For countless generations, the land around what would one day be Midtown was a part-time home for nomadic tribes of the Native Americans. Like many waterways, Clear Creek drew its share of mountain men in search of beaver and other trade. One later settled in the area: Jim Baker operated a cabin, trading post and toll bridge for wagons to cross Clear Creek in the 1860s. Clear Creek played a major role in the development of Colorado, with the gold-rich towns of Central City and Golden upstream.
The end of the 19th century also brought the railroads. Utah Junction, ½ mile south of Midtown, was a major switchyard for the Denver Laramie & Northwestern Railroad, as well as the Moffat Line. Even today, freight trains and passengers on the Amtrak California Zephyr travel those tracks (and soon, RTD’s G-line commuter rail).
From 1955 until 2005, the property that became Midtown was owned by the Sundstrand Corporation. Sundstrand operated an aerospace plant on 43 acres in northwest corner of the property at 70th Avenue and Zuni Street – where Midtown’s open space park will be developed. Most of the 184 acres of land where Midtown is today was empty, undeveloped land. Sundstrand provided over 1,300 jobs at its peak.
The Perl-Mack neighborhood northwest of Midtown was built to house many of those workers, with new 2-bedroom houses selling for $11,600 in 1956. Jordon Perlmutter, Samuel Primack & William Morrison would go on to build nearly the entire city of Northglenn.
The Hamilton–Sunstrand plant closed in 1997 and cleanup work began shortly thereafter. Brookfield Residential partnered with Arcadis and RE Solutions to remediate and redevelop this property into Midtown at Clear Creek. The plant was demolished in 2008.
Midtown Park will be an excellent example of brownfield redevelopment – reclaiming land from industrial use, removing any hazards, and converting it to homes, businesses and parks.
Read more about Midtown’s development at Denver Business Journal and Denver Post.
Aerial view from 2007:
And in 2015:
Here’s Pecos Street in 2007:
The same view in 2012, soon after Midtown began:
And in 2015:
The first model homes opened on 67th Avenue at Raritan Street in 2012, and residents began calling Midtown home in early 2013. Construction on the east side of Pecos began in 2014, with David Weekley’s Garden (Opal) model opening in late 2015. Home Plate Park and the Bruz Brewery opened in summer 2016, and the David Weekley Metro collection broke ground in the fall. And 2017 will see further development of Midtown on both sides of Pecos. Midtown will likely be complete by 2020.
Watch a video of Midtown’s transformation through the years.
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