Getting your player ready...
If you could pick one community in the Denver area with the very brightest prospects heading into 2015, that would be Castle Rock – already named this year by CNN/Money Magazine as the 4th ‘Best Place to Live’ in the entire U.S. right now. But if you had to pick the best time to shop for a home there, that would be today, coming into a weekend when you probably have lots of other things to do.
In the Meadows, the master planned community behind the new Centura Castle Rock Adventist Hospital, Lennar Homes has a dozen homes underway including six that will ready within a few weeks. Lennar is a builder that got involved early on with Castle Rock – was instrumental in creating neighborhoods around the city’s Red Hawk Ridge Golf Course just south of The Meadows – and knows that all of those homes are likely to be absorbed rapidly by buyers this spring. But the best prices are right now, says Mary Connelly, who’ll show you a 5-bedroom, 3½ bath home set for move-in right after New Year’s in Lennar’s new Leafdale neighborhood, off Meadows Parkway a half mile east of the new hospital. It’s marked down for the end of the year from $461,000 to $449,000 and includes rear-yard landscaping, on a corner lot sized 7,100 square feet. At no extra cost, SunStreet Energy is providing a 5-kilowatt solar system with the home, one that you don’t have to maintain. Just last month, meanwhile, developers announced plans for one of the most elaborate new malls in the nation — $177 million, with a farmer’s market area to be lined with dining venues, a town square and an outdoor theater, for a Castle Rock site a mile-and-a-half from Lennar in The Meadows. Five minutes south of Lennar, Castle Rock just opened the first facilities at its new, 230-acre Philip S. Miller Park, planned as an ‘adventure park’ with aquatic attractions, zip lines and a year-round snow hill – plus park, ballfields, tails and much more. All of this goes together with attractions that buyers always like about Castle Rock: the Douglas County schools, the seven golf courses circling the community, and the historic downtown along Wilcox Street, with lots of non-franchised dining opportunities. Lennar has opportunities for ranch plans here – including one set to deliver right away, with three bedrooms, two-sided covered deck, wrought-iron balusters, blinds, and expansive hardwood floors covering much of the primary level. It was priced at $433,210 but is at $424,900 now, with SunStreet’s solar system provided at no added cost. Marketing Manager Carrie Castilian notes that Lennar routinely raises prices on inventory homes and anticipates all the more so, coming into what’s expected to be a fast-selling year in Castle Rock. You’ll see two models, including a Peyton from the Grand Collection – four bedrooms, a creative game-entertainment room set a step above the bedroom level, and a wide-open family room that opens to the kitchen, with a butler’s pantry, and a large walk-in pantry and home-management computer area. The models have energy features designed to deliver VERY low HERS (Home Energy Rating) scores — around 36. You’ll also find Lennar’s ‘Everything’s Included’ approach – items like granite kitchen counters, stainless appliances, keyless entry and air conditioning, all part of the package. Lennar’s models, along with the homes set to deliver around New Years, are on Meadows Parkway a mile-and-a-half west of I-25. Take I-25 south to Meadows/Founders Parkway, Castle Rock’s first exit, and turn west 1.5 mile (past hospital and shopping) to Low Meadow Blvd.
