In northeast Denver, the Stapleton redevelopment is the major attraction for budding families. In 2007, 85 percent of the neighborhood’s 274 births were white, accounting for about half of the citywide gain since 2000. An area that didn’t exist in 2002 is now home to 10,000 people.
“The stroller population there is incredible,” said Allan Wallis, associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver’s Public Affairs School. “We have all the dynamics of a suburb.”
Mark Mehringer, who grew up in Denver, and his wife moved to Stapleton four years ago from the Washington, D.C., area.
He’s seen the population explosion close up.
He recalled a block party a year or so ago. Five of the women living on the four adjacent streets were pregnant and another a street away was expecting twins.
“So within a block of me, seven kids were on the way, including my daughter,” Mehringer said.
