Cherry Creek

Cherry Creek sits close to the middle of Denver, between University Boulevard on the west and Colorado Boulevard on the east, from 6th Avenue south to the creek it's named for. The name covers a few different things: the Cherry Creek Shopping Center along 1st Avenue, Cherry Creek North (16 blocks of shops and restaurants on 1st, 2nd and 3rd Avenues between University and Steele Street), and the residential streets east of Steele that the local neighborhood group calls Cherry Creek East.

A small town, then a city dump

Edwin and Lou Harman moved here from Mississippi in 1872, and the town named for them incorporated in 1886. Its brick town hall went up in 1891, at 4th Avenue and St. Paul Street. The Panic of 1893 left Harman bankrupt, and residents voted to join Denver in 1894. The Italianate hall still stands at 400 St. Paul. It's a Denver landmark and has been a private home since 2005.

The low ground by the creek flooded too often to build on. Temple Buell bought a gravel pit there in 1925, and after a flood in 1933 he let the city use it as a garbage dump. He broke ground on a shopping center over the filled pit in 1950. The Cherry Creek Dam upstream later ended the flood threat, and the current mall was finished in 1990.

The houses: scrape-offs and duplexes

Denver Assessor records count about 330 detached houses here. About 31 percent date from before 1940, and four in ten went up after 1999. The median size is about 2,860 square feet. Builders have been buying older houses for the lots. One builder said in 2022 that it had built about 25 duplexes in Cherry Creek, and that year it paid $4 million for a 1979 house on a 0.29-acre lot at 401 N. Madison, planning to replace it with two duplexes.

Detached houses are only part of the picture, so plan on touring duplex halves too. And if an older house on a big lot catches your eye, expect builders to be bidding on it as well.

Cherry Creek North and the mall

The mall holds about a million square feet over two floors, with more than 160 stores and Neiman Marcus, Macy's, Nordstrom and RH as anchors. North of 1st Avenue the blocks open up into storefronts, salons and restaurants. Fillmore Plaza, on Fillmore between 1st and 2nd, is the district's event space, and the Cherry Creek Arts Festival brings 250 juried artists to Cherry Creek North each July.

The Cherry Cricket, at 2641 E. 2nd Ave., traces back to a bar Mary Zimmerman opened in 1945 and has carried its name since 1950. It's the neighborhood's classic burger joint, open until midnight and rated 4.5 out of 5 stars☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★ on Google. Hermitage Bookshop, at 290 Fillmore, has sold used, rare and collectible books from a below-street-level shop since 1980. For a big night out, Matsuhisa at 98 Steele St. is the upscale Japanese restaurant people book for special occasions.

Cherry Creek West, under construction

Demolition started in March 2026 on 13 acres bounded by University, Clayton Lane, 1st Avenue and the creek. The first phase brings about 400 homes, an 8-story office building, two 13-story rental towers, an underground garage and work on the creek trail, with the first building due in summer 2029. Full buildout is planned at about 840 homes. A condo near 1st and University could end up facing new towers, so ask what the view will be once this is done. Expect construction nearby for a few years.

The trail, the parks and getting downtown

The Cherry Creek Trail follows the south edge, running nearly 40 miles from Confluence Park downtown out to Franktown. Pulaski Park has a playground where the route of the old Smoky Hill Trail, the gold rush road from the Missouri River, is preserved in the sidewalk. By car, Speer Boulevard from downtown becomes 1st Avenue here, so it's a straight shot in. RTD service is by bus.