Denver’s Villa Park neighborhood, south of Lakewood Gulch from Federal to Sheridan, is seeing two arrivals this new year, one high-tech, the other low-tech but just as hard to get approved.

Builder Mark Druva (left), architect Mike Kephart and Councilman Paul Lopez check progress of an ADU taking shape near the new Knox Court Light Rail Station.

Right across Sanchez Park from the new FasTracks station on the route from downtown to Golden, builder Mark Druva is trimming an ADU – accessory dwelling unit — a detached cottage behind a house, that can be home for grandma, or a college kid, or renter. more »

When Emily and Jamie Henkel found they had a baby on the way, they moved from a Cherry Creek condo to Stapleton – but this year they found Solterra, near Red Rocks. “My husband’s really into biking; we missed being closer to the mountains,” says Emily, who’s now readying for a move into a new 4-bedroom home with 3-car garage, in a neighborhood where everybody they meet seems to bike.

Toll Brothers’ Cynthia Considine shows the model opening at Solterra – master-planned community that blends Tuscan style architecture and prime access to bike trials.

You can peddle over for a look at what they’re getting today as Toll Brothers – a builder with a feel for luxury and intimacy – grand-opens its alluring ‘Bella’ model at Solterra. “This is a biker’s paradise,” says Toll Brothers’ Cynthia Considine, who’s already sold nine homes at Solterra without the benefit of this creative model home, with terrific outdoor living spaces, lavish finishes, and a custom-home sense of arrival, all at a production price (from the mid-$500s). more »

Aaron and Julie Allina have their first baby on the way…and though they were settled into Denver’s Mayfair neighborhood, they started paying more attention to rave reports they were hearing from friends and internet web sites about Douglas County Schools.

Village’s Ete Rondeau shows off a 4-bed-plus–study model at Idyllwilde in Parker. She has two homes set for move-in now, and three others timed for the beginning of the school year.

Now they’re unloading boxes in a new 2,200-square-foot Village home in Idyllwilde, a master-planned community in Parker that’s a little over a mile from Pioneer Elementary and walking distance from Cimarron Middle School, both of them 8-for-10 stars at GreatSchools.org…and closer still to Legend High, 9 stars. more »