Highlands Ranch, the 22,000-acre community with a population of 102,000 now, started life in 1981 as a mid-priced area with homes from around $100,000. Decades later as developers reached into hilly terrain with the best views, builders were getting multimillion dollar prices for custom homes there. That includes a very recent one on the market that shows the views, as well as the amenities that make prices like that possible.

Re/Max Professionals agent Jackie Garcia, who specializes in BackCountry, says she sees sales now at comparable prices for listings in core areas like Cherry Creek, that have neither the views nor amenities of this final neighborhood in Highlands Ranch.

8,200-acre open space

“People are enamored with the amenities here,” Garcia says about 502 Emberglow Lane in BackCountry — a very contemporary custom built in 2022 on a three-quarter-acre site that backs to open space, leading to 8,200 acres beyond with more than a hundred miles of trail.

Anyone that has picnicked at Daniels Park knows the sort of view this home has — a full panorama of the jagged Rampart Range from Pikes Peak in the south, past Devils Head, to the higher tops of the Front Range west of Denver. “What I love about this house is the job of creating the space around the view,” Garcia says, who has it listed along with agent Noelle Chole.

“You walk in and there are accordion doors that open all the way to covered outdoor space; views are in your face everywhere,” Garcia said. One feature of the panorama is Sundial House a quarter mile southwest, a 14,000-square-foot clubhouse that is flanked by an amphitheater and by BackCountry’s grotto-style pool center. Architect Mike Woodley, who designed the pueblo-styled Sundial House, did this custom home, as well.

Garcia and Chole have it priced at $6.599 million — for four bedrooms, seven baths, 7,560 feet of finished space with a 4-car garage. The sellers, who declined to be named, say they put serious time into viewing other customs before they set out with Woodley on a plan. “That uninterrupted line to the foothills is something you simply cannot manufacture, and it’s an incredible feeling to take in every morning,” they said in a note to The Denver Gazette.

Garcia notes that the pricing says something unusual about the market in 2026. “The high end has been gangbusters,” she said, adding that she had the best first-quarter she has ever booked, and is on that track for a Q2 like that, as well.

Californians in market

Some of the success is about stock prices, she added; but it also speaks to out-of-town buyers who are showing up here. Already circling this home have been two parties of Californians, along with sports figures. Garcia, sister-in-law to legendary Colorado Rockies third baseman Vinny Castilla, has a long history of sales to those.

BackCountry is four miles south of E-470 on South Broadway, to a security gate — something she says buyers here want. She’ll show it by appointment.

SHOW BY APPOINTMENT:

WHERE:  502 Emberglow Lane, Highlands Ranch. From C-470 in Highlands Ranch head south on S. Broadway 3 miles, continue straight onto Backcountry Drive. Once past gated security, continue south 1.3 miles to Skydance Drive and turn left, continue to Emberglow Lane

SIZE: 4 bed/7 bath, 7,650 sq. ft., 4-car garage. PRICE: $6.599 million WEB:  JackieGarciaRealtor.com OPEN: By appointment AGENTS:  Jackie Garcia, Noelle Chole, 303-257-7788