Englewood Clarification (Denver, Littleton, Castlewood: apartments, lease, condominium)

[bluey_bingo]

I am moving into the Denver area from NJ and am about to lease a townhome in Englewood, primarily driven by accessibility to Heritage Elementary School where our six-year old will be going. The townhome "complex" is a group of four standalone buildings on S Dayton Street called "The Terrace at Cherry Creek". They have townhomes on the first and second floors and a condominium on the third floor. I have done a virtual video tour with a realtor, but will not have an opportunity to visit the area in person. I would appreciate it if members here can throw some light on the area.

My first confusion is about the city name. When I search for Englewood CO on Google Maps, it shows me a city boundary west of I-25, while the address of the townhome is east of I-25 and south-east of Denver Tech Center. Why would this address not be included in Englewood's city boundaries? I have read about zipcodes that were incorporated later on, but how does that impact the township services that can be availed? For instance, since the Englewood Public Library is almost ten miles away, would it be possible to go to the nearby Castlewood Library instead?

I have read on the forum here that Englewood, CO is very safe. I assume that extends to this area, even though it is sandwiched between Centennial, Greenwood Village and the Cherry Creek State Park. Any first-hand experience from residents in this area?

Besides safety and a good school district, our goal was to stay in an area that is walkable. I see on Google Maps that there is a 7-Eleven at the end of the block, and a strip-mall further south on Dayton St. There is also a Home Depot and Target nearby, but not the type of mom-and-pop stores that give a town its unique character. Is that a fair impression of the immediate neighborhood?

Finally, how will a daily commute to S Santa Fe Dr in Littleton CO likely to be? I am willing to live with some traffic to and from work, if it means a good family-friendly neighborhood for our child to grow up in.

[bluescreen73]

Englewood the city and Englewood the postal area are two completely different things. Englewood the postal area is massive, and most of it is nowhere near Englewood the city. Those apartments are in a chunk of unincorporated Arapahoe County that is surrounded on two sides by Centennial and the other two sides by Greenwood Village.

I wouldn't consider that area to be super walkable. Arapahoe Road is 6 or 8 lanes wide, and crossing it at Boston (which you will need to do to get to the Target), even with the light, is a risky bet.

Edit: The light for the Target is at Boston/Clinton, and with all the turn lanes Arapahoe is 11 lanes wide there.

More: That area is where my office is (when I'm actually in it). There is some good food in that area. The commute to Littleton is a reverse commute, so it'll probably be 25-30 mins mostly on Arapahoe Road. Tommy Davis Park just up the way from there is nice. I used to walk at lunch there daily before we started WFH due to COVID.

[bluey_bingo]

Thank you very much for your help in making sense of town names in Colorado!
Appreciate your feedback about walkability, and your local knowledge of the commute to Littleton which will work in my favor.

[bluey_bingo]

Follow up question about these unincorporated areas: How do emergency services serve these parts of Englewood postal areas? For instance, does Englewood Police Department respond to 911 here or is it Centennial or Greenwood Village. I am curious because it might impact response time.

Fun fact: Some NJ municipalities are so fragmented that if you dial 911 from a road, the dispatcher asks which direction you are facing, since the north-bound lanes may belong to a different township than the south-bound lanes, and they need the correct police department to respond!

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by bluey_bingo

Follow up question about these unincorporated areas: How do emergency services serve these parts of Englewood postal areas? For instance, does Englewood Police Department respond to 911 here or is it Centennial or Greenwood Village. I am curious because it might impact response time.

Fun fact: Some NJ municipalities are so fragmented that if you dial 911 from a road, the dispatcher asks which direction you are facing, since the north-bound lanes may belong to a different township than the south-bound lanes, and they need the correct police department to respond!

The two Englewoods aren't related at this point. Your fire is likely South Metro Fire Rescue, and law enforcement will be the Arapahoe County sheriff's department. On a related note, Centennial does not have its own law enforcement, either. They contract out through Arapahoe County.

[history nerd]

Thats a safe area, no worries about that. The area is not walkable basically at all. The schools are indeed very good. You are in Arapahoe county so the county libraries will all be accessible for you. (I suspect that's true even if you were out of district.) There actually are some cool local resturants and stuff that area, it's not all chains.

[COcheesehead]

I used to work in that area. You are in the ‘burbs so walkable is relative. There are little local restaurants that may not appear on Google maps. There are sidewalks, multi use paths, pocket parks, grocery stores etc. The area is close to Cherry Creek State Park with a nice lake. It just depends on how far you want to walk. Don’t expect a cute urban neighborhood. You are in Wonder Bread suburbs of Denver.

[mic111]

I used to live in that area. I found the area very walkable. I walked to work east of I25, north of Orchard on nice days. Walked to Castlewood Library all the time. Grocery store also, post office, car repair and a number of restaurants. There were sidewalks and cross walks which to me made the area walkable. At the time I could walk to 4 grocery stores. It was a while ago but the house I paid $150k for is probably worth $900k so I can't imagine it is an unsafe area now.

I looked at the map and your condo is no further from Heritage Place than my old office but my route was probably a little nicer as the traffic wasn't as much back then. In my view It was probably only 5-10 min more to walk than to drive, park in a parking deck and walk to my office.


At the time we were unincorporated Arapahoe County, mailing address Englewood. Then Greenwood Village started annexing property along the interstate for the tax basis. Centennial was formed to combat this but keep taxes low. Individual property owners could opt into Centennial or stay unincorporated. My neighborhood had a vote between Centennial or Greenwood Village since they had tried to annex us. We went Centennial due to their strategy for keeping tax rates low. As a result of how it was formed Centennial is very patchy and there is no historic town center like many other suburban cities in the Denver metro area.


I loved living there and found it convenient to everything.

[Indigo Cardinal]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

The two Englewoods aren't related at this point. Your fire is likely South Metro Fire Rescue, and law enforcement will be the Arapahoe County sheriff's department. On a related note, Centennial does not have its own law enforcement, either. They contract out through Arapahoe County.

This would be correct. (I have an Englewood postal code, but I'm in Unincorporated Arapahoe County, and nowhere near Englewood proper.)

[2bindenver]

How far down on Santa Fe is work? It might be nice to go the other way on C-470 and not have the sun in your eyes.