University Hills

University Hills is the triangle in southeast Denver with Colorado Boulevard on the west, Hampden Avenue on the south and I-25 slicing along the northeast side. Wellshire and its golf course are across Colorado Boulevard.

One postwar build-out

This ground was annexed into Denver and built up in the 1950s, and you can still read that decade on almost every block. There are about 2,300 detached houses here. Eighty-five percent of them went up between 1940 and 1959, only 3 percent in the forty years after, and 11 percent since 2000. The median house is about 1,270 square feet.

Ranch-style houses define the place. Some of the newer ones copy the old look on purpose: Dickenson Place is a cul-de-sac of semi-custom houses built in a mid-century modern style. With so much of the stock coming from one era, listings tend to look alike in size and style. Newer houses are a thin slice of the market, so finding one from the last 25 years takes patience.

Eisenhower Park and the canal trail

Mamie D. Eisenhower Park, at 4300 E. Dartmouth Ave. near Colorado Boulevard, is the neighborhood's big green space. Its recreation center has an outdoor pool, a gym, cardio and weight rooms, an art room and a pickleball court.

The High Line Canal runs through the neighborhood and along the park. From Eisenhower the trail heads 3.4 miles east to James A. Bible Park on Yale Avenue, and this is the first stretch of the canal with a hard surface, asphalt and concrete, with a dirt path alongside in many spots. A seasonal portable restroom sits in the rec center lot. West of Colorado Boulevard the canal runs through the Wellshire golf course, which is closed to trail users, so since 2021 a bypass has carried the trail along and under Hampden and Colorado. If you want the canal at your door, focus on the blocks closest to the park.

Wellshire Golf Course, at 3333 S. Colorado Blvd., is an 18-hole public course and the only public Donald Ross design west of the Mississippi. It's on the National Register of Historic Places.

Colorado Boulevard for groceries, burgers and prime rib

The University Hills shopping center at 2750 S. Colorado Blvd. is 210,000 square feet, with King Soopers as the anchor and stores like Michaels, Marshalls, PetSmart and Ulta around it.

Up the boulevard, Crown Burgers has been at 2192 S. Colorado since 1987 and is a long-standing stop on the boulevard. Its Royal Burger, piled with fresh-sliced pastrami, has made Westword's best-burger lists, and the menu also has gyros, baklava and big breakfasts.

Poppies, at 2334 S. Colorado Blvd., is a sit-down place known for prime rib and fresh seafood, with traditional Mexican dishes on the same menu.

Light rail and growth around the stations

I-25 is the fast road out, and the E Line runs beside it. Colorado Station has 363 parking spaces, and Yale Station, at 5315 E. Yale Ave., has 129 plus RTD's route 46 bus. The E Line runs north to Union Station and south to RidgeGate Parkway in Lone Tree.

The city adopted the Near Southeast Area Plan in May 2023, covering University Hills North and its neighbors. It marks the Colorado and Yale station areas as the places redevelopment is most likely and includes guidance for "missing middle" housing, meaning smaller multi-unit buildings. If you're buying close to either station, expect more housing going up nearby.