Tell me about the Washington Park neighborhood (Denver, Westminster: hotel, lawyers) - Colorado (CO) - City-Data Forum

WarEagleAlumna · 05-18-2011, 02:53 PM

My husband and I (late 20s/early 30s professionals) are moving soon to the Denver area, and we met with a realtor this past weekend to look at some homes. I have always lived out in the suburbs, but we may need to be closer to downtown in Denver because of the commute. My job is transferring to CU-Boulder, but I work a lot from home and have a flexible schedule. However, we are expecting that my husband, who is an attorney, will get a job in downtown Denver.

The only area that I liked that is close to downtown that we can even possibly afford is Washington Park - we found one small house there in our price range. We also looked at homes in Baker and Sunnyside and drove by some in Whittier/Cole, but I didn't like any of those neighborhoods. Having always lived in the suburbs, I'm used to feeling very safe, having neighbors who all maintain their lawns immaculately, and being really close to parks with running trails. Another concern of mine is that we are expecting a baby and I want to be in a family-friendly neighborhood with other young families and preferably play groups.

Is Washington Park a good neighborhood for us? Tell me about it and how you think we would like it.

Timmyy · 05-18-2011, 02:55 PM

There are a lot of over priced smaller homes there. It is pretty though. The homes have a lot of character.

denverian · 05-18-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarEagleAlumna

My husband and I (late 20s/early 30s professionals) are moving soon to the Denver area, and we met with a realtor this past weekend to look at some homes. I have always lived out in the suburbs, but we may need to be closer to downtown in Denver because of the commute. My job is transferring to CU-Boulder, but I work a lot from home and have a flexible schedule. However, we are expecting that my husband, who is an attorney, will get a job in downtown Denver.

The only area that I liked that is close to downtown that we can even possibly afford is Washington Park - we found one small house there in our price range. We also looked at homes in Baker and Sunnyside and drove by some in Whittier/Cole, but I didn't like any of those neighborhoods. Having always lived in the suburbs, I'm used to feeling very safe, having neighbors who all maintain their lawns immaculately, and being really close to parks with running trails. Another concern of mine is that we are expecting a baby and I want to be in a family-friendly neighborhood with other young families and preferably play groups.

Is Washington Park a good neighborhood for us? Tell me about it and how you think we would like it.

I don't live in WP, but I like it and to my knowledge, it's safe. I have no clue about how many little kids there are though. We live in Stapleton, sort of the "new Wash Park" and have a bazillion little kids, good schools, play groups, etc. Still reasonable distance from downtown and would have easy access to the freeway to head to Boulder when you needed to.

2bindenver · 05-18-2011, 03:56 PM

I am sure there are lawyers in Boulder. I'd start looking there for housing and a job for hubby.

WarEagleAlumna · 05-18-2011, 04:05 PM

My husband is looking for jobs in Boulder, but even if he gets one there, we can't afford to live in Boulder. We have looked in Louisville and Broomfield, though, and we have some neighborhoods picked out there in the event that he does find a job in Boulder. It just seems more likely that he will get a better job in Denver. My husband also would rather live close to downtown Denver just out of personal preference, and I'm open to that as long as it's a nice area. The realtor seemed to think Washington Park was a good place for us, but I just want to get other (unbiased) opinions.

Maybe we will check out Stapleton. Does the light rail run there? That's one of the great things about the house we found in Wash Park - it's just a few blocks from one of the light rail stations.

woob · 05-18-2011, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarEagleAlumna

The only area that I liked that is close to downtown that we can even possibly afford is Washington Park - we found one small house there in our price range. We also looked at homes in Baker and Sunnyside and drove by some in Whittier/Cole, but I didn't like any of those neighborhoods. Having always lived in the suburbs, I'm used to feeling very safe, having neighbors who all maintain their lawns immaculately, and being really close to parks with running trails. Another concern of mine is that we are expecting a baby and I want to be in a family-friendly neighborhood with other young families and preferably play groups.

Is Washington Park a good neighborhood for us? Tell me about it and how you think we would like it.

Wash park seems like a very good fit for you. It has a wealthy suburban feel- clean, safe and great park nearby. You will get less house for your money than in the outer suburbs, but the shorter commute will probably be worth it. Also consider LoHi or highlands. It would be an even shorter commute for your husband and you could get directly on the express bus from union station to boulder. Nice parks and there is a very active parents group in the neighborhood Highland Mommies

2bindenver · 05-18-2011, 04:22 PM

You will hate the commute. Find something near Boulder. 40-55 minutes on a good day.

Light rail does not go to Boulder or to Stapleton, yet.

tfox · 05-18-2011, 04:34 PM

Wash Park isn't too much less expensive than Boulder last time I checked, but anyway -- yes it's highly gentrified and very safe. What's more, it's always been pretty high-end, even back in the bad old days. So, I highly doubt you'd ever run into any problems there. About the only downside is lots of scrape-offs and a high price barrier to entry. But presumably you're already aware of that.

WP West is considered the cheaper and less desirable part of WP, but that's only in a very relative sense. If you're on any sort of budget you might look there first.

Agree with the previous poster that you may want to consider Highlands instead (either west or east highlands -- west highlands would be more directly comparable to WP). Both of the Highlands are a bit less expensive than WP, actually more families with kids there these days than WP (especially with the VERY active Highlands Mommies group), and better if you plan on using public transit to go either DT or Boulder. (from some parts of east highlands you could even walk to DT). But I will say that Highlands, though by now highly gentrified, is not quite AS gentrified as WP.

I also agree with the previous poster that Denver to Boulder is a long commute. I wouldn't do it. As I said the Highlands area is well suited for catching the express busses to Boulder, and would easily shave a good 15-20 minutes from a Denver - Boulder commute compared to any of the south Denver 'hoods. However, even that isn't great. You might consider living in Boulder itself (Boulder is expensive but there are some neighborhoods in Boulder that are less so), or in Louisville, which is one of the better suburbs in the Denver/Boulder area. Westminster would be a good "split the difference" suburb but you wouldn't find anything comparable to Washington Park there.

WarEagleAlumna · 05-18-2011, 04:44 PM

I won't have to commute to Boulder every day, but when I do, it won't have to be during rush hour, and I will be driving. I've driven it several times from a hotel in downtown and it only takes 35 minutes to get to campus if you leave at 8am. So I'm not too worried about my commute, although I would like to minimize it as much as possible.

We did look a little in the Highlands, but it didn't seem quite as nice as Washington Park. Also, from what I understood from the realtor, it's more difficult to take the light rail from the Highlands than from Wash Park.

I think the house that we did find in our budget was in Washington Park West. It is very small, and we would add on to it if we get it, which our realtor says would be a great investment.

Bradburn1 · 05-18-2011, 04:53 PM

I love Wash Park, great neighborhood, but as you've heard, it has some downsides (long Boulder commute, high prices, nice homes next to not so nice). I think you should take a look at my neighborhood, Bradburn Village in Westminster. Many of my neighbors moved here because they needed to be commuting distance to both Boulder and downtown, and they were looking for a place that is walkable like their old city neighborhoods (the Highlands for example) and that has some character, but with excellent schools and newer homes that are less expensive than the city neighborhoods (single family ranging from 300-900k). Our south side is bordered by the Dry Creek Open Space with miles of running/biking trails.

It's 20 min to Boulder from here and 30-40 min to downtown (or you can take awesome express bus from close park n ride to downtown in 30 min).

Neighborhood is filled with kids, you can walk to lots of restaurants/shops/services, including Sprouts organic market, every house has a porch and alley loaded garage (like Stapleton) but is super social--if you don't want to ever talk to/see neighbors, would not be a good fit.

You will like it here wherever you end up, Denver is a great place to live.