Even six years ago, Denver’s Sunnyside area, north of Highlands, east of Berkeley, was a spot where young buyers could find an entry to homeownership — just as Berkeley was 10 years before that, and Highlands was 10 years before that.

Agent Vivian DePaola with Corcoran Perry said the neighborhood has too much going for it now to offer very attainable prices, and she has a rare newer-built home to show that speaks to where Sunnyside is headed.

In 2021, two blocks from Rocky Mountain Lake (it’s stocked for fishing), Columbine Builders took a half-block of contiguous sites and did an enclave of 10 single-family homes, all of them with the floor size and large garages that are hard to find in North Denver.  And like the smaller bungalows in surrounding blocks, all of the new plans save for one are single-level designs.

SINGE-LEVEL PLANS

 At 4742 Eliot Street, DePaola has a six-bedroom, four-bath plan with 4,280 square feet of finished space, back on the resale market. Its owners are headed out of state. It has an indoor-outdoor living design that centers the space around a protected courtyard accessible by individual glass doors to the family room, dining room and to a study/guest bedroom. There’s a primary suite with large bath and walk-in closet, and two other bedrooms on the main that have walk-in closets.

As with the other newer homes in the enclave, the architecture is a contemporary reflection of its single-family surroundings — a very different look than most blocks in this part of town, where the older homes are smaller single-levels and the newer ones are imposing two-stories or duplexes.

This one also includes a 3-car alley-load garage.

“It has every lavish upgrade imaginable — floors, lighting, backsplashes, and custom landscaping,” DePaola said. The price is $1.955 million, on the market for just over a month. In a slow season citywide, she said that Sunnyside is getting surprising activity now, and adds that she has a second resale home in the enclave under contract.

“It’s a hot neighborhood; I’m seeing anxiety on the part of buyers who are coming back and looking now,” DePaola added.

With relatively little inventory nearby (even smaller, older bungalows with no major modifications are priced in the mid-$500s, and some are pretty much at the median single-family price for the Denver area), the rising prices reflect a location that meets a lot of needs — including access to downtown, I-25 and I-70.

MUSIC SCENE

And, there’s the walkability. With a Walk Score of 70, this setting matches restaurants in Berkeley and Lower Highlands to the growing dining scene in Sunnyside itself (including Bacon Social, a 16-minute walk) and to a choice of supermarkets, two of them organic. The block is also evenly placed between two historic theaters, now music venues, the Federal and the Oriental.

Sunnyside also has its own September music festival in Chaffee Park.

“It’s a neighborhood that has so much history, developing into an area where historical meets modern,” DePaola said. Her sellers are still in the home; so she can arrange a showing by appointment. 

SHOWN BY APPOINTMENT:

WHERE:  4742 Eliot Street, Denver; from Speer Blvd at I-25 head northwest on Speer a half mile to Federal Blvd, turn north on Federal past W. 38^th, 1.5 mile to W. 47th Ave and turn right one block.

SIZE:  6 bedrooms/4 baths, 4,280 sq. ft. 

PRICE: $1.955 million 

WEB: VivianRE.com 

OPEN: By appointment   

AGENT:  Vivian DePaola, 303-359-3301