Centennial

Centennial is a long and odd shaped city overlapping several other cities and towns. Due to it's shape it encompasses a variety of different areas. There are plenty of subdivisions, a ton of shopping, great schools, an airport, golf courses, a ton of open space, and two excellent hospitals just outside the border. Sky Ridge Medical Center is just off of I-25 and Lincoln and in Parker there is now Parker Adventist Hospital just off of the tollway and Parker Road.

Centennial is overall a nice part of town with plenty to do. There are numerous restaurants, especially along the Arapahoe Road corridor. There is a nice business center and plenty of waking trails for a nice stroll or bike ride. The majority of the schools which fall in this area belong to Cherry Creek School District and are some of the best in Colorado and are nationally recognized for excellence in academics and many sports.

There are areas in the city that can get congested, but many improvements have been taking place to help this. The most notable is the expansion of the intersection at Parker Road and Arapahoe Road. This area used to be horrible for traffic but by widening the lanes and creating an overpass it has greatly helped. When the construction is done, I can only imagine how much better this area will be. The area of Centennial that lies along the I-25 corridor has the added bonus of being right by the light rail. This economical way of getting to downtown Denver each day can save on parking fees, time in traffic, and even gas.

Homes in Centennial tend to keep their value or increase. While there are some foreclosures due to the recent economic situation, overall the area has remained the same as it was 10 years ago. Some of the homes are higher priced but many of the subdivisions are middle to upscale.

Centennial became a city in 2001 and really is a hodge podge of neighborhoods and businesses lining I-25 south after you pass by downtown Denver. The kids go to Aurora or Cherry Creek schools and some people's addresses that live in Centennial have addresses where you write in Englewood or Aurora as the mailing city even though the physical address is in Centennial. It is a highway metropolitan place for the most part with lots of traffic, stores and action. The large IKEA store is very noticable as you pass through Centennial on the interstate.

The good part about Centennial is that even though it is crowded there is still some open space, trails, places for dogs to run and there are a few golf courses that I think of on the west part of the town. The eastern part of Centenial has larger estates and even some farm like properties, or what used to be farms. It is interesting because from the highway you couldn't tell that there are these huge multi-million dollar properties tucked away just 10 miles or less from downtown. It is nice how spacious the lots are, it would probably be a pretty sweet place to live if you could afford it and wanted to be fairly close to the interstate and work in Denver.

Highlands Range and Littleton are close to the west were it gets a little more feeling like a town and more calm but it is still a city suburb feel.