Edgewater

Edgewater is its own small city in Jefferson County, sitting on the west side of Sloan's Lake. Sheridan Boulevard is the line with Denver on the east, Lakewood wraps around the south and west sides, and Wheat Ridge is to the north. The whole place covers 445 acres, a little under three quarters of a square mile.

An amusement park on the lake came first

The town takes its name from Sloan's Lake, which was once bigger and reached farther north and west before those ends were filled in. Manhattan Beach, an amusement park and swimming spot on the north shore near Sheridan, opened in 1881 and is often called the first amusement park west of the Mississippi. It burned in 1908, reopened that same year as Luna Park, and closed for good in 1914.

Edgewater got its post office in 1892 and incorporated in 1904. Rumor has it that Roger, the park's elephant, is buried near West 20th Avenue and Depew Street, where the old King Soopers stood.

West 25th Avenue, the main street

The city rebuilt 25th Avenue as its main street, reopening it in 2024 with wider sidewalks, bike lanes and room for restaurant patios to spread into the street in warm months. Edgewater Inn Pizza, at 5302 W. 25th, has been around for more than 70 years, and a pie called The Howdy has been on the menu since the start. Lot 46 Music Bar shares its kitchen next door, with live music and a patio, and stays open late. At the Sheridan corner, Joyride Brewing has poured since 2014 at 2501 Sheridan, with a rooftop patio that looks out over the lake and the skyline.

The lake, the food hall and the civic center

Sloan's Lake is technically Denver's, but Edgewater gets it as a front yard. The water (Sloan's and Cooper Lake together) covers 177 acres, the park around it runs 290 acres (second in Denver only to City Park), and a 2.5-mile path loops the shore.

The old King Soopers at 20th and Depew is now the Edgewater Public Market, a food hall with around 38 businesses under one roof, including Barquentine Brewing, Sloan's Wood Fired Pizza and Edgewater Books. It's the biggest draw on this side of the lake.

The Edgewater Civic Center opened in November 2018 at 1800 Harlan Street, inside Walker Branch Park. The 55,000-square-foot building holds a Jefferson County Public Library branch, a gym, a fitness center, the police department and city offices. It cost $13 million, and $3 million of that came from the city's marijuana sales tax.

Sheridan Boulevard and the W Line

Sheridan Boulevard is one of the busiest arterial roads in the metro. The city has a corridor plan for its stretch that adds a planted median, wider sidewalks, better bus stops and small plazas, with construction to start once engineering is done. If you'll drive Sheridan every day, plan around work zones in the next few years.

For the train, RTD's Sheridan station sits at 1198 Sheridan Boulevard, just south of town, with an 800-space garage. It's on the W Line, which runs east to Union Station. Bus route 51 also stops there.

What to know before you buy

Edgewater had 2,448 housing units in the 2020 census, which is not many for a whole city. With a stock that small, the pool to pick from is small, so have your financing lined up and a saved search running before you start touring. Part of the 25th Avenue rebuild was new drainage, because the blocks near Sloan's Lake have flooded more than once. If a house you like sits low near the lake, ask the seller about water history and check the flood map before you write an offer.