When Bob Young and Christine Parisi started down the family track, they took a look at homes in trendy Highlands and LoHi with their multimodal restaurant rows and active scrape-and-build scenes – but ended up buying an 1882 Victorian in Curtis Park, the historic area bordering the north side of downtown.
“It took a year to rebuild it,” Young says about the striking blend of historic and contemporary styling they created in 2008. “Highlands didn’t have the architecture we wanted; the homes with great potential had already been done.”
Today, two downtown agents will show you homes at 28th and Champa streets, close to where Young and Parisi rebuilt, that show just how much can be made of historic stock in Curtis Park, dating from when this was Denver’s first residential expansion, wrapping its first city park.
“It’s so close to downtown,” says Lydia Lin, broker/owner of One Realty in LoHi, who’ll have 2807 Champa St. open noon to 4 p.m. (see inside story). “With all of the things happening now in downtown, it’s just logical that it would appreciate.”
Filmmaker Brendan Horan (his Incite Films made videos that powered Gov. Hickenlooper’s 2003 run for mayor) lived in Curtis Park since the early 1990s, where he discovered 2807 and 2809, a duplex dating from 1886. His very contemporary makeover of the south unit has five levels, including a finished basement rec area, totally new third-level master with sitting room, a view-swept rooftop deck, and a wide-open kitchen where he and Lin will have out champagne and treats today.
“Curtis Park is still the unfound gem,” adds David A. Ness, broker/owner of Thrive Real Estate Group at 15th and Blake streets, who’ll have the house open just north of Lin’s listings. It’s an extensive rebuild of a bungalow into a two-story to showcase the owner’s art collections, including works by Khabir Salahadyn and Bijan Shadlou (negotiable from the home’s price: $1.19 million). You’ll see a clean-lined kitchen that shows luxury appliances and a huge butler’s pantry, extensive use of Italian marble and blends of hardwoods, plenty of exposed brick and a “fantastic entertaining space” in the back yard, linking the home to an angled three-car alley-load garage.
All agents and owners underscore the downtown connectivity that Curtis Park offers, accented by light rail service and the Arapahoe Square redevelopment taking shape 5 blocks south. “It will be the biggest driver for redevelopment,” says Ness. “There’s no crystal ball, but the next five years holds great things for Curtis Park.”
if you go …
WHERE: Open house in Curtis Park; historic neighborhood bordering downtown and Ballpark/RINO districts, two extensively restored and remodeled homes on view, champagne/refreshments. 2807 and 2815 Champa St., Denver; from Coors Field, take 20th Street 1 block east to Market Street, turn north (becomes Walnut Street) 9 blocks to 29th Street; right 5 blocks to Champa Street, right
PRICE: 2807 Champa St., $820,000; 2815 Champa St., $1.19 million
WHEN: Today (Sunday, March 3), noon until 4 p.m.
PHONE: 720-940-9590, 303-946-1840
WEB: OneRealtyDenver.com
Mark Samuelson writes on real estate and business; you can email him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com. You can see all of Mark Samuelson’s columns online at DenverPost.com/realestate.
