denvertomorrow.com Blog » Denver

Neighbors call it ‘Pleasantville’: Oakwood opens a new-urban single-family lifestyle from $179,500

Administrator — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:26:52 +0000

When Kelsie and Levi Rose first laid eyes on Belle Creek after touring new homes in Thornton, it looked to the couple a little like ‘Pleasantville.’ Now, after three years there, “We love it,” Kelsie said, holding new baby daughter Brecken. “It’s the perfect place to raise a family.” She pointed to Belle Creek’s own K-8 charter school, a few blocks from a grand opening by Oakwood Homes that could land your family in pleasant surroundings for $179,500.

Oakwood’s Dwayne Montoya (left) joins Belle Creek residents Levi and Kelsie Rose and daughter Brecken, close to Family Center, charter school and small town market.

“We watched it for a long time,” said Oakwood’s Sales Director Kristen White, looking out on the trail system that passes close to the ‘Family Center’ with gym and community events, and to Belle Creek’s own Haraf Foods community market. ‘New urban’ neighborhoods generally command higher prices; but when a builder pulled out last year, affordably-oriented Oakwood made a move.

“It’s a perfect fit for us,” White adds, showing off six new floor plans you can see today, each with a new-urban style alley-loaded garage that Oakwood specially designed for the neighborhood. Included is one ‘Big Value’ plan offering three or four bedrooms at 2,100 square feet, priced at $218,600…basement included, if you buy now.
The Roses and other neighbors are delighted to see Oakwood arriving to build out the community (builder Pat Hamill met with a packed house of residents to announce plans). Meanwhile, after three years the Roses say Belle Creek still looks like Pleasantville, with its village architecture (“It looks like a movie set,” Levi’s parents said when they visited from Utah)…but also the neighborly feel. “It’s the front porches; people mingle with their neighbors,” Levi adds. When he went through a bout with cancer last year (he now has a clean bill), 600 people turned out at a support meeting in the Family Center.
Oakwood is keeping the front-porch ambience. When Oakwood’s Dwayne Montoya shows you the six plans today (from $179,500), he’ll also fill you in on a special, pre-sale ‘buyer bundle’ deal: add three special features onto your package at no extra cost, from a list that includes a spa-style bath with seamless glass-door shower and rain head; full window coverings; front yard landscaping; and/or closing costs.
Oakwood’s pre-sale center is on Belle Creek Boulevard in Henderson, just west of Hwy 85 at 104th. From I-25 or I-270, take I-76 north 5 miles, angle left on 85, then left on 104th.

WHERE: Grand opening, Belle Creek by Oakwood; affordable single-family series in new-urban community with shops, recreation, charter school. 10502 Belle Creek Blvd., Henderson; from I-25/I-270 take I-76 north 5 mi., angle left on Hwy 85, left on 104th 1 blk to Belle Creek. Or take 104th east from I-25, 5 mi.

PRICE: From $179,500; ‘Big Value’ home with basement, $218,600
WHEN: 10-6 daily
PHONE: 303-486-8728 WEB: HomesPeopleLove.com

Denver’s newest school brings a ’sense of place’ to Green Valley Ranch

Administrator — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:57:50 +0000

By Mark Samuelson

In a week when Forbes Magazine named Denver ‘Best City to Buy a Home’ in the nation, Oakwood Homes is showing you a great place to do just that–Green Valley Ranch, where last week Oakwood CEO Pat Hamill helped officials break ground for Green Valley Ranch’s E-12 campus, an ‘energized platform’ for learning that will blend high-tech with green/sustainable energy features.

Turning the first ground for Green Valley Ranch’s new E-12 Campus are, from left, DPS Operations Director Kelly Leid, Oakwood President and CEO Pat Hamill, former Councilwoman Allegra ‘Happy’ Haynes, School Board Member Kevin Patterson, and Councilman Michael Hancock.

“You’re seeing Green Valley Ranch develop a sense of identity, a sense of place,” says Denver Public Schools’ Operations Director Kelly Leid, who five years ago was with Oakwood when he began work on a vision for E-12…a School of Science and Technology campus (plans call for a laptop for every student), covering all grades, K-12; the first new high school built in Denver in 30 years.

All of that doubles some opportunities Oakwood has created a few blocks from the school’s site. Come tour Oakwood’s seven models on view (Green Valley Ranch Blvd. at Ceylon Street, east of Tower) and you’ll find New Beginning’s designs priced from under $130,000…so low that at current 30-year rates, you could put 3-1/2% down and be making a monthly payment of just $860…taxes and insurance included.

Better yet, you can see a few New Beginnings II plans on track to deliver this fall…in time for you to take advantage of the up-to-$8,000 federal tax credit being offered to first-time buyers (you have to be moved in by Dec. 1 to take advantage).

One of those is an Emery plan…with two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, 1,378 square feet plus a 2-car garage. It’s walking distance from Green Valley Ranch’s town center with King Soopers, coffee shop, Mattie Sopranos and other eateries…and like the new school, comes with high-performance energy features…30% better than code.

Move in by December…and by next fall your kids could be part of the opening of Green Valley Ranch E-12 Campus. No surprise that coming into this weekend, Oakwood is close to marking its 100th Green Valley Ranch sale of 2009…23 New Beginnings sales last month alone.

The school will be open in 12 months…but in a year when Denver’s inventory of homes under $300,000 has already dropped into “seller’s market” levels, don’t expect those prices to be there then. “You’re seeing the emergence of a great community,” adds Mike Tinlin, Oakwood’s Sales Manager, “but these prices will never be the same.”

–
Mark Samuelson is president of Samuelson & Associates, a homebuilding/real estate communications firm. You can e-mail him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com.

IF YOU GO:

WHERE: Pre-sales prices on ‘New Beginnings” single-family homes by Oakwood Homes, close to new Green Valley Ranch E-12 Campus (opens next summer), seven models to tour. Green Valley Ranch; take Pena Blvd. north 1 mi. to Green Valley Ranch Blvd. (48th); east 1 mi. past Tower, past Argonne to Ceylon St., right

PRICE: From $129,700 Carson & Parkwood series from $190s, $240s
WHEN: Daily 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
PHONE: 303-486-8722 WEB: www.HomesPeopleLove.com

As Cherry Creek draws a new wave of upscale shops, NorthCreek reaches for a ‘narrow bandwidth’ of buyer

Administrator — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:06:41 +0000

By Mark Samuelson

Why is Denver being ranked as a national market (perhaps THE market) most likely to lead a real estate recovery? In part for the excitement buyers and developers are finding in the city’s core urban neighborhoods…highlighted by Cherry Creek, where new upscale stores, exclusive restaurants, are emerging right now, this year.

Developers David Steel (left) and Roy Kline show off the Paris-inspired courtyard of NorthCreek, where residents have their cars valet-parked.

“Everybody’s trying to mimic Cherry Creek,” says Roy Kline of Western Development Group, overseeing the metamorphosis of an entire block of Cherry Creek North into NorthCreek, a medley of residential offerings that have already lured a complement of stores to the street level….including Hermes (famous Paris accessory house that opened in April); Eileen Fisher; Loro Piana, Marmi…all of them either a flagship, or making a singular appearance.

What you WON’T find are restaurants. Early on, developer David Steel says, NorthCreek buyers expressed a preference for keeping the hubbub that goes with popular eateries at arm’s length. When you tour NorthCreek’s blend of flats and brownstones (by appointment only), you’ll see Pekoe Tea House downstairs; but the rest of Cherry Creek’s thirty-odd dining spots are either up the street or around the corner.

You’ll visit plush offerings for any size preference. When Western took over the site from another developer, first thing they did was upsize the homes in NorthCreek’s Tower Residences (75% of them are now closed, one at 11,000 feet!), while decreasing the unit count. They also upgraded finishes: “This is a very narrow bandwidth of buyer,” Steel said, showing me one flat (from $1.2 million) with views to downtown, where the budget for showerheads exceeds $4,000.

You’ll find the same quality in the Brownstones (around 2,700 feet, from $2.7 million), with entries facing NorthCreek’s private, Paris-inspired courtyard, where residents drive in for valet parking and where their party guests do the same. The one place the developer has made no assumptions about finish is in some Courtyard Flats (from $3 million) with huge terraces, where finishes are left to buyers.

The set attracted to this, Steel says, include more than a few Aspenites. (“I see the mountains every day,” one told him. “I want this to be a city feel.”) But however you finish, adds Steel, don’t expect to find this waiting three years from now. “There’ll never be this location, this access,” he says. “When they’re gone, they’re gone.”

WHERE: NorthCreek, medley of luxurious urban flats and brownstones with exclusive concierge services, created for a full block in the heart of Cherry Creek North. Information Center 2800 E. Second Avenue, between Detroit & Fillmore, Cherry Creek. Residential tours by appointment only.

PRICE: From $1.2 million; Brownstones from $2.7 million

WHEN: Tours by appointment only

PHONE: PHONE: 303-270-0101 WEB: NorthCreekDenver.com

As Realtors see appreciation in lowest ranges, Denver becomes the national market likely to come back first

Administrator — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:46:17 +0000

When NBC’s Today Show ran a segment last week projecting Denver as the market with prospects for making the nation’s first comeback from the housing slump, more than a few Realtors were already expecting the news.

Becky Kenny of RE/MAX Professionals shows a listing at 179 Satsuma Place in Plum Creek, Castle Rock, priced at $699,000, backing to the Pete Dye-designed golf course.

“We’ve been predicting for six months that we’d begin seeing appreciation in the lowest price ranges, and that the effect would begin creeping into the middle ranges,” says broker Jack O’Connor, a principal owner of the newly combined RE/MAX Professionals. He issues a monthly report to agents on market prospects.

As builders and Realtors look to the data on sales issued at the first of each month, they’re seeing concrete evidence of price appreciation affecting homes up to the $275,000 range. O’Connor reports that homes in the 7-county Denver metro area priced $250,000 and below have seen around 3% appreciation since the first of the year.

All markets are local, of course, and some neighborhoods are faring better still, some not as well. Homes in the highest ranges are still battling too much inventory. In those higher ranges, O’Connor predicts, no significant appreciation can be expected for two years.

Meanwhile, O’Connor expects this month’s data to show increases in sales…and a modest increase in inventory levels, well within the bounds that will likely keep the price curve on the rise, at least for low to middle price range homes.

None of those factors were what figured into the analysis of nationally known real estate expert Barbara Corcoran, who gave Today viewers her picks of the five national cities most likely to recover first. Top pick, very best prospects in the nation: Denver.

“This city is clearly on a rebound,” Corcoran told viewers. “It’s really the perfect real estate success story. It had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation for years running, and they’ve now cut that foreclosure rate in half. Prices are moving up just now for the first time after seven years of being down.”

Also figuring into Corcoran’s calculations in “most likely to recover” are job base, good weather, a well educated work force, an adequate supply of first-time buyers to fuel the move-up market, a relative lack of ‘over-building’ of condos and commercial real estate, and a vital downtown area.

Denver, she noted, is a young market, has one of the best park systems in the country, and home prices (average 3-bedroom, 2-bath home, acoording to MSNBC just $193,000) that look appealing, compared even to other cities that she ranked close on the list, also likely to do well in coming months: Raleigh, Austin, Seattle and San Francisco.

O’Connor notes that the Denver area is showing one of its lowest summer inventories of homes for sale seen in ten years.

“Watch for appreciation to begin creeping into higher price ranges,” he adds. O’Connor cautions sellers to know where their home is positioned relative to others, to negotiate a highest realistic price.

-END-

As Chroma opens on Larimer, price of LoDo moves into a whole new ballpark

Administrator — Sun, 10 May 2009 20:20:44 +0000

By Mark Samuelson

The wide, well appointed, modestly priced townhomes opening at Chroma on Larimer are just a few blocks from Coors Field and its orbiting bars and clubs…and around the corner from the RiNo art gallery scene. The first buyers here (10 homes are left) have come from the art/design world…but when the Blake Street crowd gets a load of these big units, that could change.

Sales agent Chris Behrens shows off a 1,722-foot townhome opening on Larimer Street a few blocks from Coors Field. It has a private 2-car garage and rooftop deck.

The first two Chroma units–each with a street-level “live-work” space–sold to gallery owners (Plus Gallery, in the neighborhood since 2001, is relocating here)…and another went to a buyer who designs sportswear. But downtown Realtors, who had a sneak preview at a party last week, are telling the developer that the size and pricing of these homes…each “deeded” to own the ground below and a private 2-car garage…are re-shaping prices for the surrounding area.

“We’ve priced these to get people to act now,” developer Charlie Woolley of St. Charles Town Company told me during a walk-thru of one model you’ll tour: 1,722 square feet, with big entertaining area, plus a 500-foot rooftop deck looking toward the ballpark, with the mountains cresting the skyline; and a private 2-car garage beneath.

Woolley, who first laid eyes on Larimer in 1966 and lived in Curtis Park in the 1980s as he was building his company, recalls there was an art scene here decades ago–driven out as values on Larimer climbed. That was before the loft boom started…with Silver State Lofts, Ballpark, Clocktower, and St. Charles’ own Benjamin Moore Lofts, arriving right around the corner from where Chroma has now opened.

“This neighborhood still has the grit of the old LoDo, with some funky factories mixed with new bars,” Woolley added. His sales agent Chris Behrens says that for ball fans, the proximity of Coors makes a great match with the design of these plans. “Your friends are going to be able to park here (no meters), walk to the game, and do the night scene afterward.” If they’re crashing your place after that, you’ll find new breakfast spots in surrounding blocks for the morning after.

But what should really catch your attention are the sizes and finishes at the price: slab granite, Euro-style cabinets, great baths, and spaces that are wide and high as well as deep.
-
PHOTO CAPTION Interior: –
If you go…

WHERE: Grand opening, Chroma, 10 modestly priced townhome models 4 blocks from Coors Field, 2-bedroom, rooftop decks, pvt 2-car garage. 2507 Larimer; take one-way Market north past Coors Field, 4 more blks (Market becomes Walnut St.) to 26th, right 1 blk to one-way Larimer and park.

PRICE: From $426,000

PHONE: 303-619-7987 WEB: www.ChromaDenver.com

Mark Samuelson is president of Samuelson & Associates, a homebuilding/real estate communications firm, on the web at MarkSamuelson.com

Inventory of homes for sale in Denver drops to its lowest level in six years…

Administrator — Sat, 09 May 2009 20:37:42 +0000

Just like everywhere else in the country, Denver is a place where sales are well off the mark from a few years ago…but it’s is a very different market in terms of how the immediate future looks. The most obvious indicator of that is the surprising lack of supply of homes and condos in lower price ranges, available for sale this spring.

Jack O’Connor, principal in the new RE/MAX Professionals, shows a listing at 1298 Bellaire in Denver. The home has 3,400 square feet including a finished basement, at $585,000. Home inventories are at the lowest level in the 7-county area in six years.

“Denver is a declining inventory market, especially in the starter home ranges,” broker Jack O’Connor told me, as the new month’s Metrolist data came out this week.

O’Connor, former managing broker with Prestige Real Estate Group and one of the principal owners of RE/MAX Professionals, combining Prestige with two large RE/MAX offices, publishes a monthly report to agents on how the market is performing. What the data show now, O’Connor says, is a far cry from what inventory looked like in 2006 and 2007, when sales were higher and when California and Florida were booming.

As of the first of May, inventory in the 7-county area stands at 21,454 homes…almost 10,000 units below the supply on late spring of 2006; about 6,000 less than a year ago.

That’s the smallest supply in six years, O’Connor notes. Even more startlingly, the supply for sale this month actually dropped from that available at the first of April…the first time that’s happened in ten years. “Inventory typically swells in spring,” O’Connor told me. “Having total inventory fall on the first of May is very atypical, and underscores just how low the supply really is.”

In the market under $250,000, where first-time buyers find their opportunities, the supply of homes calculates to just over 3-1/2 months. “That’s obviously a seller’s market, and explains why our agents are reporting multiple offers on some of their lower priced listings,” O’Connor said.

For higher priced homes, the corresponding supply gets larger and the time they spend on the market gets longer. “But when a seller of a lower priced home sells, they can move up,” O’Connor notes. “It takes about six months for that effect to make its way through the next higher $250,000 price niche, and for that range to begin selling faster.”

O’Connor adds that for the most expensive homes, a smaller inventory drop is now likely. “It’s tough to get financing at that price range, but it’s likely we’ll see continued drop in the million-dollar inventory over the next months, as well,” he says.

So, for sellers of high priced homes, help is on the way. For sellers of more reasonably priced homes, O’Connor says, know where your home is positioned relative to others, to negotiate a highest realistic price.

-END-

Inventory of homes for sale in Denver area drops to its lowest level in six years…

Administrator — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:15:34 +0000

Just like everywhere else in the country, Denver is a place where sales this year are well off the mark from a few years ago…but Denver is a very different market in terms of how the immediate future looks. The most obvious indicator of that is the surprising lack of supply of homes and condos in lower price ranges, available for sale this spring.

Jack O’Connor, principal in the new RE/MAX Professionals, shows a listing at 1298 Bellaire in Denver. The home has 3,400 square feet including a finished basement, at $585,000. Home inventories are at the lowest level in the 7-county area in six years.

“Denver is a declining inventory market, especially in the starter home ranges,” broker Jack O’Connor told me, as the new month’s Metrolist data came out this week.

O’Connor, former managing broker with Prestige Real Estate Group and one of the principal owners of RE/MAX Professionals, combining Prestige with two large RE/MAX offices, publishes a monthly report to agents on how the market is performing. What the data show now, O’Connor says, is a far cry from what inventory looked like in 2006 and 2007, when sales were higher and when California and Florida were booming.
As of the first of May, inventory in the 7-county area stands at 21,454 homes…almost 10,000 units below the supply on late spring of 2006; about 6,000 less than a year ago.

That’s the smallest supply in six years, O’Connor notes. Even more startlingly, the supply for sale this month actually dropped from that available at the first of April…the first time that’s happened in ten years. “Inventory typically swells in spring,” O’Connor told me. “Having total inventory fall on the first of May is very atypical, and underscores just how low the supply really is.”

In the market under $250,000, where first-time buyers find their opportunities, that calculates to just over 3-1/2 months supply. “That’s obviously a seller’s market, and explains why our agents are reporting multiple offers on some of their lower priced listings,” O’Connor said.
For higher priced homes, the corresponding supply gets larger and the time they spend on the market gets longer. “But when a seller of a lower priced home sells, they can move up,” O’Connor notes. “It takes about six months for that effect to make its way through the next higher $250,000 price niche, and for that range to begin selling faster.”

O’Connor adds that for the most expensive homes, a smaller inventory drop is now likely. “It’s tough to get financing at that price range, but it’s likely we’ll see continued drop in the million-dollar inventory over the next months, as well,” he says.

So, for sellers of high priced homes, help is on the way. For sellers of more reasonably priced homes, O’Connor says, know where your home is positioned relative to others, to negotiate a highest realistic price.

-END-
-END-

Solar comes to Lowry: Harvard opens pre-sales on homes with PV panels

Administrator — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:01:17 +0000

By Mark Samuelson

Builder John Keith has a rare commodity: a series of family-sized luxury homes in Stapleton that, despite the economy, is selling pretty fast. Fast enough, that Keith is taking his award winning Architect Collection plans——each with 2.5 kW of solar on the roof——to a small number of sites where he can offer them in Lowry.

Solar builder John Keith at Lowry’s Wings Over The Rockies Museum.

During 2008, a year that was slim pickings for most builders, Keith’s Harvard Communities sold 25 homes in Stapleton. That was before President Obama came to Denver to sign the Stimulus Bill, giving an introduction during his speech to Boulder-based Namaste Solar, Harvard’s solar contractor. “For the rest of the week,” Keith said, “Namaste was one of the most Googled words on the planet.”

That led to more sales…and now, a decision to create Lowry’s first solar neighborhood at The Arbors in East Park, at prices from $589,000 (Keith already offers ranch homes there). Prices are around $70,000 less than he can build The Architect Collection in Stapleton. At Lowry, you can tour sites and a ranch model (east from Quebec on Lowry Blvd. a mile to Yosemite, then south), and tour actual Architect Collection models at Stapleton (east on MLK to Central Park and north).

How have Stapleton buyers reacted to solar? “They love it,” Keith told me over coffee in Lowry’s Town Center. “The Architect Collection is dramatic blend of styling, but with a very comprehensive energy package, plus solar; and the green features are becoming one of the more important reasons people buy from us.” That’s no small factor in a year like this, he adds, when competitors offer deep discounts on homes with nowhere near the energy features. His most recent move-in: a family coming from Nashville, giving up an environmental home there.

Harvard Communities’ Architect Collection models, coming to Lowry, all include a 2.5 kW solar electric system. Models are on view at Stapleton.

At Keith’s Stapleton models, buyers see a thorough package of energy/green features to back up the solar electric. As an option, Harvard can customize to “near-Zero” energy, using more solar.

…All for less money at Lowry, where you’ll get a slightly bigger yard, and the maintenance-free living that Harvard provides with its ranch plans. There are two more reasons to get involved now: Harvard can only do the homes on seven Lowry sites; and the solar system is discounted by a substantial rebate from Xcel…as well as a federal tax credit to the buyer for 30% of the system.
–
If you go…

WHERE: Pre-sale opening for Architect Collection at Arbors at Lowry by Harvard Communities, limited (7) sites for successful series of solar homes from Stapleton. From Quebec take Lowry Blvd. east 1 mi. to traffic circ., south on Yosemite. (Solar models at Stapleton, 8747 E. 35th Ave., take Martin Luther King east to Central Park Blvd, north.)
WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.

PRICE: From $589,000, patio homes from mid-$400s
PHONE: 303-366-2555 WEB: www.HarvardCommunities.com -

Mark Samuelson is president of Samuelson & Associates, a homebuilding/real estate communications firm, on the web at MarkSamuelson.com

In Montclair, an offbeat modern home lies a mile from Lowry Town Center

Administrator — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:57:57 +0000

By Mark Samuelson

Montclair neighborhood just west of Lowry has lots going for it, including good access to Lowry’s Town Center, lower prices than much of the surrounding area, along with some of Denver’s most eclectic architecture…such as a contemporary house you can tour this afternoon that could as likely be a few blocks off Hollywood Boulevard as Denver.

Mable Sutton of Leonard-Leonard & Associates, who partners John Patterson, has the listing on 7070 Richthofen, with modern architecture in Montclair.

Realtors aren’t sure who designed 7070 Richthofen Parkway, built in 1978…but it might have been lifted from Dr. Seuss–modern, and more than a little offbeat, even some rococo twists and turns. “It’s a perfect single-family alternative for somebody who might want a loft, but doesn’t want an HOA,” says Realtor Mable Sutton of Leonard Leonard, who’s partnering on the listing with David Patterson.

It’s over 1,700 feet finished…on three levels…well, make that four…well actually, make that six. Entry on one level…then step downs to a sunken living room with fireplace; to a kitchen dining area; up to a dining room; a secondary bedroom/bath on its own level; an office on another; and a wandering master that’s all by itself.
Including the master, most have open overlooks of the areas below. Cat-in-the-Hat style, you can rise from the master designer tub and, without bothering to put on a towel, wave to your guests in the living room below!
You can also exit the bedroom or study onto balconies that lead by steel staircase to a rooftop deck, tucked up against an arched skylight from the entry area below. The kitchen has had a recent makeover in Euro-style cabinets, tile walls, stainless appliances and a basin-style sink. There’s a covered carport and a big basement for storage.
No. 7070 is two blocks from Montclair Park…just as close to two others. Sutton likes Lowry’s Town Center with its shopping, dining and coffee places, a 12-block walk. “Town Center has locally owned, mom-and-pop places,” she added. “It helps the economy for people to be spending money close to home.”
The house is priced at $479,000.
-
If you go…

WHERE: Modern-styled 3-bedroom home in Montclair, 1,715 sq. ft., light refreshments today. 7070 Richthofen Pkwy, Denver; take Monaco north from Sixth Ave. to Richthofen (between E. 11th Ave. and E. 12th) and head east five blocks, past Olive, just before Pontiac Street.

PRICE: $479,000
PHONE: 303-744-6200
-

Mark Samuelson is president of Samuelson & Associates, a homebuilding/real estate communications firm, on the web at MarkSamuelson.com

A new LoDo luxury residence opens right where it all began…

Administrator — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:57:29 +0000

By Mark Samuelson

Taking the opening tour of these penthouse-style Wynkoop Residences will show you just how much downtown living has changed over the 20-year span since the first LoDo “loft” emerged in 1990 at 15th and Wynkoop Streets. And what hasn’t changed, too.

Dee Chirafisi and Jim Theye of Kentwood City Properties take in the view of LoDo from Wynkoop Residences, grand opening, on the street where it all began.

Starting with location. When you turn south into Wynkoop, you’re in the core area where the idea first caught fire that people would want to live in Denver’s oldest downtown district. Edbrooke Lofts (1990) is across the street; Acme Lofts (1992) is south over the historic iron rail bridge (Manny’s Bridge) spanning Cherry Creek, on the way to the Pepsi Center.
Those early loft projects lured other attractions to the blocks near Union Station: Tattered Cover, the MCA Museum, and dozens of clubs and restaurants that are a short walk from this site; with more to come (Brazilian-style Fogo de Chao opens a block north this summer).
Even without those magnets, this is probably the very best place to create a downtown residence: The creek and its bike path open up views to the mountains, as well as into downtown. Widely respected developer Opus Northwest has done a very attractive and private entryway, and parking (two spaces for two-bedrooms, one for one-beds) with extra space where residents will be able to park their party guests; something that’s been a problem as LoDo lures bigger crowds.
One thing that HAS changed——the use of the word ‘loft.’ “We call these penthouse-style residences,” says Dee Chirafisi of Kentwood City Properties. “A new concept like this is a contrast to when they were doing the loft look on warehouse buildings, with the exposed pipes.”
Chirafisi understands LoDo. Along with Managing Broker Jim Theye, she was among a handful of agents who founded Kentwood as the first full-service residential office in downtown, ten years ago next month. She’ll host you today during the first chance to see a finished building…where only ten of 22 residences remain available for sale.
Those include No. 805: a 2-bedroom with a huge master suite, contemporary finishes, and a big deck that looks across LoDo into downtown (price: $1,044,900). You can also pick from some “white box” units where you can still meet with a designer and order finishes…and a handful of one-bedrooms still available from well under $400,000.
–
If you go…

WHERE: Grand opening, Wynkoop Residences, penthouse-style residences in Lower Downtown’s prime district; 10 of 22 homes remain available. 1411 Wynkoop St.; from Speer Blvd. take Wewatta St. north 1 blk to 15th St., right 1 blk to Wynkoop, right.
WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.
PRICE: 2-bedroom from $890s; a few 1-beds left from $349s
PHONE: 303-881-6312 WEB: www.WynkoopResidences.com
-
Mark Samuelson is president of Samuelson & Associates, a homebuilding/real estate communications firm, on the web at MarkSamuelson.com