Kennedy

Kennedy sits in Denver's far southeast corner, out where the city meets Aurora. Its edges are Dartmouth Avenue, Dayton Street, Hampden Avenue, Peoria Street and I-225, and it sits in City Council District 4 alongside Hampden, Hampden South and the rest of southeast Denver. Drive through and you'll notice fairways before anything else, because the golf course takes up most of the map.

A golf course before a neighborhood name

The course opened in 1962 as Cherry Creek Public Golf Course. In April 1964, a few months after the president was killed, the city renamed it for John F. Kennedy, and the neighborhood carries the same name. Henry B. Hughes built the first two nines and added a par-3 course in the late 1960s. Rick Phelps designed a third nine in 1993 and 1994.

That adds up to 27 regulation holes split into the West, Babe Lind and Creek nines, plus a nine-hole par-3 course. West and Babe Lind together play past 7,000 yards. Babe Lind paired with Creek is a little shorter and brings more water and trees into play.

What there is to buy

Kennedy is short on houses. Outside the fairways, there are only a few multi-family buildings. If you buy a unit in one, plan for a monthly association fee and ask for the HOA's budget and rules early in your search. If a detached house with a yard is the goal, look just past Kennedy's lines. North of Hampden, the Hampden Heights streets have houses on both sides of a neighborhood trail that ends at the Cherry Creek Trail.

The clubhouse rebuild

Denver Golf is replacing the course's two small clubhouse buildings with one building holding a restaurant, pro shop and cart barn, designed by Oz Architecture. The driving range is slated to get Toptracer, the shot-tracking system used at Topgolf. The estimate tops $30 million, paid from golf revenue rather than tax dollars, and the clubhouse is expected to be done by 2028 or 2029. Before that, crews are replacing pump houses and dredging and relining the pond from winter 2026 into spring 2027. If you're looking at a unit close to the clubhouse at 10500 E. Hampden Ave., count on a few years of trucks and construction noise.

Cherry Creek, the High Line Canal and the state park

Cherry Creek runs through the course, and the Cherry Creek Trail follows it. The High Line Canal Trail runs nearby too, with a neighborhood bridge into Hampden Heights. Either one connects to the wider Front Range trail network.

Across I-225, Cherry Creek State Park covers 4,227 acres around an 880-acre reservoir held back by Cherry Creek Dam, built between 1946 and 1950 for flood control. It has 35 miles of trails, swimming, boat ramps and campsites, and the main entrance is at 4201 S. Parker Road in Aurora. Every car needs a park pass plus a small water basin fee sold only at the gates or visitor center.

Eating on Dartmouth and Hampden

On Kennedy's north edge, TK's Surf & Turf Kitchen at 10890 E. Dartmouth Ave. is a family-run seafood spot that opened in 2020, with crab legs, shrimp, lobster and steaks. West on Hampden, at 8921 E. Hampden Ave. and outside Kennedy's lines, India's Restaurant has been serving since 1989 and is recommended for its tandoori chicken, lunch buffet and cinnamon bread pudding.

I-225 and the Nine Mile station

I-225 runs along the south edge. Nine Mile station sits in the interstate's median at 3179 S. Parker Road in Aurora, with 1,225 parking spaces and a pedestrian tunnel to the bus bays. The R Line serves it, running north through Aurora to Peoria, where the A Line goes to Union Station and the airport, and south to RidgeGate. To get downtown faster, ride the R to Belleview and switch to the E Line. Check RTD's current service before you plan a commute around the train.