Getting your player ready...
What’s low about LoHi? “Inventory,” says Rachel Gallegos, agent with LIVE Urban Real Estate, who’s made a specialty of the eclectic neighborhood that climbs the hill west of the Platte River between Highlands and Lower Downtown. Supply of homes in the area bordered by the river on the east and by Federal Boulevard on the west is running about 55% to 58% below inventory a year ago, when Denver was still immersed in the down market. “We don’t have enough property,” she added, as we took a look at a contemporary paired home she sold on Shoshone Street last month – 30 days on the market, at over listed price. “We’re getting contracts on things at foundation.”
Around the corner at 1820 W. 34th she took a sale of a 2,100 square foot home that she says set a neighborhood record for cost-per-foot: $867,000 at $422/foot. Part of what keeps prices climbing, she adds, are a surprising number of older buyers, now seeing sales on their family homes, better heeled to be maximizing their new purchases. This spring she’s seeing empty-nest purchasers from Wash Park, Cherry Creek, Genesee…even Boulder, opting for LoHi’s less polished look, and its nearly amazing access to restaurants and bars. As opposed to other popular center-city neighborhoods centered around single shopping/dining districts – South Pearl, South Gaylord, Highlands proper at 32nd and Lowell – LoHi has a half dozen little corners clustered with restaurants and bars that make attractions walkable for just about any listing: a long row that runs from W. 32nd and Zuni west to Clay, anchored on the east by Pasquini’s, passing by Wooden Spoon and Park Burger as you head west; at W. 32nd and Vallejo (Highland Tap and Burger); W. 32nd and Tejon (LoHi Steak bar and Laughing Latte; at W. 33rd and W. 34th and Tejon (Squeaky Bean being replaced by a breakfast place); W. 33rd and Osage (Root Down, and a site reportedly taken by the popular Tavern group)…not to count a growing list of dining/imbibing attractions at 15th and 16th Streets above the Highland footbridge over to LoDo, with Little Man Ice Cream, Linger, and Amato’s Ale House. What that popularity DOESN’T leave, Gallegos adds, are many opportunities for first-time buyers, who love to be walkable or bike-able to such attractions – and to LoDo’s allures and employment areas downtown. “Lower Highlands is one of the hottest neighborhoods in Denver,” says Carl Koelbel, acquisitions director at Koelbel and Company, who is launching 18 2-bedroom, 2-bath townhomes at 32nd and Vallejo, on the same block as Highland Tap and Burger. The prices start in the $380s – very affordable in LoHi terms for a new townhouse. LoHi Court’s homes by Koelbel Urban Homes will be contemporary-styled, sized 1,503 to 1,634 square feet, and will all have full sized 2-car garages, along with rooftop decks looking out from one of LoHi’s highest points. “We see it as a unique opportunity that’s well located and very competitively priced,” Koelbel added, noting that pre-sales start on those next Saturday, June 30, at the tear-down site at 31st and Vallejo. Rachel Gallegos, meanwhile, is putting up her newest listing — 3344 Shoshone Street – a contemporary duplex built 2007, with 3,200 square feet, four bedrooms/four baths, priced at $645,000. She also has two new single-families — very rare, she adds – coming on line at 36th and Quivas in the $600s; and a series of new townhomes called Navajo 8 at W. 36th and Navajo, from the low $400s to $480s. She can be reached at LIVE Urban 720-308-2615. Koelbel Urban Homes, launching LoHi Court, is at 303-995-6363. f you go… WHERE: LoHi, neighborhood centered around restaurants and taverns, neighborhood parks, walkable and bike-able into lower downtown
