Stapleton

We are taking our Colorado house hunting very seriously. At least I am. We initially wanted to buy a place right away. That is probably not going to happen. We would love it if we had a beautiful home to move right into, but it's really difficult to house hunt from another state. We have decided that there are two areas that we are really interested in living. One of the areas is a part of Denver called Stapleton.

Stapleton is actually a redevelopment of the old airport area. The website is very informative www.stapletondenver.com. The project seems to be a very well-planned community of new homes, lots of parks, and neighborhood stores. It's a sustainable community. The vision is that the residents will be able to walk to parks, stores, and really become a part of the community. There is lots of park space and even little "pocket parks" between homes. It seems to be a really mixed community with single family homes, lofts, high end apartments, and affordable housing.

WS visited Stapleton during his trip to Denver during April. He took some pictures.





Of course the parks are in winter mode and not very green, but I would imagine that it's much more green in late spring and summer. I definitely like many things about Stapleton.

1. It's a planned community. That's one of the things that I don't like about LA. Some areas are a jumble of things. The streets and housing are a mess. I like the idea that they planned Stapleton to be walker friendly, family friendly, and lots of green space.
   
2. Lots of parks and areas to be in nature. WS is a jogger. He jogs 3 days a week. When he jogs here, it's on the street. It will be nice for him to be able to jog in a park. There are so many in Stapleton. Also, it will be a big plus for E to have so many different areas for her to run around in. There is also a community garden, farmers market, a dog park, a creek, nature center, urban farm, and several community pools.
   
3. Community feel and family friendliness. That seems to be what it is known for.
   
4. Stapleton is close to WS' new job. Only about a 10 minute drive. Actually, Stapleton is pretty close to downtown Denver, too.
   
5. We can actually afford to buy a house! This could be the number one reason. Homes in Stapleton range in price from $100-200,000 for town homes to $300-very expensive for single family homes. The homes that are in our price range are really nice. Brand new homes that we can afford. In a nice neighborhood!!! I can't believe it. They even have a KB Home/Martha Stewart neighborhood in our price range! Love it.

There are a few things that we don't like about Stapleton:

1. We hear it's really crowded. There have been a few new stories that there are more people living in Stapleton than they planned for. The schools are especially crowded. Here is an interesting article from the Denver Post (www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13002375). Crowds are what we are trying to get away from.
2. The schools there are a part of DPS. I'm not sure if DPS (Denver Public Schools) is what we want for E. We want a school district with a great reputation. We want to be able to put her into a public school and then continue with public until she graduates.
   
3. The homes are smaller than in other areas that we are looking. The homes that are in our price range. They are still bigger than what we have now, but not as big as we are hoping for.
   

We are very interested in Stapleton. We are seriously considering renting a short term place there to try it out until we decide where we want to buy our house.