The Cherry Creek area was originally called Harman, which was annexed into Denver in 1895. The low lying area around the Cherry Creek was the legacy of black homesteaders,. By the 20s Cherry Creek was considered a suburb and still largely African-American.  In 1950 a couple of major improvements occurred: a dam was built, which significantly reduced regular flooding and the neighborhood dump was removed and redeveloped as the first edition of the Cherry Creek Mall. By 1990, the mall was replaced with high-end outlets and department stores that upped the area’s prestige. Cherry Creek also began to densify in the 1990s especially along the main commercial centers of First, Second, and Third Avenues becoming more mixed-use medium sized structures. Most of the older single family homes have also been rebuilt as a mix of very high end SF homes and townhomes.

From an urban perspective, I generally view Cherry Creek’s densification as a positive force but unfortunately this came with limited new affordable housing creating a pretty homogenous high-end community. But Cherry Creek does host some of the best cultural and retail amenities outside of Dwtn plus solid bike & public transit access along with quality park amenities. From an urban form perspective Cherry Creek does well but still has some pretty autocentric stretches that should be redeveloped.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good public transit access and pretty convenient access to Dwtn among all modes of transit.
* Great connectivity in the street grid.
* Quality bike infrastructure here.
* This is a very safe community.
* Solid park amenities include recreational trails along Cherry Creek, the multi-faceted Pulaski Park, and James Manley Park.
* Sidewalk infrastructure is good but about 1/3 of curb cuts are outdated.
* Great cultural amenities including tons of restaurants, night clubs, bars, cafes, plenty of art galleries, a cineplex, and some live music venues.
* Some of the best retail amenities in a Denver neighborhood including the extensive Cherry Creek Shopping Center that includes tons and shops and several dept stores, a couple supermarkets, a couple drug stores, lots of boutiques, home goods, &  clothing stores, plenty of banks, gyms, & dessert joints, and a large medical center.. There is also a suburb shopping mall on the SE edge of the district with a Target & lots of other stores.
* Most of the neighborhood is built after WWII and the architecture is generally urban.
* Very mixed-use district.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Decent density.
* Diversity is pretty low across all indicators especially generational and economic.
* Hsg is certainly on the expensive end. Wide range of pricing for 1-bed condos selling anywhere from 225K-1.4M, 2-beds 375K-2 M., 3 & 4 beds 700K-5M even with some more expensive product.
* Rentals are all very expensive. Studios & 1-beds lease btwn 1.5K- mid 3Ks, 2-beds 2K-4K, 3 -beds 3K-6K.
* Better walkable schools access than most Denver neighborhoods including several well rated schools. But not great.
* Limited historic architecture.
* Generally good urban massing but a fair amount of auto centric stretches too.