR to Arvada?

Cr*p, now we just need to sell our house in CA! (yeah, right!)

Thanks

[Paula Lynn]

I can't really speak truthfully about Arvada - but I've been there twice. Most of it I would say looks like an older town, older homes (didn't see any new subdivisions). Wadsworth Blvd. is your typical main thoroughfare. All the stores, strip centers, grocery, fast food etc. are there. I wasn't particulary impressed.

[Katiana]

I was once a visitng nurse in that area. The west side of Arvada is newer than the east side. Some parts are quite nice. It would be a long commute from Highlands Ranch. 40+ minutes I would guess. I think you could find someplace acceptable a little closer.

[2bindenver]

Arvada has a mix of old houses, and some new houses. It is about the same size as HR as far a population. Great arts community. They have a Costco on Wadsworth. closer to Golden, the foothills, Boulder. Some houses are on larger lots.

Jeffco schools.

[tfox]

There's a lot of people who tout HR over everything else in the metro area. I'm not one of them -- I am not going to proceed trash HR here, just to point out that there are a lot of decent suburbs in the metro area and in my book Arvada is at least HR's equal. Even if it wasn't, that commute from HR to Arvada would be a nightmare -- it's simply not feasible to do.

Although I live in Denver proper, Arvada along with Littleton and Golden are on my list of "suburbs that I like." It has history, charm, its own performing arts center, decent freeway access, and a nice location between the city and the foothills. No rail transit yet, but that's coming in fastracks. Like most of the suburbs, it's fairly kid-friendly as well. It is true that there's not a lot of new construction going on there, but the homes that are there are nice and some are relatively new if that's important to you.

Schools are pretty good from what I understand, and if you don't like your local school you could choice into another Jeffco school.

Not really a lot of racial diversity in Arvada compared to some of its neighbors; you'd do better in Lakewood or Westminster if that's what you're looking for.

[Rawlings]

Arvada is very suburban and very family-friendly. It has many older folks and a lot of young families, too. It's a very nice place. If racial diversity is what you're looking for don't look to the 'burbs.

[kimmer]

Thanks for all your responses - I can keep Arvada on our list of places to check out from the info everyone has provided. Nice that it has an art community, and heck, COSTCO - I'm in! I think DH's company wants us out there ASAP, so I'm frantically trying to get our house here on the market. Wish me luck, San Diego isn't selling too quickly right now. I think the average in my area is around 190 days.

When we visited Denver back in Feb., we spent all our time in south or north suburbs, so I really didn't get a feel for anything in between. We did like Littleton. Liked Broomfield, but I think the wind, if it's fairly constant would get to me. HR was OK. Pretty much what I expected. I think what attracts me most about HR is the sense of community it seems to have, at least on websites, and brochures. Not sure whether that "community" translates into real life for those living there, or not. I also like the fact that there wasn't mile after mile of strip malls (like So. Cal. has - yuck!). The shops seemed to be clustered in a few areas.

Thanks again for everyone's responses.

[FromBroomfield]

I'd suggest Superior. Right next to a Costco, as well as Flatirons Mall, with good access to Arvada.

Broomfield would also be good. I live there, and the wind isn't anything bad. I think pretty much any website tries to get the sense of community and stuff across. In my oppinion, Broomfield overdoes it...lol.

[kimmer]

From Broomfield,
Thank you! We actually did visit Broomfield and spent some time at Flatirons Mall to meet up with friends who live in Erie. I really liked some of the newer housing developments around there.
I'll check out Superior too, thanks!

[BETHSKINNER]

I used to live in Superior and for some reason it seemed like it was always windy. Housing prices there can be rather high but since it is kind of land locked by all that open space homes they also seem to maintain their value. The Rock Creek subdivision has a lot of nice areas to walk around in (within walking distance of just about anyone's house) - I definitely miss that here in Broomfield.

If you picked a house in west Broomfield or Westminster you could easily be very close to Arvada.

The one thing I don't like about the south Denver metro area is that to those of us who live north of Denver it often seems like everyone lives south of Denver.

Just from my personal experience I would always much rather drive 30 minutes north into Longmont than I would drive 30 minutes south into south Denver - the traffic down there can be atrocious.