Conventional wisdom is that if you want new(er) homes in the City of Denver, you go to Stapleton. But the area southeast of I-70 & Quebec Street, where the airport stood until 1995, is well built out. Now Stapleton often means Northfield – on the north side of I-70 and sprawling ever further northeast toward the new airport (DIA).
There are miles of new neighborhoods, to Commerce City’s Dick's Sporting Goods Park… and beyond. If we want a new-build, Stapleton is where you’ll find the biggest selection.
So we ventured out to see models, including David Weekley. Richard and I looked at each other. “These are new houses? They sure don’t look like it.” Shake shingles like our 115-year-old house! Oddly, the floorplans are very similar to Midtown, but decorated too traditional for our taste. I’m sure there are people who appreciate the historic look… it’s just not us!
There’s much better shopping near Stapleton than Midtown, and not nearly as many gravel pits. It’s not much further to downtown, but traffic is much worse. Sure, the new A-Line commuter rail is already running (most of the time). But I-70 between Stapleton & Downtown is about to undergo a huge transformation. They’re planning to demolish the old elevated portion and drop the freeway down below the surrounding neighborhoods. That project will take years, and traffic going to be much worse during construction.
It would take a lot for us to move to Stapleton, and we’d give up the modern architecture in Midtown that we love.