Denver-area home buyers don’t want much. Just a new home with modern amenities in an older neighborhood, close to downtown and public transportation.
But because almost no open tracts of land remain in Central Denver, that means redevelopment of existing neighborhoods. This hit-and-miss task was once left to smaller developers, but in Platt Park a unique opportunity has come along with the redevelopment of the Gates Rubber plant along Santa Fe Drive and Interstate 25.
The Platt Park neighborhood is bounded by I-25 to the north, Evans to the south, Broadway to the west and roughly University Boulevard in the east. Many of the homes along the I-25 border were built as rentals for Gates employees in the company’s 1930s and 40s manufacturing heyday. While small developers are snatching up double lots in the neighborhood and peppering the area with new construction, one production builder, McStain Neighborhoods, has purchased three city blocks from Gates and is vying with smaller builders to capitalize on the trend.
“We believe there is a strong desire for people to be in these inner-city neighborhoods in a new home,” said Christine Regis, owner of Domani Homes, a small builder working in the area. “I think the competition is good and McStain is definitely competition, but I’d say we offer a lot more in our home than what they offer.”
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