Denver housing suggestion needed

Parent Cafe
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<p>My son will be moving to Denver in a couple of months so mom is in charge of finding out the best places to live!! I thought I would start here first as why else would I start anywhere else :)</p>

<p>He will be working at the University of Colorado Hospitals in Aurora and would love an area where young professional live (he is 28); where there are restaurants, bars with music venues, and generally are area where there is action. If he could live in a place where he could maybe walk to these areas, that would be icing on the cake! He also will be at the VA hospital some which I see is about 6 miles west of the University’s hospital campus.</p>

<p>While he would be happy to live in an apartment complex, he is coming from living in a home, so if there is an area where there might be rental homes, that would also be nice. This is a one year assignment, so I am thinking an apartment complex might be the easiest, but want to explore everything.</p>

<p>He will have a car, so the drive to work is not an issue, unless we are talking about major traffic; that he would not love. I think he would like to be within a 20 minute drive is possible, but again, we will not eliminate an area if it fits his other wants. </p>

<p>I have not been to Denver in 35 years, so you can imagine I know nothing about the area! Any thing we should know about the area for young singles?</p>

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<p>My son moved to Denver 18 months ago and went through the same thing. His job is south in the Tech Center. Downtown meets all your criteria but is terribly expensive. My son lives off of 25 at Belleview exit. There are a lot of complexes catering to young professionals. I would be glad to ask him for ideas if you want to PM me.</p>

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<p>I don’t know anything about Denver but I recently found 2 helpful websites.</p>

<p>padmapper - shows apartments on a map with an option of extra overlays like public transportation</p>

<p>hotpads</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

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<p>My stepson was stationed at Buckley Air Force Base a few years ago, very near to the hospital in Aurora. At first he and his wife lived near there, but they didn’t like it at all, too loud and dangerous. </p>

<p>They then moved to the Cherry Creek area a few miles west of there. They found a very nice apartment within walking distance of the Cherry Creek Mall. They were both very pleased with that area.</p>

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<p>Cherry Creek is pretty expensive and upscale. I love it, but my son thought it was too pricey and didn’t have good access to the light rail.</p>

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<p>Craigslist is used a lot in CO (and probably everywhere). It might be possible for your son to sublet while he figures out best location.</p>

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<p>He will definitely be looking at Craigslist, but he will not sublet as he will only be there 12 months. He wants to more once and be done with it!! We would like to narrow down a few areas so that when we go to look, we will have an idea where to head. I would have though by his age he wouldn’t want mom to tag along, but my kids know I am the research mavin and they value my opinion on things like this. I am happy to join on this trip and will take what I can get with my kids. Actually, my mother went house hunting with me as recently as 20 years ago; she has an eye I don’t have and she was very helpful. She would love to go with my son, but I don’t think he could handle that; mom is one thing, grandma is a whole different ballgame!!</p>

<p>MOWC- I will PM you tomorrow, but would love to know what your son found; if this is WC himself, I bet my son will be interested in some of the same areas :)</p>

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<p>Well, we have been looking online for 2 days now and many hours!! My son thinks he would like to live in LoDo, Capitol Hill or Highlands; Highlands I think is going to really be too far, with Capitol Hill being the closest to work, but still farther than he would like. That said, he thinks it will be ok driving 11 miles to work. As his mother, I think after a full day and maybe night during his first year of residency, driving 30+ minutes home and to work each day will not allow as much sleep and free time as he would like. I also have no idea what traffic will be like, although I would think he usually will not be driving during traffic hours; definitely not in the mornings!</p>

<p>Other areas that we have seen that might be worth taking a look at are West Washington Park, Cheesman Park and Congress Park.</p>

<p>I am curious if he indeed live intown what kind of traffic might he encounter driving toward Aurora where the University hospital complex is, or the VA hospital?</p>

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<p>LoDo is great.</p>

<p>I’ve driven from the Cherry Creek area to the airport during “rush hour” times, and I haven’t ever felt the traffic was overwhelming on the expressway. Of course, I’m from outside of Chicago, so it’s all relative.</p>

<p>I’m not sure what kind of traffic he is used to. If he is used to DC area, or LA, or Chi-town or NYC? Then, this is never going to seem like traffic to him. I’ve seen worse jam ups in the triangle area in NC, to be honest. </p>

<p>the transportation around Denver is more modern and has more space to it, is my observation.</p>

<p>YMMV (couldn’t resist.)</p>

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<p>Some roads in Denver, especially I25 can get congested. Your son should seek out other hospital coworkers for commuting tips.</p>

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<p>The problem with the CU Aurora campus is that it IS a bit out of the center. But just a bit. (Denver is a small city.) I live in Capitol Hill and it takes me usually less than 20 minutes to get to the CU Hospital. From Capitol Hill, it’s a straight shot along a couple of one-way streets or Colfax, the main “drag,” which has timed lights. In fact, a friend who lives nearby often rides his bike to work at CU Hospital. </p>

<p>Another problem with the campus is that the area isn’t great. It used to be an army facility, surrounded by kind of a sketchy neighborhood. A lot of that has changed, but there are no “fun” places near by. (One bonus: from the higher floors of the hospital, you can have stunning views of the entire front range of mountains.)
In fact, Capitol Hill is probably the nearest “fun” area. </p>

<p>I would definitely encourage your son to consider living downtown (or ‘uptown’ - [Uptown</a> neighborhood in Denver, Colorado (CO), 80203, 80205, 80206, 80218 subdivision profile - real estate, apartments, condos, homes, community, population, jobs, income, streets](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Uptown-Denver-CO.html]Uptown”>http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Uptown-Denver-CO.html)) or in Capitol Hill. Both are lively, have a lot of young people living in the area, and lots of restaurants/clubs/cafes etc. Cherry Creek is upscale and slightly older. The Highlands are newly hip, young and trendy, but add another 15-20 minutes commuting.</p>

<p>PS: Cheeseman Park, and Capitol Hill and Congress Park are virtually the same thing - difference of a couple miles at most. Washington Park is nice, but pricier than Cheeseman and Capitol Hill, also would add a good 15 minutes to the commute. </p>

<p>PSPS Feel free to PM me if you have any questions :)</p>