Ruby Hill

Ruby Hill is a rectangle in southwest Denver: Mississippi Avenue on the north, Jewell Avenue on the south, Federal Boulevard on the west and the South Platte River on the east. Athmar Park sits across Mississippi, and Overland is across the river.

Garnets and a hill with a view

The neighborhood takes its name from the hill itself, a rise of about 5,390 feet that looks out over south Denver. Miners in the late 1800s found red stones here and thought they were rubies. They were garnets, but the name held.

The streets

Away from the park and Sanderson Gulch, Ruby Hill is mostly single-family houses, with businesses strung along Federal. Sanderson Gulch adds a creekside open space with a public trail that runs down to the South Platte.

The city's Southwest Area Plan, adopted March 2, 2026, covers Ruby Hill along with Athmar Park, Mar Lee, Overland and Westwood. It names accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as an opportunity for the area. The zoning changes that followed, adopted July 13, 2026, focus on corridors like Federal. On parts of Federal and Mississippi, a design overlay requires active ground-floor uses, rules out drive-thrus and bars parking between the building and the street. If an ADU is part of your plan, check the zoning on that specific lot before you make an offer.

Ruby Hill Park

The park fills much of the east side, about 80 acres. The Ruby Hill Rail Yard opened in January 2007, built by Winter Park Resort as the country's first free terrain park in a downtown area. There's no lift, so you hike back up. Other parts of the hill are set aside for sledding, and a 7.5-acre bike park sits on the same hill.

More is planned. The city's preferred design puts a bike and snow sports building on the hill overlooking the rail yard bowl, and adds a bike playground, a splash pad and a skate park. The old outdoor pool closed for good in summer 2024. The city hasn't posted construction dates, so expect some change here if you buy close to the park.

Concerts on the lawn and pho on Federal

The Levitt Pavilion, in Ruby Hill Park, opened in 2017 and seats 7,500. It puts on more than 50 free concerts and community events every summer. The Great American Beer Festival moved there for 2026.

Just across Federal, Now Pho at 1195 S. Federal was Westword's Best Pho in 2021. The menu runs from bún bò Huế to Korean short ribs with a fried egg, and it stays open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Getting around

Federal Boulevard is the main road on the west edge. The river, I-25, Santa Fe Drive and the rail lines stack up to the east, so getting across takes planning. Check your route before you commit to a particular street.

Evans station sits across the river at 2150 South Delaware Street, with 99 parking spaces. A pedestrian bridge over Santa Fe Drive at Jewell is a couple of blocks north of the station. RTD restored the C Line in June 2026 and made it permanent in September, so trains from Evans run north to Union Station.