Solterra - worth the hype? (Denver, Lakewood: for sale, real estate, new home)

[Edison_Golden]

Hello everyone,

My family (2 young kids) is considering a move to the Solterra neighborhood in Lakewood. I'm trying to better gauge the general perception of the neighborhood and it's alignment with young families. It's in a beautiful location nestled in amount the foothills, Green Mountain and Bear Creek. The schools are good and seem to be improving but is the area really worth the cost and does it fit with families? We're at the point of searching for our long-term home, maybe not forever but certainty for the next 15 years.

What do people think of this area?

What are the families like - are there lots of younger kids, older kids, married couples without kids? Our kids are 3 and 5 so we're in the age where we want to get settled and make some friends they can grow up with. I also want the kids to remember 'home' so settling into a place for the long run is ideal. What are the people like? Are folks snooty in their neighborhood or down to earth, approachable and community oriented?

How loud is Bandimere? Can you hear this all night long in the summer and does it drive people crazy?

What are the development plans for the rest of the area? I can see they plan to add on to Solterra west and south of where they are now which is in Lakewood. However, the south western area is owned by Morrison which has commercial planned. Any one seen the commercial plans and timeline for what they want to add? What is up with the brick mine there - when are they going and what will replace it? Does anyone know their mining style and what it could mean to public health? Will green mountain and the hog backs remain undeveloped forever or could those lands be sold?

What is the neighborhood to the east like? it's older, far more affordable and likely more aged (in terms of families and years on the house). How do these two communities coexist? I would hope well but I have also seen places where the newer community and older are at odds.

What do people think about this area's long-term outlook? My un-researched personal opinion is that it's going to go up in value and become a sough after location due to it's proximity to Denver, the mountains and the natural resources that will prevent additional development. I'm totally guessing however so would love other's opinions.

To whomever feels like commenting and proving a perspective - thank you. We're appreciative of all onions and thoughts.

[2bindenver]

I think Solterra is a nice mix of residential housing stock. Alll relatively new.

Noise from Badamere can be loud. I would ask some neighbors if it effects quality of life.

Commercial zoning may or may not have a delevoper and or a timeline. Think shopping, not industrial.

I like the infinity pool.

There are 7 resales, from $600,000 to 2 point something. There are several new homes available for quick move in and dirt start. One in the mid $400,000's.

Good luck, and welcome to Denver.

[wong21fr]

The clay mine, called the Chieftain Mine, is operated by General Shale Brick, the old Robinson Brick Company, and will continue to operate until the supply of clay is exhausted. Mind you, they have been mining some of those clay deposits for over one hundred and thirty years. The mining method that is employed is strip mining using scrapers (the same equipment that is used to contour the land in the housing development) and bulldozers. It's a pretty benign method and the biggest concern might be dust blowing off of the exposed clay.

[eatsDEN]

Originally Posted by Edison_Golden

Hello everyone,

My family (2 young kids) is considering a move to the Solterra neighborhood in Lakewood. I'm trying to better gauge the general perception of the neighborhood and it's alignment with young families. It's in a beautiful location nestled in amount the foothills, Green Mountain and Bear Creek. The schools are good and seem to be improving but is the area really worth the cost and does it fit with families? We're at the point of searching for our long-term home, maybe not forever but certainty for the next 15 years.

What do people think of this area?

What are the families like - are there lots of younger kids, older kids, married couples without kids? Our kids are 3 and 5 so we're in the age where we want to get settled and make some friends they can grow up with. I also want the kids to remember 'home' so settling into a place for the long run is ideal. What are the people like? Are folks snooty in their neighborhood or down to earth, approachable and community oriented?

How loud is Bandimere? Can you hear this all night long in the summer and does it drive people crazy?

What are the development plans for the rest of the area? I can see they plan to add on to Solterra west and south of where they are now which is in Lakewood. However, the south western area is owned by Morrison which has commercial planned. Any one seen the commercial plans and timeline for what they want to add? What is up with the brick mine there - when are they going and what will replace it? Does anyone know their mining style and what it could mean to public health? Will green mountain and the hog backs remain undeveloped forever or could those lands be sold?

What is the neighborhood to the east like? it's older, far more affordable and likely more aged (in terms of families and years on the house). How do these two communities coexist? I would hope well but I have also seen places where the newer community and older are at odds.

What do people think about this area's long-term outlook? My un-researched personal opinion is that it's going to go up in value and become a sough after location due to it's proximity to Denver, the mountains and the natural resources that will prevent additional development. I'm totally guessing however so would love other's opinions.

To whomever feels like commenting and proving a perspective - thank you. We're appreciative of all onions and thoughts.

I had contracted to build a home with Cardel homes in Dec 2012...

The soils reports were not yet available. When it became available, I was provided the soil summary report for my lot. This document recommended obtaining and reading the full subdivision report.

This was more difficult to obtain, requiring a trip to Cardel's corporate office to review, no electronic copy would be provided, despite several requests to that effect. When I gained access, I noticed language that was concerning to me, related to CTL Thompson's (the builder's structural engineers) required structural design considerations that the Cardel was proposing as unnecessary....

I would be sure that any builder you decided to pursue in the building of a home have a clear understanding of the engineer's structural requirements.

Cardel ended up breaching our home building/buying contact due to our insistence that they comply with their own real estate contract.

Just be sure to read everything, and know what the words mean...

I found it very interesting in my research, that the language in the Colorado Association of Geological Engineers deeply dipping bedrock/soils disclosure had been adjusted from basically, "be sure your builder follows the structural engineer's requirements, many will not" to something along the lines of "be sure to read your soil reports"

I believe that adjustment to be the result of too many potential new home buyers being very thorough with the contents of these soils reports, thus slowing the process significantly in the builder's perspective...

[davidv]

1. Bandimere is loud. I grew up in Southwest Denver (Harvey Park), and there were nights we could hear the races from 10 miles away. The hogback deflects the sound towards the city and Solterra.

2. Soils are an issue. Heed the advice up above.

3. The area near the foothills is WINDY. Think 80 mph winds several times a year (mostly at night and in the winter/spring).

4. The nearby commercial area used to be the Mt. Carbon metropolitan district. It went bankrupt and development has been held up since. IIRC, Solterra might be a part of the district, and the property taxes were much higher than the surrounding areas. Find out what the mil levy for Solterra (145.23 according to the Jeffco assessor) is vs. the mil levy for Green Mountain homes (95.230).

Edit:
5. Solterra was the site of the 2008 Parade of Homes. This usually guarantees that the development will sell out quickly. It has not sold out since then. The area has been slow to develop for a reason. One real estate site says the area is cold -- it will take a year to absorb the current inventory of Solterra homes for sale.

[thepartners]

My son and daughter in law are looking to purchase a home in Morrison. It looks like some of the houses may have structural issues do to the soils. Some of the houses they are considering were built in the 1970's. Who know of any soils issues in the subdivision called Friendly Hills?

[2bindenver]

Friendly Hills is the typical 1970's neighbors with soil issues. The good news is that if the house is moving, it has gotten there already.

It used to be developers just needed one soil test per subdivision. Since the 1980's soil tests were done per lot and engineered per the test.

[SouthXSW]

I have friends that live there. They love the area with views of the foothills and access to open space, and the community pool is awesome. They don't like Bandimere and say it can be annoyingly loud on summer nights. It's a good drive from anything, including grocery stores and other retail. They say it feels very isolated from the rest of Denver, which some may like and others will not.

[skitip526]

Be aware that a lot of people writing in this thread are not homeowners, but I am. Take my word for it, the area is amazing! My street is FULL of young children, all between the ages of newborns through elementary school for the most part as well as my own children who are 4 and 6. There are areas that Remington builds that are patio homes and empty nesters which have their own areas so the separation is nicely done although all still part of the same community and it works well.

The clay mine is not an issue, I suppose they could mine again someday but no immediate plans so far. There are only a few homes that even have a view of this mine where the vast majority does not lie near this area.

Bandimere is not an issue at all. I actually kinda enjoy the sounds of it during the summer months as it is ever as much as summer as red rocks which you can hear occasionally when there is a band playing. Either way, Bandimere is only something that you hear once for about 6 seconds ( not even loud either ) and then its quiet for 15 minutes then another 6 second drag race. Even at that, these are usually only on saturdays and its only the loud top formula funny cars that make any noise. None the less, none of this is heard while you are indoors but like I said, its part of summer when sipping on a drink and watching the sun set on a hot summer saturday evening. During these cold winter months I long to hear the racing again!

The soils is not an issue either. I am an architect and have read my fair share of soils reports and there is nothing there that is of any concern. The entire area was scraped and overgraded with structural fill. Believe me, nobody ( builders, developers and homeowners) want to deal with litigation for movements in the soils so there is no issues there.

As far as any retail development goes, I think that will come slowly as we are surrounded by plenty of that just on the other side of green mountain. This will come eventually but there needs more demand and currently the area already has plenty of malls, resturaunts, office space and retail so no big push there by any national chains to get in there and compete at that level. Once the neighborhood is built out there is potential, but honestly I prefer the open space and no traffic. Dont get me wrong, a new trader joes would be great but I can do without the traffic.

[skitip526]

If they think a 3-4 minute drive to 2 grocery stores and retail on union street then your friends are lazy, just sayin.