Denver - a little help?
 

Tried posting on a non-bike forum and all we got were smart aleck answers.

We are moving to the Denver area. g/f is getting transferred from her work in K.C. to work near 225/Colfax. I'm not employed yet so where I work isn't really an issue right now. We're looking for an apartment in a nice area. Nothing fancy, but not ghetto either (like where her work apparently is).

Where can we live that is a 45 minute commute (not considering snow)? Is Westminster/Broomfield/Arvada direction too trafficky? She needs to get to work by 8 and leaves at 5:15 M-F.

TIA.

I'm in Broomfield;
If I had to drive all the way down there every day, I'd be hating life.:mad:
I'm not familiar with the Colfax/225 area, but I used to live in Centennial, which is a *lot* closer.
There are lots of nice apts down there.
Also, close to Centennial is Greenwood Village and Cherry Creek which are very upscale.

Why the draw to Westminster/Broomfield/Arvada?

It sounds like your lady is going to work around Children's.

Although, Aurora has the lowest tax in Denver and can be considered a little less desirable, I lived just a few miles north of cherry creek reservoir. There are a number of apartment complexes there some exceptionally nice) that would only be a ~15 min drive (fxn of traffic). The Cherry Creek area also wouldn't be too far.

It's probably best to visit once or twice. Having lived on both the east and west sides of town, I still drive to many of my rides - I don't like mups. I don't notice much of a difference in terms of riding access. Plus in aurora you have the reservoir that's good for winter rides when the roads are tough.

Thanks for the great suggestions. We've vacationed in Boulder, Ft. Collins, Loveland so know the west side of I-25 a little better.

We're actually driving there from KC this weekend to scope the place out and perhaps decide on a few candidates for apartments. Then we'll go back for another reconnisance mission in 2 weeks and then move permanently 2 weeks after that the weekend before Thanksgiving.

She wants to minimize commute times. I on the other hand want to make sure there's plenty of good riding (road, mtn, piddling around) to be had. My goal was to trade our Mercedes and Jeep in for 1 Subaru and 2 bicycles :)

It just occurred to me that DataJunkie lives fairly close to that area.
You might shoot a PM to him.
Don't let the hot brunette in his avatar fool you; He *is* a guy.:lol:

PM sent. Thx!

I am afraid I am not the most help.
I live in Thornton along 120th and Co Blvd. The commute from my area will be a tad better than from broomfield but it will still be aggravating.
Plus, the riding in my suburb leaves quite a bit to be desired. It is somewhere you ride through or away from to find a decent ride.
What I can tell you is that a commute in the NW suburbs will result in a long commute for your g/f.
I would stick to Denver. A nice neighborhood off to the west would help.
Other Denverites will be here shortly to chime in. :)

My mistake;
I didn't recall that you lived this far North.

No worries. :)
I keep trying to forget about living in no man's land. :p

The Fitzsimmons area is rapidly gentrifying due to renovation of the prostitute motels by Aurora and the new hospital complexes, but it may take awhile before it is a "nice" neighborhood.

Personally, I love the MUPS in the Denver metro area. Here is a map of the major ones, but there are more:

http://www.ourwebs.info/denverbikemap1.jpg

You might look in the I-225 and Parker Road area - the Aventine apartments come to mind. Very close to light rail and the Cherry Creek Trail, now that they are using the former "Bridge to nowhere" over I-225 as a bike path and as a connection to the Nine Mile Rail Station. This would be just a short deiv NE on I-225 to Colfax.

But, then, I am an old guy not into the downtown scene!

Look in Stapleton, Lowry, Park Hill, Montclair, Congress Park.....

These are all an easy, quick commute to Fitz and great places to live. They are close to downtown and really hold the best of Denver.

Thanks for the great replies. DenverFox - that's an awesome map. I can't wait to move and get acclimated to the elevation and get out there on my bikes with some of you guys.

This one. I live in South City Park (small neighborhood just north of Congress Park). I can drive to 225/Colfax in 15 mins and bus it in under 30. The cycling gets a little sketchy as you get out east though.

You will do fine. I moved here in 2000 from sea level. No issues that I remember.

Denver a little help
 

I live about two minutes east of the Cherry Creek Res.in Aurora and love it.
There are all kinds of MUPs going on all dirrections.
There are nice appartments around the area and also some very expensive homes.
Drive time to Colfax via 225 is about 7 minutes.
Good luck with the move.

When biking out to Fitz, the best way I've found is Montview (20th).

Well, I don't have much to add to this discussion! They've pretty much covered the places that would be near where she's going to work.

I'd second something on the east side of Denver or even close to Downtown over the Broomfield area. It's easier to hop in a car and drive to the mountains on the weekends than it is to try and negotiate some of the worst traffic in the Metro area. US36, I-270, I-70 and I-225 are some of the worst traffic choked roads in the area. Make your, and her;), daily commute short and as traffic free as possible. Save the driving for the weekends:thumb:

Thanks for the replies. If you see a pair of lost people walking around Denver with a printout of this thread in hand, stop us and say hi :)

While you are here this weekend, go to Veloswap. You might want to rent a U-haul to take all the stuff you'll buy back;)

I do have some stuff to swap :) and we are going to get a storage unit for our stuff that we're bringing on this trip.

My wife and I lived near the confluence of Cherry Creek and High Line (Yale and Yosemite in SE Denver) a few years back, great location next to two awesome trails and Bible Park, easy 16 minute drive to your wife's work.

Great ethnic food nearby, easy to get downtown. Loved living there.

Well we looked in a few places today.

What do you guys think about The Breakers (near Mississippi/Dayton) or Crestone (near Havana/Florida)? Those are our top 2 so far.

Looked in Lowry, Cherry Creek Mall, near the REI Flagship, Aurora Town Center. Realized we don't want anything > 8 years old because of things like tiny closets and questionable people mulling around.

We may look at a few places near DTC even though it's a little further in terms of commute.

Lowry is brand new. The Breakers has been here as long as I have, 14 years. I used to live down there in South East and we had a lot of crime issues. I am one block off Colfax now and we don't have the problems we had down in South East.

I really think the old neighborhoods are where the character in the city is.

I almost didn't get married because of the Breakers. When the wife and I (GF at the time) moved to Denver I came out and looked at places first. I picked the Breakers and the wife came out to approve...she literally wouldn't speak to me and cried for a half day when she saw them. She couldn't possibly believe that I would want to live there under any circumstances whatsoever.

We started the search over from scratch and ended at 10 Emerson St in Wash Park...she was right as she usually is.