How far does $1.9 million go on the resale market? In Observatory Park neighborhood near the University of Denver, $1.9 million buys a 4-bedroom home with around 4,000 square feet of finished space on a 5,500-foot lot. In Riva Chase, 25 minutes west of town on the way up Mount Vernon Canyon, $1.895 million gets four bedrooms, five baths, over 6,800 feet with a walkout and 3-car garage, on a full, view-swept acre.

Oh, and it was originally owned by Dante Bichette.

The slugger, who harks back to happier days for the Colorado Rockies, bought the house in 1995, the year Coors Field opened, when he was hitting .340 with 40 home runs.

Open this Saturday

Sellers Brian and Ann Urtel marked that legacy over their years in the house with a signed ball on their mantlepiece, that one of their kids had brought home after visiting spring training during the team’s heyday.

Open for homebuyers Saturday afternoon 1-to-3 p.m., it’s a home with size and privacy hard to find for the money, Ann Urtel said. “It’s been our dream home,” she added, noting that the couple looked up and down the foothills for a place where they wouldn’t have to hear neighbors, before picking it out.

Riva Chase, three miles up I-70 from Golden, is also surprisingly commuter friendly, Urtel adds. She has worked in downtown, usually a 25 minute commute, she said, and in Centennial, 35 minutes via C-470.

“It’s such a special pocket up there, that whole area,” her agent, Katie Thomas with Corcoran Perry Company added. Thomas, who lives nearby in Genesee, noted that the city access of these areas above Golden is much better than to further out foothills areas such as Evergreen and Conifer.

Elk bugling

Despite that, as a federal shutdown could affect services in national parks, this is also a place where neighbors can hear mating calls of elk, up close. “Omigosh, yes, the wildlife is amazing,” Thomas said. Elk, not mule deer? Right in the backyard, she added.

Coming on the market two weeks ago, Thomas says the home represents a value for a buyer comparing what the figure buys now in popular areas of central Denver. And the price, she adds, already reflects a market that has shifted over the last six months.

“If the price is too high, you sit,” Thomas said.

The design matches the views to a ranch floor plan that’s all about entertaining, and welcoming guests to share it during stayovers. The layout has wide open entertaining areas framed by window walls. One bedroom suite is on the walkout — a perfect guest setup, with access to a back patio area opening into the trees.

It’s an arrangement, Thomas notes, that could work for a multigenerational buyer — kids coming home to live with mom and dad, or vice versa. Riva Chase, which once opened as a benefit home show with prominent builders, has stocked trout ponds and a number of trailheads. Urtel, a hiker, says that she drives over to Red Rocks Park and its more ambitious trails, a few minutes down the hill.

As fitting for a famous ballplayer, Riva Chase has a security gate at its entry at Forest Hills Drive. Thomas will have a sign out there to call her for the code.

ABOUT THIS HOME:

WHERE: 968 Eastwood Drive, Golden. Head west on I-70, 3.4 miles past C-470 interchange, take exit 256 toward Lookout Mountain, turn left over the freeway then right on Genesee Ridge Rd, west 0.3 mile to Forest Hills Dr. call the agent from the gate, then take Forest a block to Willobe Way, then left onto Eastwood

SIZE: 4 Beds 5 Baths, 6,863 sq. ft.  PRICE: $1.895 million  WEB:  perr.co/968-eastwood  OPEN HOUSE: Saturday, Oct. 4, 1-to-3 p.m. Call Katie Thomas, 720-235-7957