Lone Tree

Located between Lone Tree and Parker, Meridian Village is a residential development close to all the action. “Newer homes are appealing in Parker,” says Broker Seth Jenson, owner and CEO of Real Broker and longtime Parker resident. “Newer neighborhoods with huge parks and resort-style pools.” Meridian Village delivers while also keeping residents close to Parker, where they can enjoy the active social and culinary scene. Meridian Village has a mix of brick and siding Craftsman homes and duplexes in earth tones built around 2013. The duplexes are carefully disguised to look identical to the detached options. “You get more bang for your buck out in Parker,” Jenson says. “In Denver, you’re going to get a more historic home, but it’s going to be a much smaller home. Parker’s more for people looking for much bigger homes with a more open floor plan.” Homes sit on lots averaging 6,000 square feet, and many feature a mix of turf and stone lawns decorated with local flora. Homes in Meridian Village start around $600,000 for three bedrooms but can list for as high as $1 million for a five-bedroom. In Downtown Parker and on Main Street, residents can find countless local businesses, from coffee shops like Fika Coffee House to excellent restaurants like Spice Kitchen and Isla Verde. The local library and the Parker Arts, Culture and Events Center are just across the street from each other, and individuals can take arts and dance classes at the latter. In Meridian, Tino’s Kitchen makes everything fresh in-house, serving everything from burgers and tacos to pancakes and steak. Meridian Village is 2.5 miles from the King Soopers at The Crossings at Stonegate. Heritage Hills Shopping Center has a Safeway just over 4 miles away. Also about 4 miles away, locals can find a Walmart Supercenter and Target at Parker Valley Center. “Parker is great for moving to a well-established neighborhood where you can have a community pool and park,” Carr says. In Meridian Village, residents can cool off in the Meridian Village Pool or serve up something hot from the grills located there. Meridian Village Playground provides a place for kids to play, and there’s an open field at Ashgrove Park. Challenger Regional Park in Parker has the Parker Recreation Center, complete with pickleball courts, an indoor pool and several kids' and adult sports leagues. Locals can also join the soccer league at the Real Colorado Soccer Complex in Meridian. Rueter-Hess Reservoir offers paddleboarding, fishing and hiking along the Rueter-Hess Incline, where people can view Longs and Pikes Peaks. “And there’s a lot of wildlife,” Carr says. “There’s still a lot of deer to be seen in the open spaces.” Parker Days Festival is a tradition that has been gracing Main Street Parker for almost 50 years. This weekend event brings entertainment to Parker in the form of live music, demonstrations, street performers and carnival rides. Over 30 restaurants and food trucks are usually in attendance, providing the best Parker’s culinary scene has to offer. More than 200 artists and vendors set up shop along Main Street for more local flair. In the fall, Parker Oktoberfest is a three-day festival with fall classics like cornhole and German charm through polka dancing and a stein-hoisting competition. Prairie Crossing Elementary School provides an after-school cooking club where students learn a new recipe each week. For middle school, students can attend Sierra Middle. Both schools earn a B-plus from Niche. Chaparral High School offers a comprehensive Advanced Placement (AP) program, with options like AP Chinese. Niche grants this school an A and ranks it as the 38th-best public high school in the state. Denver is 22 miles from Meridian Village, accessible along I-25 or the Lincoln light rail stop. Bus 483 stops along Lincoln Avenue at the neighborhood’s northern border. “RTD and the light rail are not very far away,” Jenson says. “You can drive to a station. A lot of people who commute to Denver use it, and even some people who commute to Boulder.” Mountain biking is popular in the Parker community, with options like Parker Road and Cherry Creek Trail providing space for bikers amongst commuters. Meridian Village is also just 5 miles from AdventHealth Parker.

Life is a little sweeter with secluded rural living in Grand View Estates, a rapidly expanding neighborhood in the town of Lone Tree. Farmstead homes sit on vast lots of several acres in a seemingly isolated space with plenty of distance between each residence. Growing and gaining popularity, Grand View Estates offers a quiet lifestyle for residents only 20 miles south of downtown Denver. Private and spacious properties allow homeowners to live in a serene atmosphere. This tucked-away neighborhood provides peaceful living with a touch of excitement. The housing sector in Grand View Estates includes 1970s two-story ranch homes and new traditional styles built this year. Newer homes are adorned with craftsman and Spanish-style elements. Three-bedroom brick ranch-style homes can be listed for around $650,000, while a five-bedroom farmstead house can sell for up to $1.2 million. Brand-new homes like those in the Adler Creek Subdivision are currently under construction around Belford Avenue and Deertrack Lane. Although some groups of newer homes are part of covenant-controlled communities, many are not. “People there want to get a larger lot, park their RV and not have covenants. In your typical master-planned community, that’s not an option,” says Erica Chouinard, who has lived in Denver for over 20 years as a Team Leader for RE/MAX Professionals in Englewood. “With that kind of acreage, you can have a pool and an outbuilding, and you still have all the conveniences of being right there in the Tech Center, but you have some elbow room.” Kids can attend Pine Lane Elementary, which maintains an overall Niche grade of B-plus and offers the district’s only gifted and talented program. After graduating, students can join the jazz band at Sierra Middle School, which holds a B-plus overall grade. Some student-athletes may move on to join the highly ranked football or basketball team at Chaparral High School, which proudly boasts a grade of A on Niche as a Top 40 public high school in Colorado. Students can also apply to any school in the district as part of Douglas County’s open enrollment program. E-470 is a highway that circles the Denver metropolitan area, allowing accessible routes to other suburban towns. Parker Road is less than 4 miles east and provides a less-traveled route into the hustle and bustle. Interstate 25 is just 3 miles west and takes traffic through major shopping districts, business districts and the city center. The Denver Tech Center is a central employment hub on I-25, 10 miles north. Commuters can catch the Regional Transit District (RTD) bus system from Lincoln Avenue and Chambers Road. The light rail train rattles through the center of Denver, taking passengers to sporting events and venues from Lincoln Station, just 4 miles west. Box stores, convenience stores and restaurants are centered around the Crossing at Stonegate Shopping Center. Residents place an order at Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta, which offers a taste of the East Coast with thin, New York-style pies. For a morning pick-me-up or to enjoy a relaxing wine night with live music, Kunjani World Coffeehouse is a wine bar and café known for supporting nonprofits and charities. King Soopers is less than 3 miles east on Lincoln Avenue. Grand View Estates is just west of the locally owned shops, stores and restaurants in downtown Parker, 5 miles away. Teens can attend a seasonal academy, participate in a tournament or play in a competitive league at the Real Colorado Soccer Complex. To stay active, athletes head to Lincoln Park to volley at the tennis courts or play pick-up basketball. Kids at Lincoln Park will enjoy the two playgrounds and diving into the community pool on a hot summer day. Community members can sign up for training sessions in the gym or join a water aerobics class at Parker Recreation Center. The extravagant indoor pool features a twisting waterslide, lazy river and rock-climbing wall. Challenger Regional Park is a 64-acre space connected to the rec center with baseball diamonds, soccer fields and sports facilities. From Challenger Regional Park, cyclists can follow the Cherry Creek Trail north. Spanning 40 miles, Cherry Creek Trail weaves through Parker and Aurora, offering scenic rides through multiple parks. “I ran a marathon in 2012, and I ran on the Cherry Creek Trail to prepare for it,” says Chouinard. Golfers can sign up for a membership at the Meridian Golf Club, a private 18-hole course designed by Jack Nicklaus and located 3 miles west. Almost all of the area's annual events happen in the downtown Parker. Mainstreet shuts down from Parker Road to Pine Drive so pedestrians can browse the artwork, craft vendors and farm-fresh produce. With roller coasters and over 200 vendors, Parker Days is a nearly 50-year-old tradition. Kids can find their way out of a hay bale maze, win carnival games and order from food trucks at Fall Fest, a seasonal celebration in O’Brien Park. “It’s a cute town, it’s a friendly town, and anybody who chooses to live here is definitely making the right decision," says Shae Brundige, a lifelong resident and Assistant Manager at a nearby apartment complex. Infrastructure is vital in Grand View Estates. The area is slightly removed from town facilities, and many of the neighborhood’s properties are large enough to accommodate livestock, horses or small farming operations. The Chambers Reservoir is a holding pond on the northeast end of the community. In 2020, Arapahoe County installed a system to prevent the reservoir from draining prematurely, allowing residents to have a constant flow of water for summer irrigation. Homes in Grand View Estates are on a septic system, meaning homeowners are responsible for filtering water and maintaining these facilities.