Highland revolution: Northwest Denver projects maintain diverse feel.

• Author: Titus, Stephen
• Position: Who Owns Colorado? - Brief Article

EVER SINCE THE SUCCESS OF LoDo and the loft revolution, developers have been looking for the next great neighborhood to erect their collection of minimalist, modern, multistory residences behind a historic facade. First it was the Golden Triangle, then Uptown and the Platte River Valley. While all these areas were springing to life, several wily developers snuck across Interstate 25 to the Highland neighborhood and have quietly been holding their own revolution.

"I'd say wherever there are available sites there is an interest in in-fill development," said Doug Wheeler, senior city planner with the City of Denver. "The thing about north Denver and Highland is there are not a lot of development sites left, and what there is, is a magnet for new development."

But the Highland neighborhood in Northwest Denver is much more than trendy new buildings in a historic setting. The area bounded by Sloan Lake, Interstate 25, West Colfax Avenue and I-70 is a diverse mixture of history, culture, and convenience in an area that had a wrong-side-of-the tracks stigma, but is blessed with interesting architecture and bargain prices.

"There is so much happening up there it's unbelievable," said Paul Tamburello, a partner in the downtown office of Distinctive Properties and the developer behind Highland Flats, a 24-unit loft project on West 32nd Avenue. Highland Flats and other loft-style buildings in the Highland neighborhood overlook the Platte River Valley and downtown. Other developers, many of them new to the game, have snapped up what were once bargain properties and erected a collection of modern condominiums, many of which rival the quality found in Cherry Creek or downtown.

"When we started seven years ago no one knew it was a neighborhood. It was the wrong side of I-25 and it wasn't an area you wanted to live in," said Rachel Hultin, sales coordinator with Byers Street Properties LLC. "Then the city started outgrowing its boundaries and this was a natural area for expansion."

An earlier permutation of Byers Street Properties was involved with the development of the Overlook and St. Patrick's Lofts, two of the earliest redevelopment projects in the neighborhood. Hultin is now working on The Lofts at Berkeley Park, a 27-unit mixed-use project on 44th Avenue near Berkeley Lake Park.

Though lofts are the most visible and apparent change, the Northwest's rebirth goes much further. Across Federal Boulevard the neighborhood segues from urban cool, to...