Chaffee Park

I laugh when I read these earlier posts about Chaffee Park. A few years ago, I could see their point of view, however, a lot has changed. During the housing crash, a lot of poorer income owners and renters were forced out by bank foreclosures. That caused a lot of developers to buy the properties low and gut them to remodel. A huge amount of these home have been repurchased by young families and young business people due to the short commute to downtown. Last year (2013) Chaffee Park had one of the lowest crime rates of anywhere in Denver.

Thanks to the amazing neighbors in this hood, there is now a private neighborhood Facebook page with neighborhood events posted on it, ie: Neighborhood Happy Hour. I have friends who have been looking to buy a house in this neighborhood but the houses are selling within days of being posted. The average home rental cost is now around $2000 per month.

I have to say that I am blessed to live in the Chaffee Park Neighborhood.

I grew up in Chaffee Park over 30 years ago. Back then it had started turning into a less than appealing neighborhood with people not taking care of their homes and the local high school becoming one of the roughest in the state, which is why my parents wanted to leave. The homes are all older but some residents have done a lot to improve their homes and it shows. There is still the house on every block or so that looks neglected and as if no one has lived there for years. The local elementary (Beach Court) has recently been in the news for having overwhelmingly surpassed the state testing scores for several years in a row. What seemed like a blessing has now turned into the principal being questioned about unethical tactics and scoring. While the verdict is still out as to what happened or will happen, the community has rallied in his favor.

The school itself, although old, is very charming. They have a great playground but if you want to read the school message board in front, you had better speak Spanish. The area is now overwhelmingly hispanic. The high school for kids in this area is still one of the worst and no sign of improvement coming soon.

Along the west side of the neighborhood is Federal Blvd. which is usually pretty busy during peak traveling times and filled with businesses, many of them fast food restaurants. I-70 begins to get a little congested in this area but mainly during rush hour.

Chaffee Park is one of Denver’s neighborhoods on the outskirts of town, dating from the 1940s. Some of the small brick and ranch-style homes are being fixed and flipped, and although the neighborhood has gotten a little more attention in recent years, the northwest Denver buzz centers around Berkeley, to the southwest. Chaffee Park has a quiet feel - unless you’re within earshot of I-70, which roars along the south of the neighborhood, or you’re at the Sunnyside Music Festival, held annually at the park on Zuni Street. Culturally, the area has a strong Latino presence, and a lot of families and retired folks. People in Chaffee Park don’t generally have a lot of money, but crime rates are relatively low and the area has some good schools. On the east, the area backs to the train tracks that run along the Platte, and to the unprepossessing industrial area surrounding them. There are a few bars scattered along the periphery, and a well-stocked local supermarket (the Colorado Ranch Market). There are some good Mexican joints along Federal Boulevard – one of them, El Taco Veloz, was picked by the local Westword paper as “Denver’s Best Taco” last year, and in this town, that’s a high honor!

First of all, if you're looking for information on this area, there's a point of confusion that you should be aware of. The Chaffee Park neighborhood is not the same as the neighborhood around Chaffee Park, the park! So be careful. Chaffee Park neighborhood is north of I-70 (see map). Chaffee Park (the park) is actually south of here in Sunnyside. They are close, but they are different neighborhoods.
I have mixed feelings about this neighborhood, but it's an area I want to keep an eye on. I don't have much more familiarity with it than as a driver. On the one hand, it's just sort of "North Denver", which means a sort of former-suburbia-cum-low-rent city fringe neighborhood. There are some cute little houses, but the area is a bit run down, and years ago I would say that there's not much more to it. But I think that is changing.
For one thing, there are some North Denver neighborhoods that have really hit their stride (Montbello, for example). Some of these places have gone from ghetto to nice family neighborhoods over the last decade or so. Chaffee Park is really in a prime spot for this kind of upgrade.
Another reason to think that this might be a hidden gem is the area to its immediate south. Sunnyside, Berkely, etc. have become really hot lately. So much so that real estate prices are skyrocketing. So as a spot right across the highway from all of this trendy stuff, it's poised to go up in value, rather than down. And the home prices are extremely attractive here. You can buy a house in the mid-high 100's. Homes in the neighborhoods to the south are running about twice that. And they are cute, single-family homes, with yards, etc. Lots of them have been remodeled. Regis school is also nearby, which is another plus.
There are some parks with nice open spaces and views of the mountains. The neighborhood is heavily residential, so the best dining and shopping is probably in Berkely or Sunnyside. I think this area has great potential, but be careful about the block you decide to settle on.