Sapphire Pointe

A drive through the eastern outskirts of the town of Castle Rock will display empty plains, but a single turn into the enclave of Sapphire Pointe reveals a fully developed community. Hundreds of homes are packed together along black asphalt streets, contrasting with the rolling chartreuse prairies that surround the neighborhood. Sapphire Pointe may feel like a hillside retreat, but peer into the valley below, and you’ll see the amenities of town are just a short drive away.

Sapphire Pointe consists of several residential developments, each offering homeowners distinct options. They vary from town houses to Craftsman-style homes with tidy lawns to Mediterranean construction with hilltop views. A network of dusty trails doubles as alleyways, snaking through the neighborhood and providing a route to your neighbor’s front door that’s more direct than the community’s meandering sidewalks. Most of the homes were built more than a decade ago. While that means you won’t find new builds, the homes here come with well-maintained landscaping, says Brokers Guild Realtor Andrea Bunker Marrese, who lives in the neighborhood. The carefully crafted yards blend trees, green lawns and rock beds, something that would cost the purchaser of a new house time and money. “Sapphire Pointe is priced better because it’s already got landscaping,” Bunker says. “When you buy some of these newer homes, you have to do your own landscaping.” A two-bedroom town house can be scooped up in the mid-$400,000s, but single-family homes with three bedrooms are likely to start in the mid-$700,000s. Price tags cross the $1 million mark for four-bedroom houses built in the last decade.

Sapphire Pointe is within the Douglas County School District, ranked by Niche as the fourth-best school system in the Denver area. Within 8 miles of the neighborhood are all the public schools neighborhood children are likely to attend. Kids can start at Sage Canyon Elementary, graded a B-minus by Niche, before progressing to B-plus-rated Mesa Middle School. Douglas County High School, which earns a B from Niche, offers International Baccalaureate courses teens can take to earn college credit in fields such as biology, European history or creative dance.

Sapphire Pointe residents can tackle a varied recreation regimen without leaving the neighborhood, Bunker says. The community’s trails wind through its hilly terrain, so they can be a form of exercise on their own. Or walk along them to reach Gemstone Park. A staircase leads up to the park’s playground, but adventurous kids can bypass the stairs by scurrying up the connected rock wall instead. Meanwhile, just about any kind of game can be organized on Gemstone Park’s basketball court, tennis court or turf field. Some homes are nearly 2 miles from the park, so walking may not always be an option. However, the green space hosts a parking lot to make stopping by the park a breeze.

Less than 2 miles beyond the entrance to Sapphire Pointe is a collection of shopping centers that make errands and shopping lists a cinch to knock out. You can grab materials for your latest project around the house at Home Depot, stock up on groceries at Sprouts and pick up anything else you forgot at Target – without needing to drive more than a mile. Amid these big box stores, Outlets at Castle Rock mall hosts dozens of fashion brands. Fast food stops and recognizable restaurant chains – such as In-N-Out Burger and Outback Steakhouse – are peppered among these retail centers. For more of a local flavor, head another 2 miles west to Miyo Cafe, a breakfast burrito-slinging restaurant run by a husband-and-wife duo. This commercial hub is where residents can pull on Interstate 25 and make the 25-mile drive to Denver.

Written By

Alex Soderstrom

Photography Contributed By

David Sanden

Video By

Jacob McAllister