By Mark Samuelson
Fifteen years ago, everybody leaving town on Christmas Eve was crowding into old Stapleton International Airport, five miles from downtown Denver. Weather was frightfully cold…and as the Boeings went into their takeoff roll up two north runways, they crossed a ditch, its frozen waters lined with old tires and industrial refuse.

It was an unlikely setting for what developers like to call a “recreational amenity,” but that’s exactly what Sand Creek Regional Greenway has become–a 14-mile stretch of wilderness in the city, passing directly through the popular new community of Stapleton.

Volunteers from UPS pitch in last summer to pull invasive thistle and tamarisk from the route of the Sand Creek Regional Greenway through Commerce City.
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Where: Stapleton Penthouse Row Homes, by McStain Neighborhoods, three models open, only 7 homes available. Take Martin Luther King east from Quebec into Stapleton, 1/2 mile to Central Park Ave., north past the park one block to 33rd, then east 5 blocks to Xenia, model on corner
Price: From $440s to $590s
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 12-6 Sunday
Contact: 303-399-9799 www.mcstain.com

By Mark Samuelson

McStain Neighborhoods was a “green” builder long before their creative homes became a hit at green-minded Stapleton. Today you can come tour three McStain models designed on a concept so appealing that 80% of them sold out at Stapleton before anybody got a look inside.

Quite a few of those people purchasing McStain’s Penthouse Row Homes have come from inside Stapleton itself – buyers who are stepping up in size and features, getting closer to the newest parks, while keeping their access to all of the restaurants and shopping.
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