Stapleton: Overview of Denver's Newest Neighborhood

By Caren Baginski | Published: 1/20/2011

Stapleton has redeveloped into a resident-driven community and focuses on an urban/suburban mix. Photo courtesy of Stapleton Green Home

Stapleton's history

In its heyday as an airport, Frontier, Continental and United all operated major hubs out of Stapleton. When the airport closed it had six runways and five terminals. Those runways were painted with large yellow X's to redirect planes from overhead to the new airport, Denver International Airport located 20 minutes east.

In 1990, five years before the airport closed, the Stapleton Redevelopment Foundation convened and began planning how to reuse the land. The group was started by Sam Gary, a Denver business community professional who is known for ushering the new concept of Stapleton's 7.5 acres from planning to a city vote.

Residents and visionaries got creative with all that space. Removing garages from the front of homes, selecting 20 builders and having energy-star rated homes were some of the ideas that are now community staples. Most noticeable about the neighborhood is the variety of architecture -- commercial and residential. "Each builder has to bring three different models to each block and can't have the same one next to the other," said Tom. And before anyone could move in, land remediation had to take place.

Stapleton's vision

From its airport beginnings, Stapleton has been reimagined and redeveloped into a new type of community -- one driven by its residents. Forest City, the master developer selected by the city of Denver to implement the development plan, coins the young, visionary community as a "Neo-Urban Lifestyle." This means mixing the best of the urban with the best of the suburban: convenient, accessible and cultured along with safety, outdoor space and a clean, family community.

In practice, it means Stapleton's the kind of place where neighbors come together to buy (not rent) a jumping castle for their kids -- passing it around for block parties and birthdays, of which there are many due to nearly a quarter of the children under the age of five. It means 30 percent of the space would be reclaimed into open green space, parks and nature preserve. And, town centers with grocery stores, restaurants and retail would crop up next to apartments, single-family houses, income-qualified housing and row homes, making for a walkable, diverse community. Not to mention weekly summer movie nights on Founders Green, organized block parties, farmer's markets and a myriad of seasonal events planned by Forest City.

NEXT: Learn what's to come for Stapleton >>

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