Castle Rock? (Denver, Colorado Springs, Highlands Ranch: crime, Home Depot, movies)

[dreamboatannie953]

I've been looking over Castlerock online and it looks like a nice little city and possible easy commute to south Denver area? Can anyone tell me more about Castlerock?

[dreamboatannie953]

Can anyone tell me about living in Castlerock?

[Mike from back east]

In the index is a listing of key threads that will tell you much about Castle Rock, primarily a bedroom community south of Denver.

[Nav]

Castle Rock could be called a bedroom community, but in reality, it is far enough south that it does not have that "Denver" feel and is more of a small town. There are sections of dense tract housing, where you think you are in highlands ranch, ie, "The Meadows" and "Founders Village", but the rest of Castle Rock has a much different Feel. About 4 years ago, Castle Rock made the list of "Top 10 Family Places to Live". I think it was Money Magazine who published the list.

Commuting to South Denver, (the Tech Center), is an easy 15 minute commute up the interstate. I drive through Castle Rock daily getting on I-25 at Founders Parkway, and I am to Lincoln in 8 minutes, Hampden Ave in 16 minutes. I commute during the 6:00 -6:15 am "Rush" hour and traffic is heavy, but it moves quickly. If you commute during the 7:30 rush hour, expect the times to double. Even in snowy conditions, traffic seems to move along nicely, save the occasional 1 car accident where the Castle Pines drivers try to drink their starbucks, while texting, and slam the nose of their lexus SUV's into the guardrails. Don't laugh, this happens at least 4-5 times per winter season.

Other than that, Castle Rock has all the ammenities of the "big City", Restaurants, Movies, Rec Centers, Libraries, an Outlet Mall, Lowes, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc... Park Meadows Mall is just up the road in Lone Tree about 15 minutes, as is Sams and Costco. The best thing is that a huge open space area is located between Castle Rock and Highlands Ranch so its a good barrier. Castle Rock is a bit more conservative in their public thinking, unlike the liberal views in Denver. Crime is pretty much non-existent as there are no "ghetto" type areas. Because of this, housing prices in Castle Rock are not as cheap as those towns to the north of Denver. Douglas County Schools are top notch, as I believe I read that Douglas is one of the "richest" counties in the State. They have their own fireworks display and Christmas Programs as well as other community events. (They light a huge star on Castle Rock every Christmas and have a street festival to mark the occasion). Location wise, you care close to the mountains, with Devils Head only a few miles to the west. (Great Day Hike). Colorado Springs is only a 35-40 minute interstate drive south. Overall its a nice quiet town within easy commute to 2 major cities.

Nav

[80skeys]

It's a small town on I-25 south of Denver. Yes, it's very nice, it's really small and it's about a 20 minute drive to southern Denver.

[Jerry Bckr]

The thing I like about Castle Rock is that it actually has a down town area, that's more than one street wide, like Parker. Lots of growth around the edges and the edges have been annexed to inculed a lot of land.