Sun Valley

Sun Valley is the West Denver neighborhood between Federal Boulevard and I-25, running from 6th Avenue north to 20th Avenue. The South Platte River runs along its east side, Lakewood Gulch cuts across it, and Empower Field at Mile High sits in the north, ringed by parking lots. Much of what's left is industrial land, parks and city service buildings.

No Man's Land, then the Bottoms

This low ground by the river was once known as No Man's Land, and people still call it the Bottoms. There were houses here by the 1880s, but highways and the growing stadium district cleared many of them, and industrial zoning stopped most new home building. The old Bears Stadium here was built into a hillside on a former landfill.

Apartment buildings, and very few houses

Most of the homes in Sun Valley belong to the Denver Housing Authority. Its Sun Valley Homes, 333 public housing units from the 1950s, came down, and seven new apartment buildings replaced them between 2021 and 2025: Gateway North and Gateway South, Thrive, GreenHaus, Joli, Sol, and Flo, a 12-story building that finished the project. Together they have room for 965 households, nearly three times what was here before.

Beyond those buildings, the only homes are older ones that survived the clearing, so a house for sale inside Sun Valley's lines is rare. If you want to be near the Decatur-Federal station, plan on widening the search past Federal Boulevard.

The stadium now, and the stadium leaving

Empower Field at Mile High opened on August 11, 2001, and seats 76,125 for football and more than 85,000 for concerts. On Broncos home game days there's no on-site parking at Meow Wolf and rates around the stadium climb, so count on event traffic if you live close.

The bigger story is the move. On September 9, 2025, the Broncos, the city and the state named Burnham Yard, an old rail yard in La Alma/Lincoln Park, as the preferred site for a new stadium, targeting 2031. Once the team leaves, the city gets back control of Empower Field and its lots, and planning for that land starts in late 2027. That's a huge piece of ground next door that could look very different within a decade, so follow that process if you buy here.

Rude Park, Lakewood Gulch and the river

Rude Park covers the west side, with bike paths and a baseball field. Rude Recreation Center, at 2855 W. Holden Place, is a regional center with a lap pool, gym and weight room, and it was Westword's Best Rec Center With a View in 2017.

A 2007 flash flood in Lakewood Gulch was deadly. If a property sits near the gulch or the river, pull the flood map before you make an offer. On the South Platte, the Housing Authority is building the 11-acre Sun Valley Riverfront Park, with work on the first 5.5 acres starting in 2026.

A corner grocery and Meow Wolf

For years there wasn't a grocery store within 2.5 miles. Decatur Fresh Market, an 1,800-square-foot Housing Authority shop at 995 N. Decatur St., carries produce, meat, bulk spices, coffee and grab-and-go breakfast and lunch. Up against I-25, Meow Wolf's Convergence Station at 1338 1st St. is the company's largest permanent installation, an immersive art exhibit.

The W Line and the main roads

Decatur-Federal station, at 1310 N. Federal Blvd., opened in 2013 on the W Line, which heads west to Golden. It has a 474-space park-and-ride and a bus plaza for RTD's 15L, 16, 30 and 31. The stadium is about 2,100 feet north across Colfax and has its own light rail stop too.