Getting your player ready...
In a market where renewable energy and “green” are suddenly major selling features, you’re unlikely to see anything as sustainable as a master-planned community in northwest Arvada with a grand opening set for tomorrow. At Candelas, north of 86th on Indiana, you’ll tour models by four builders – all built to Energy Star 3.0 standards, some offering standard solar energy along with their views and other features – and Candelas’ $3 million Swim & Fitness Club, guaranteed to win a LEED certification; possibly at the highest-possible gold level, for its 15 kilowatts of solar and a ground-source heat pump.
You’ll also find burgers and hotdogs for you and the kids, along with live music and other attractions – and some of the most creative model homes you’re likely to tour all year. This is an area where buyers get scenery wrapped into their purchases: the skyline of the Flatirons and Ralston Butte to the west; a 6,400-acre open space to the north; Standley Lake and the lights of downtown to the east; and glimpses of Table Mountain and Pikes Peak south. Developer Terra Causa Capital named Candelas’ six “villages” for those views; including the first, TownView, where its 470 lots are already sold to builders, who have models from the $300s to $500s designed to maximize the views. Even custom builders are looking at Candelas: Boulder-based Sopris Homes has a million-dollar ranch sale on a lot in SkyView, where custom sites are available. Adding momentum are amenities that are being loaded in upfront – the first of the two Swim & Fitness Clubs already on view; two of five sizable parks complete; and plenty of quality infrastructure, including decorative monuments and streetscapes that have ‘solar tile’ luminous decorations – absorbing energy all day, returning it in decorative colors after dark. “We’ve created Candelas around a new Colorado lifestyle, where the amenities are pivotal, but so are the location and the topography,” says Creig Veldhuizen, whose firm has managed Candelas’ development. “The views, the access to open space and mountains – it’s a natural playground.” He drove me west over the hill for a look at the future of Candelas. We passed 193 acres of open space within the community that blend into 6,400 acres to the north that once were the Rocky Flats plant, closed in 1992 and rendered by a federal cleanup into a vast wildlife refuge. Parts of Candelas’ master plan are four miles west of the models you’ll tour today, some of them west of Highway 93, where they hit the edge of the mountains. “We’ve always been bullish on the northwest side of Denver,” says Pat Vaughn, President/COO of GF Development Group – backers of Terra Causa’s work on Candelas since 2006. The value of the investment will grow, he adds, as Candelas lures buyers not just from Arvada and Denver, but the Boulder suburbs. The U.S. 36 high-tech corridor is only five miles from Candelas’ inviting prices – ones that are way below anything for comparable amenities near Boulder. You can pick up information about the conversion of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge that cites chapter-and-verse how it was carried out; and tells about Candelas’ own energy and water conservation features, and a Sustainability Trust credit that attaches to every lot (either used now for standard solar-electric panels like Ryland and Standard Pacific are doing), or for retrofits to come. And along with the burgers and hotdogs Candelas will be cooking up tomorrow, you’ll tour that Swim & Fitness Club; models by Ryland, Richmond American, Standard Pacific and Century; see the first parks, and early sections of 13.5 miles of planned trail. To reach from Arvada, from W. 64th take Indiana north three miles to Candelas Parkway. Or from Boulder/U.S. 36, take Interlocken south past Flatiron Crossing a mile to Colo. 128, turn west two miles to Indiana, then head south.music at noon WEB:
You can see all of Mark Samuelson’s columns at DenverPost.com/RealEstate.
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