Denver - Belcaro
Is Belcaro a Good Place to Live: The Belcaro neighborhood of Denver offers a lot to like and home prices are representative of that. The median home in the neighborhood is a 4 bed, 3 bath, 2700+ SF residence built in 1966 and selling for $1.2M (2021).
Location and Getting Around: Bordered by Alameda and actual Cherry Creek to the north, Mississippi to the south, University to the west, and Colorado to the east. If on the north side of the neighborhood, it’s realistic to walk over to Cherry Creek shopping and restaurants. Everything else is more realistically a short car ride away (or maybe a bike ride). The Cherry Creek trail does serve as a main arterial for bikers looking to get downtown or the Cherry Creek Reservoir in the opposite direction. While light rail stops aren’t necessarily far, you probably aren’t walking to them.
Shopping and Entertainment: Cherry Creek North lies just to the north of Belcaro and offers fine dining, wine bars, coffee shops, art galleries, salons, boutiques, and cafes, and high end retail. Beyond its fanciness, it’s also the highest concentration of locally-owned stores in metro Denver. The actual indoor Cherry Creek Mall offers the same sort of shopping options as your typical mall but with more high end options scattered in (Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Co, Lucid Motors, Tesla, Restoration Hardware, Rolex, etc.). There was some uproar a few years ago when the mall started charging for parking (though the first 30 minutes are still free). Looking within the actual borders of Belcaro is the somewhat famous Bonnie Brae Tavern along University (with Bonnie Brae Ice Cream, Bonnie Brae Liquor, and Ink Coffee across the street) and more chain options along Colorado including King Soopers Grocery and Einstein Bagels (and numerous options across the street and up and down Colorado Blvd).
Parks and Rec: Bonnie Brae Park (also known as Elliptical or Ellipse Park in previous decades), City of Brest Park (after city in France), and Cherry Creek Park each offer a relatively small area of green space for walking, reading a book, or throwing a football but none take on the weekend morning popularity of the 150+ acre Wash Park a few minutes to the west of Belcaro.
Land Use: Belcaro is highly residential. University offers a very pleasant north/south corridor with its long stretch of mature trees lining each side with the exception of the small block of retail and restaurants between Ohio and Exposition (Bonnie Brae Ice Cream, Campus Lounge Grill, Ink Coffee, Conoco gas station, etc.). Driving along Cherry Creek, you’ll see residential to the south (brick fences) and more commercial and park use to the north and east (Cherry Creek Mall, office buildings, hotels, etc.). Traveling along Colorado, it’s hard to tell $1M+ estates lie just a few blocks west as Colorado Blvd lies host to almost every chain retail establishment you could want (King Soopers, Barnes & Noble, Home Depot, car dealerships, etc.). Within those borders is strictly residential use with different lot sizes serving different pockets of the neighborhood (multi-story condos on the north, a bit more than a tenth of an acre lots near the south, half acre lots near the east, 1+ acre lots in Polo Club to the west).
Belcaro vs Surrounding Neighborhoods/Areas: While much of Denver takes on a grid pattern, much of Belcaro takes on a different form. The original land developer was inspired by a subdivision in Kansas City named Bonnie Brae (Bonnie Brae Blvd runs diagonally through the neighborhood with Bonnie Brae Ice Cream, Tavern, Liquors, etc. making up much of the charm of the area). His hope was to create a peaceful, Scottish-like community here in Denver with winding streets creating a feeling of elegance and beauty.
Market Stats: Click HERE for the latest stats on Belcaro. View sample report HERE.
Interested in More Information: Talk with someone that has researched metro Denver ad nauseam - market stats, newspapers, city planning documents, zoning possibilities, upside potential, concerns, schools, crime, new developments, neighborhood websites, one area vs another, etc. Chat with Matt - send me a text at 303-524-2086 and we’ll schedule a time to talk. Or, if it’s easier, send an email to MatthewJamesLong@GMail.com.