The Conservation Fund (ConservationFund.org) has saved 7 million acres of American open space over its 28 years, including vast Greenland Ranch on I-25 south of Castle Rock and other Front Range parcels; something that earned admiration of urban preservationist Helen ‘Prue’ Grant.

Sonja Leonard Leonard of Leonard Leonard & Associates, shows the Prue Grant home being sold in support of The Conservation Fund

Grant, who passed away last summer just short of a hundred years old, left her house at S. Humboldt and Bayaud, along with a view across Denver Country Club’s fifth fairway to downtown, to the fund; and today Denver agent Sonja Leonard Leonard will give you a look – and a chance to bid on the property in support of the Fund’s work. more »

With both of its builders’ models open and nine sales already on the books, this is the time to see Midtown, the new-urban master plan taking shape just ten minutes northwest of LoDo, off Pecos Street between U.S. 36 and I-76. “You’re not going to see homes like this anywhere else in Denver,” says Lindsay Esparza, who’ll join Felicia Smith in showing you Brookfield Homes’ three models.

Brookfield’s Lindsay Esparza (left) and Felicia Smith beside ‘Residence 2’ model.

A couple of years from now it will be the Light Rail and the amenities that lure buyers to Midtown; but right now it’s the single-family home value — starting with a model that delivers just under 2,200 square feet of finished space, basement and 2-car attached garage included, for $347,000. more »

One block from where legendary California gourmet-grocer Trader Joe’s is readying its first Denver store, Koelbel Urban Homes is working with San Diego-based Pathfinder Group, preparing to open 16 spacious urban-styled townhomes, each with an attached 2-car garage. Eight of the homes come on the market Friday, Mar. 15; when potential buyers can view a furnished model that showcases the new-urban lifestyle.

The Village at Hilltop, 7th at Albion Street.

“This is a prime location that combines the very best of what attracts people to Denver’s core neighborhoods,” said Melissa Richards, exclusive sales agent for The Village at Hilltop, who will host that grand opening at E. 7th Avenue and Albion Street, Denver. Prices for 2-bedroom townhomes will begin from $324,900; 2-bedroom-plus-study and 3-bedroom plans from the $360s.
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By Mark Samuelson

If you haven’t shopped downtown for a luxury condo this year, you’re going to find an entirely new market there: MUCH faster-paced sales led by SPIRE’s amazing performance (soaring past the 400-sold mark) — along with rapidly vanishing inventory, and even more reasons why you’d want to be downtown in the first place. This is the perfect weekend to tour, as SPIRE opens a new 2,100-sq. ft. decorator 3-bedroom residence.

A 3-bedroom home at SPIRE.

…More reasons to live downtown, starting with commuter rail service from new Union Station to DIA that opens in 2016; plans for downtown’s first urban-gourmet grocery; and new dining spots like raw-bar Epernay, and Pizza Republica, already a hit in Greenwood Village, both opening soon near DCPA near SPIRE.
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By Mark Samuelson

If you’re someone who wants to be close to downtown and to trendy restaurants of Highlands, but who doesn’t fancy paying $300,000 or $400,000 for a small house that’ll require plenty of fix-up, David Weekley Homes has something you’re going to want to see.

Rendering of community gardens, one of Midtown’s planned amenities.

Four miles north of LoHi’s Restaurant Row, you can be among the first to see Midtown, the 180-acre master plan by Brookfield Residential, at Pecos Street north of I-76. With the freeway access here, the commute time into downtown is likely to be comparable to what Highlands offers; and has something those older areas will never have – a Commuter Rail station on the Gold Line into Union Station, on track to open in 2016, less than a mile from the homes.
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