Bike Commuting from Platt Park

Click on the image above for a slideshow of Denver Bike Sharing - Bcycle & MapMyRide Maps

Denver Bike Share - Platt Park

In addition to the excellent neighborhood light rail access a few blocks away (Louisiana Pearl Station), a great addition to the area is B-cycle, the Denver Bike Sharing program. There are 50 bike stations throughout the city, and two of these "kiosks" are in the Platt Park neighborhood.  One is located at the light rail stop, and the other in the heart of Old South Pearl St. at the intersection of Florida and S. Pearl.  It's very handy for grabbing a bike to head downtown, Cherry Creek North, or even a quick ride to the grocery store (big baskets on the front of all bikes).  B-cycle has a web site and iPhone app - so if you are trying to find a station, or figure out which station has bikes or empty docks, the web site or app gives you all the info. 

Keep in mind that the system is setup for sharing a bike for a ride between stations, not renting it for the day.  You can get a 24 hour pass or yearly membership and the first 30 minutes is free.  If you keep the bike longer (lock it somewhere vs. returning it to another station), there are fees involved. Check out more details on their web site: 

http://denver.bcycle.com/

 

Bike Commuting from Platt Park 

For commuting on your bike, there is now a bike lane up Emerson Street so you can get to the Cherry Creek bike path more easily.  Once there, you can get to Cherry Creek North or Downtown via the path without having to deal with street level traffic.  From my experience, I’ve been riding to LoDo in nearly the same time it takes to get there during rush hour in a car.  If you want to add a little time and different scenery to your ride back to Platt Park, check out the Platt River option too (second link below).

Check out a couple of the various routes we have mapped out on the cycling web site MapMyRide.com:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/31570940/

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/40963590/

 

 

 

 

 

Platt Park’s Transformation - Old South Pearl, Light Rail, etc.

Click on the image above for a slideshow of the neighborhood

The T-Rex project and the recent completion of a neighborhood light rail stop have been a catalyst for new building and investment in Platt Park over the last few years.  As illustrated through an excellent walkscore (www.walkscore.com), the neighborhood contains many of the amenities that make a community sustainable.  The access to parks, good public transit, restaurants, and a Whole Foods Market are just some of what so many of the “new urbanist” developments strive for.   

Historically, Old South Pearl Street offered a mixed use retail/residential corridor with the trolley running through it. Retaining its original character, Old South Pearl has flourished and has now become an extremely vibrant area, with some of Denver’s top restaurants and cafes, as well as, a variety of specialty boutiques and shops. 

Within the last few years, much of the new retail has added more appeal to the neighborhood resident.  Pajama Baking Company provides excellent fresh bread and pastries for the daily shopper, and during the summer, the Sunday farmers market provides access to the freshest locally grown vegetables and fruits.  Complementing the farmers market is live music, as well as the trendy food trucks.

Sushi Den (consistently rated the top sushi in Denver) has sustained an amazing following.  It’s a destination restaurant which helps bring additional shoppers to the boutiques, bars, and pubs to give these establishments a better chance of supporting an otherwise small neighborhood.  The owners of Sushi Den have recently expanded to two new restaurants which are both on S. Pearl - Izakaya Den and Ototo Food & Wine.

Many visitors have realized the advantage of living closer to this vibrant community center and have moved into the neighborhood.  The housing prices in Platt Park are comparable to Wash Park, while still being within easy walking distance to the park.  With the light rail, Whole Foods Market, and more urban amenities, it is now one of the more desirable places in to live in Metro Denver!  

The appeal of the neighborhood continues to attract new boutiques and restaurants...as well as new home projects around the area, which we will highlight in the next post.

Some of our favorite spots along Old South Pearl Street:

Pearl Street Grill

Stella’s Coffee Haus

India’s on Pearl

Sushi Den

Five Green Boxes

Pajama Baking Company

Gaia Bistro

Kaos Pizza

The Ruffly Rose

Park Burger

 

Old South Pearl St Web Site:

http://www.oldsouthpearlstreet.com/index.html

 

For Sale

The itch is back for another design and building adventure.  We have immensely enjoyed living in this beautiful modern house for the last few years, but it’s time to move on.

It’s a tough decision to make as our entire focus for this house was to design and build the most livable and energy efficient home for ourselves - not really for resale.  Yes, we provided for future expansion in the full basement and a few other “optional future” features, but the true vetting and prioritizing of every product and item for price-point constraints and material durability was done for ourselves.  The nearly fanatical focus on designing every square inch as usable space, results in living space that feels much larger than it actually is.  This has elevated an otherwise fairly narrow lot into a spacious interior with a loft-like feeling that ties nicely into to the indoor-outdoor experience.  This strong design theme is something that most people quickly pick up on once they step inside the front door.  

This attention to detail and proportions of the living space is what we feel sets this house apart from the plethora of “contemporary” homes popping up in many neighborhoods.  Yes, many of the houses have all the parts and pieces, but do you get a clear sense of continuity of design thought and materials from the front door to the back door and beyond?  As you walk around, are there any “left-over” spaces that don’t make sense?  How is the execution of minimalist detailing?  These are the points we hope people will recognize when considering this house to be their own.

The neighborhood is also an important factor. We live near numerous conveniences and activities that support a more sustainable urban lifestyle.  In a future post, we will write how Platt Park is near the top when it comes to walkability to several of Denver’s best restaurants and cafes, parks, Whole Foods, the light rail, and Old South Pearl Farmer’s Market.   

Link to Virtual Tour 

 

 

Update

As you've probably noticed, we haven't posted here in ages.  At this point, we are fine tuning the house and experiencing it each and every day by living here.

We'll keep this blog up as a resource to those who are interested in the process and would like to research building a modern dwelling in Denver.

We still respond to any comments or questions, so feel free to ask or drop us a line.  Also, don't forget the resource page for info on where we went for products, materials, and installers.

Thanks for all your feedback and encouragement over the last few years.

Angelo & Nancy

Urban Gardening

We made a trip up to the greenhouse over the weekend to get some veggies, herbs, and flowers for the kids to plant in the new rolling planters we received from FoodMap Design. These planters are made from recycled milk jugs. Totally cool that we can roll them around for water and sun.

Upstairs Interiors

Took a few more photos of the upstairs over the last few days.  It's minimal because we don't have any art yet!  Click on the image and cycle through the slide show to see more.

Interior Photos

Here are a few shots of the main floor interior. Most of the interior seems to be holding up pretty well.  A couple items need to be addressed and will be covered in future posts.  See more photos in the gallery here:  Interiors Photo Gallery

Playing with FLOR

We've followed Interface's FLOR tiles for a while now and it's nice to finally have a spot to experiment with them.  The girls had fun trying out different schemes, and after we lamented the fact that the "red" really looked pink, Nina came up with a good alternative to the checker board pattern.  We will add one more row of black to fill up the front foyer.

We passed the LEED AP Exam!

It's been a little quiet here on the blog as we've been busy studying.

LEED for Homes was still in the pilot testing while we were building our house, however we did make a significant effort to make the best of site orientation and use green materials wherever we could.  To familiarize ourselves with more of the details of LEED, we decided to pursue accreditation.  Now we are officially accredited professionals! 

During the design process we relied on a few good internet resources for viable green products and systems.  One of the best is Building Green (the publishers of the excellent Environmental Building News).

Art Room Cork

We spent a recent weekend installing two large cork panels in the Art Room for the little ones.  Having a spot where they can pin up all their drawings really changes the feel of the room.  Homasote makes these panels with a natural cork tackable surface with their recycled paper backer board.  Read about the product here:  Homasote NovaCork