The Cheesman Park neighborhood is one Denver’s older districts with City plats dating as far back as 1868. By 1883 the district was annexed into Denver and the neighborhood was filled in by about 1910. The neighborhood revolves around its namesake Cheesman Park, which was completed by 1915. The park and the Denver Botanic Gardens replaced the old Prospect Hill Cemetery. Thanks to this great asset many mansions where built here for the City’s elite yet by the 1930s many apartment buildings were constructed and replaced the historic mansions. The densification of the district continued into the 1960s as more and more apartments were constructed.
Because of the construction of many apartment buildings between 1930s-1960s, Cheesman Park hosts many affordable apartments and condos buildings that mix in well with higher end single family homes. The district also has great access to Dwtn and good public transit access. Areas that could improve include better ADA and bike infrastructure, more racial and generational density, better schools access, and urban infill along Colfax Avenue, which feels rather auto centric and lacks retail amenities.
URBAN STRENGTHS:
* Excellent urban density.
* Convenient access to Dwtn.
* Great connectivity here.
* Wonderful economic diversity here.
* Hsg on the pricey but a good amount of moderately price condos. Studios & 1 beds sell anywhere btwn 200K-700K, 2-beds 300K-1M, 3 & 4 beds btwn 450-2M with condos being on the cheaper end.
* Decent # of rentals and comparatively moderately expensive to other Denver neighborhoods. 1-beds lease anywhere in the 1ks, 2-beds 1.5K to 2.5K, 3-beds in the 4 & 5Ks but few of them.
* Wonderful access to park amenities as Cheesman park sits in the middle of the district and comprises about 1/3 of the neighborhood. The park has very diverse amenities too. City Park is also not too far away.
* Good cultural amenities including a good array of restaurants, bars, night clubs, and cafes. There is also a performing arts center, indie theater, a couple historic homes, and the Denver Botanical Garden.
* Good but not great retail amenities including a supermarket, a couple pharmacies, a bookstore, a couple antiques stores, several banks, several dessert & gyms and a local post office. A couple major hospitals are only 1/2 mile north of here.
* Very attractive historic architecture and generally good urban in-fill with the modern towers.
* Excellent tree canopy.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Good but not great ADA infrastructure as only 1/2 of the curb cuts are up to modern standards.
* Good but not great public transit access. Much better in the northern half than southern half.
* A bit of a dead spot for bike infrastructure in the Inner City. Few dedicated bike lanes. Decent access to the City’ bike share.
* Limited racial and generational diversity.
* Generally a very safe community although some crime appears to occur in the park itself.
* No schools within Cheesman Park but a couple good ones on nearby.
* Colfax Avenue is pretty autocentric along its stretch touching Cheesman Park.
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 