All Hail Hale/Mayfair Neighborhoods in Denver. Two Great Denver Neighborhoods that You Must Check Out

Kenda Ruck (00:03)
Welcome to Living Colorado's Getting Real Estate. I'm your host, Kenda, and this is our co-host John.

John Wilkinson (00:10)
Yeah, Kenda Today We're talking about two great neighborhoods here in Denver, Hale and Mayfair. And I actually, as you know, live in the Hale neighborhood of Denver, and there's so many great things and backstories and and interesting homes and all kinds of stuff that are happening in this neighborhood. So I'm excited to to share, the the knowledge that I have on the neighborhoods with everybody today.

Kenda Ruck (00:34)
I'm so excited to hear about it because I've only really explored like your area. I've been to your house, obviously, which is beautiful. But I I've always been so intrigued driving through the area. So can you first explain, because you're gonna have to teach me a little bit today.

John Wilkinson (00:52)
Sure.

Kenda Ruck (00:52)
Can you first explain to me how the Mayfair Hale area is laid out like geographically?

John Wilkinson (00:58)
Yeah, no, that's a

great question. So Hale is a little bit smaller than Mayfair. So if you're looking at you know, Denver's largely set up as a grid. So the north boundary of Hale is Colfax Avenue, which everybody knows. and south of that is the si is Sixth Avenue. So Colfax to Sixth, and then you're gonna go from Colorado Boulevard all the way to Holly Street is actually the Hale area. And then Mayfair goes from Colfax north and then

South is Sixth Avenue, but it goes all the way to Monaco for from the east, and then west is Eudora Street, which is kind of an overlap because Holly goes past Eudora. So there's kind of this blended area. you

know, there's there's an area that people have mentioned Bellevue, Bellevue Hale. So that those that little overlap, I think, is is that Bellevue area, but it's all very similar in architecture as you move south from Colfax.

the houses start getting, a little bit larger, a little grander. and you have a lot of like great, you know, little Tudors bungalows, you know, in this area that have been around for a long time. And and really from post-World War II is when you know these neighborhoods really kind of took off when the soldiers were coming back from the war. Yeah, yep.

Kenda Ruck (02:18)
I love you know I love history. We both do. We both

love history. I know that this town was established by a what was it, a general, Irving Hale.

John Wilkinson (02:29)
Right.

Kenda Ruck (02:31)
and he was responsible for starting the VFW, right?

So

John Wilkinson (02:37)
Yes.

Kenda Ruck (02:38)
the one thing I know about your area is that there's something going on with the VA hospital. Do you have any insight into that?

John Wilkinson (02:46)
Yeah, it's a huge, huge project. so the old VA HO hospital is is under redevelopment. it's at 1055 Claremont Street, and this place is massive. I mean it's it's a huge hospital that has since moved. it's 8.2 acres and the the there's a GM development that bought the site in 2022 for 41 million dollars, and

They're trying to get a historic designation on the site and using funds from that from the government to help the redevelopment, but it's going to include, you know, basically an adaptive reuse of the building, which is 490,000 square feet. I mean, can you imagine? Like

Kenda Ruck (03:26)
That's incredible.

John Wilkinson (03:28)
it's crazy. It's such a big development. there's gonna be nearly 500 apartments there, and an eight-level parking garage, 50,000 square feet of of retail. they're gonna have obviously.

medical but there's gonna be a a market you know there which at the end of the day this development is is so great because we all know that we need you know eight percent of the building is gonna be affordable housing we all need great housing in Denver and this is really gonna help tie you know the the northern part of Hale Mayfair to the southern part because this Ninth & Co development

you know, is already there and used to be the old CU medical campus. And so they redeveloped it into Ninth and Co., which now has the AMC Movie Theater, has coffee shops and restaurants and and stores. HW Home is moving, you know, from Cherry Creek North over

Kenda Ruck (04:22)
yeah.

John Wilkinson (04:22)
to Ninth and Co. Actually, this is you know, you know, July 29th as we speak, but they're moving in August 2026 over to Ninth and Co. which is gonna be a great boost you know to the development.

And I think overall it's going to help kind of revitalize, not revitalize, but help add your value to the homeowners here and obviously add you know conveniences like you know new restaurants and stores and and medical facilities, which you know, Rose Medical Center is also right next to this VA hospital that's being redeveloped. That's still you know in operation. people people still go to Rose Medical Center. So this is just going to be a great way to take this beautiful building and just kind of reuse it.

it for a new generation, right? There's gonna be new things to put in there.

Kenda Ruck (05:10)
Yeah, it sounds like with all of the additions that they're bringing, it's like one of the things we always talk about is walkability of a town. That's

That's important to some people. Some people don't mind driving, but other people are really, I think a lot of the younger generation is looking for things that are more walkable. So, do you think all of these additions are going to make this area even more of a walkable town? that's my first question. And my second question is: what do you think this is gonna do? This addition is gonna do to the home prices.

John Wilkinson (05:42)
Yeah, that's a great question. I do feel like this

makes it more walkable, these neighborhoods. They, you know, we already have some great parks in the area. We all know Denver is proud of and has so many great parks in various neighborhoods, you know, around the city. this is just gonna add to that. There's there is a park in Ninth and Co. that's been, you know, dedicated space. Aspen Paddle Club built a paddle court,

there's a dog park. so all of that, you know, because there's a lot of density kind of in 9th and co. There's lot of high-rise multifamily buildings, some 55 plus buildings, which is great for active seniors who want to have a community that you know has things for them to do. They don't want to have the burden of taking care of a yard anymore, they want to have the conveniences of events and neighbors and and you know just the socialization that we all love. so there's a great 55 plus community right there in 9th and Co. So anyway, that depth.

Density promotes the walkability of the area. I know for us, you know, we're able to walk to restaurants, we can walk to the movies, you know, it's just two blocks, three blocks away, which is great. And that's one of the things we looked for when we were moving here is how do we go from in Austin living in true suburbia where we had to drive everywhere? I mean, there was one restaurant at the end of the corner, but I mean, come on. You can only go to one place so many times. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (07:03)
Yeah. You drive everywhere. Same in Georgia. You just drive

everywhere. You don't even think about walking. It's not even a

John Wilkinson (07:08)
That's right.

That's right. That's right. So so that's that. The home values I think are definitely gonna go up. Interestingly, in the 80220 zip code, which is where Hale Mayfair sit,

Median price of homes was $699,000 and it was up 19% year over year. So the values of the homes here are actually gaining over 19%

Kenda Ruck (07:34)
Wait, did you say 19%?

John Wilkinson (07:36)
year over year. Yep. And that's for the from the trailing twelve months, right? This this was from Redfin

Kenda Ruck (07:41)
Wow.

John Wilkinson (07:42)
data. Median days on market, 25 days, which is down from 32 a year ago. so the market is still somewhat competitive. When things go on the market here, they don't tend to

stay on the market as long as others and I think part of that is because the values of the homes here are lower than like Cherry Creek or Congress Park, right? But it's still we still have the location and convenience that those locations or those neighborhoods have, but for less money. And so I think people are recognizing

Kenda Ruck (08:13)
Okay.

John Wilkinson (08:14)
the opportunity there.

Kenda Ruck (08:16)
Yeah, that's such a significant number because the general the general number for the Denver Metro is like two something. I think two point five percent. So 19% is incredible.

John Wilkinson (08:25)
Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (08:30)
you mentioned some of the homes there and the difference in the price ranges. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the homes that you've seen lately that

Could give us a good representation of what this area offers homewise?

John Wilkinson (08:44)
great question. So

You know, this area has a lot of tutors and a lot of bungalows. There's some homes even that don't have a basement, which is odd, you know, in the Denver area, but but for whatever reason they were built that way. And so what we've seen is homes that either were you know built like in the 20's 30's 40's that are being purchased and and have been renovated or people are now purchasing them and renovating them. and so there's a mix of that going on.

We have investors too that come in and they're flipping homes to to to sell and they're kind of doing it, know, a sight-unseen where they're gonna buy the house, scrape it, and then build something completely new.

that has been happening as well, which we've seen in various neighborhoods around around Denver. But you know, there's 35 homes right now in the neighborhood that are on the market. and I wanted to tour two of them.

And they were very different. So the first one we toured was a three-bedroom, three-bath, 1,500 square foot home. And its price point was $799,000 right? So it's

Kenda Ruck (09:54)
It's very reasonable.

John Wilkinson (09:55)
very reasonable for close to the city. It's on 13th, which you know can be kind of busy, but the home also has a really great backyard or side yard and then also a private yard behind the home.

So the home is parallel to 13th Avenue, and then the yard is very sizable yard for a home in this area. a lot of the homes have lots that are relatively small, unless people

have purchased two lots and then built something. So this was in 2022 was a fully renovated ranch on really a quiet block. So it the house blended contemporary style.

Easy one level living. So, this is an example of a home that did not have or does not have a basement. Has really great hardwood floors, shiplap ceilings, a floor to ceiling fireplace. You know, they did a really great job with the contemporary styling of the design. The kitchen is kind of like a galley kitchen, so you're in the living room, it's an open concept, but a beautiful modern kind of design, contemporary design for the kitchen. And the great one of the great things I

I

loved about the home is that the primary suite is on the opposite side of the other bedrooms, which is on the other side of the home. So it provides you know privacy for the the homeowners, right? When and if they have guests or if you have kids and you don't want them, you know, in your hair, they can be on the other side of the house. there's a fully fenced, like I said, backyard with a new sod, sprinkler system. I mean the house was really really done well. It's just it was it's beautiful, very contemporary, like I said, kind of what you would

Think you'd see like maybe in Palm Springs, you know, in that contemporary

Kenda Ruck (11:38)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (11:39)
kind of you know, 80s, 70s style, but updated. really, really cool. And then the furnishings were just fun, right? They had a hello dolly, you know, for you know for Dolly Parton, you know, just a fun little pink room that that that they've done. So that's one example of a of a great place.

Kenda Ruck (11:58)
The thing that stands out to me is that for 1532 square feet, this house feels so much bigger than that. It just feels like it's laid out really well and it it it kind of lives larger than than what you would think for 1500 square feet.

John Wilkinson (12:16)
One hundred percent. And I think too, as as you know, y having a single living floor plan here in Denver is so rare. Not having ha to have s you know, stairs to get to another level or down to a basement, you know, and back up really helps make the home feel bigger because it is all on one floor. and that's great for a lot of people, right, who don't want to have that kind of multi-level living situation.

Kenda Ruck (12:40)
Yeah, I agree. it is rare and it would be nice to have a basement, but still it's this

John Wilkinson (12:46)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (12:46)
house feels a lot more spacious and I love the yard. Can you show us the next one? I'm excited about the the next one. It's a little bit different. This one is price point and everything

John Wilkinson (12:56)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (12:57)
is a little bit different.

John Wilkinson (12:58)
100% very different and talk about multi-level living. This has four different levels and a rooftop

Kenda Ruck (13:04)
Ooh.

John Wilkinson (13:05)
patio. Really interesting because when you're walking up to the home, you would never expect to see what you see when you walk into the doors. It looks like a normal house from the outside. It's done well, it's beautiful. It's not on a huge lot. And interestingly, you know, it's just around the corner from this other home. But this house is five-bedroom, three full baths, one half bath.

4600 square feet and is priced at $1,795,000 So a million dollars more than the other house, right? And it's just around the corner. This is kind of what I was mentioning. When you drive around, you know, Hale and Mayfair, you can have very different homes next to each other, and that's just through time. People have changed the houses and and and rebuilt them, or even originally, you know, that's one thing I love about Denver is that all of the homes are so different.

you know, one after the other. There there's nothing that looks, you know, similar. So that's that's really exciting. But this home was a a custom built home in 2017

it is again blocks from Rose Medical Center and the new Ninth and Co development. Huge soaring 10-foot ceilings, hardwood floors, you know, really an open floor plan that's throughout the main level, and the kitchen is spectacular. I mean it's big, has a big sub-zero refrigerator with a wine fridge in the middle of that, from floor to ceiling almost. really beautiful countertops, butler pantry, great office space on the first floor.

Or, you know, and these and these the people, the owners, the sellers have done a really great job with artwork and and art lights, and the colors are just that they use throughout the space really make it feel and feel so special.

One of the I thought that the home was staged, but it's actually how they live, which is magnificent because it look it's

Kenda Ruck (14:56)
Well.

John Wilkinson (14:56)
it's so stunning, it's beautiful, right? We all aspire, I think, to to live that way. But upstairs there's a primary suite with a private balcony.

The basement is really great because you're what you as you walk down, you feel a sense of it just feels a little bit more moody and comfortable. It's kind of like their downstairs theater. There's a wet bar right behind you know the sofa. And then again, another large bedroom for guests or whoever. Just a beautiful space downstairs in the basement.

And as you go from the basement up to the main level and then the the where the primary suite is and and the other guest rooms, I was surprised to see the stairs continue to go up and onto a rooftop patio, which was is great here in Denver, especially with all the beautiful weather

Kenda Ruck (15:45)
Yes.

John Wilkinson (15:46)
that we have. It was it's it was great. It's it's such a cool space and it's large. The the patio space was really spacious, right? So very, very different places.

Kenda Ruck (15:56)
Yeah, I'm just picturing like

fall with all the beautiful trees surrounding I mean wow.

John Wilkinson (16:02)
Yep.

And I think too, to your point, when the leaves are gone, they have three hundred and sixty degree views up there, so they will definitely have or the new owners, whoever buys it, will have, you know, mountain views, which, you know, is so special here in in in Denver.

Kenda Ruck (16:19)
Wow. And that's that's at a much higher price point. So what do you think this this home that you just sh showed us says about the overall value of the homes in the Mayfair Hale area?

John Wilkinson (16:34)
You know, I think that

There's something for everybody. That's how what I feel. They the homes, you know, if you if you look at Cherry Creek, so I think this home feels like a Cherry Creek townhome, right? It's very modern inside, which again from the outside you don't you you wouldn't get that except when you walk through, walk into the doors. It feels like a Cherry Creek townhome for less than you would pay in Cherry Creek if this was in Cherry Creek, I think you'd pay double, right? What it's what it's what it's priced at today.

here

in Hale Mayfair, but I think there's something for for everyone. There's small bungalows that are really cute and have been around, you know, for since the twenties. So especially people who love like originality, right? The the stonework around fireplaces, the brickwork obviously that most of the homes here in Denver have. And that's special where you can live in a neighborhood that has, you know, the the location conveniences. And then you know as

You, if you want, you can continue to renovate the house if you want, or you can buy this home, or and there's other homes that are even you know grander than this one. and I think that's what's special about it. I think you know, all of that together, you know, is probably why home values continue to increase in this neighborhood. it's just it's kind of like all hail Hale you know, like you know, or what the Hale you know, people are now

Kenda Ruck (17:58)
Yeah, right. Right.

John Wilkinson (18:01)
discovering this. And interestingly, like so Hale was 5280 in.

magazine does a list of top neighborhoods and for a while Hale had fallen off that list but last year it found itself back on the list and I think we're gonna see it continue to grow you know it move up the list as as time goes on and more people discover you know what a great neighborhood it is. Yep.

Kenda Ruck (18:23)
It's resurging for sure.

can you talk can you talk a little bit about the schools in the area? Do

you know

John Wilkinson (18:29)
For sure, yep.

Yeah, yeah. So one yo, that's a great so Hayden, as you know, he goes to East High, and

Kenda Ruck (18:36)
Right.

John Wilkinson (18:36)
we purposefully wanted to find a neighborhood that you know was was zoned for for East, even though Denver has the Denver choice program where you can choose to get into a a school, it's still a waiting list thing. So if if people students in the zone or in the district

end up not going to East and there's spaces available, people can go in.

Great high school, East of Great High School. and then Palmer Elementary also serves Hale and it's earned an A rating in 2023, which is great. So, you know, there's some great schools in the area and you know, I see kids, you know, riding their bikes around, walking around, and that's a sign I think of of a great neighborhood when you see kind of that activity happening, you know, around outside.

Kenda Ruck (19:25)
It's alive, you know? It's alive. It has its own

John Wilkinson (19:27)
It is. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (19:29)
personality. And that's one of the things we love so much about Denver is all of these different areas have their own vibe, their own personality, which is super

John Wilkinson (19:37)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (19:37)
cool. So if somebody was, you know, looking, they're on the fence, like, maybe I want to go to Cherry Creek, maybe I want to go to Hale Mayfair, like give us your closing pitch on what you love most about living there because you live there.

So

John Wilkinson (19:54)
Yep.

Kenda Ruck (19:54)
you have the down and dirty, you know everything, you know, about the area. So give us your closing pitch on who would do well in that area and who should maybe look somewhere else.

John Wilkinson (20:08)
I think th a person who or a family that's looking for

a little of everything. One of the things, Cherry Creek is great. I think it's beautiful. It is definitely walkable. Obviously you have Cherry Creek North, which is the outdoor mall where you can, you know, obviously walk to. There's lots of restaurants. There's just a lot. You know, but it feels a little bit more urban. I think Hale Mayfair feels a little you know when it was created it they called it you know the the suburbia of Denver, right? It was outside the city limits and granted

We're like 10 minutes away, but back in the 20s, that was a big difference. You know, the distance was a major, major difference. So I think that the convenience to City Park, being able to walk to City Park, to the Nature and Science Museum here, to the zoo, to the City Park golf course, right, is all very walkable. And then you can also go to the Ninth and Co development that that we've talked about. You know, so you have a little bit of everything, right? That's very convenient.

Walkable, and so I think somebody who's looking for you know that kind of lifestyle and the neighbors that that we've met, everyone here is so friendly. that's really for us was the icing on the cake. We didn't know that when we moved in, we knew that it was close to things, but we did not know the neighbors. And and since having moved here or lived here for now over now every year, I think Hale and Mayfair are great options for people looking for.

Kenda Ruck (21:44)
Is there anybody who you think mm this might not be the place for you?

John Wilkinson (21:49)
You know, I don't think so.

I have our neighbor's 85 years old and she walks everywhere, right? And I think that if you have that mindset that now, if you're looking for, you know, super modern, contemporary homes, there are some in the area, but if you're looking for that and you have the budget, then I would probably turn to like the Cherry Creek or Hilltop. even Park Hill is not gonna have, you know, that contemporary style. There's there's again pockets of them here and there, but largely these are gonna be

Older homes s that that you know, the majority are older homes that either have been renovated or haven't, you know, so opportunity for people who like to do, you know, home improvement projects. you know, largely like obviously like I said, there's some homes that have been redone, custom builds, but

Kenda Ruck (22:38)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (22:39)
overall, you know, these are older homes. So if somebody's not interested in that, maybe go to buy one of the homes that have been redone or go to an area

Kenda Ruck (22:46)
Right.

John Wilkinson (22:46)
that have homes that are that are a little newer.

Kenda Ruck (22:48)
Yeah. John, thank you so much for doing that deep dive for us. I I have always thought the area was beautiful, but I didn't know that it had that much to offer. That's really, really great information and especially with the non encode development. I mean, it's just what do you have a completion date? Like

John Wilkinson (23:07)
Yep,

for the VA hospital, yep, VA hospital I think is set for like 2029. so it's a big project, four thousand plus square feet that they have to kind of redo.

Kenda Ruck (23:14)
Yeah. Yeah.

John Wilkinson (23:16)
and we all know with construction and old buildings, you're gonna find things, right? So but twenty twenty nine is is targeted completion. So here in the next, you know, two and a half, three years.

Kenda Ruck (23:28)
I think this is great for our listeners who are

wanting to understand these different areas that we've talked about. And we're gonna be doing these types of deep dives in the future as well. So if you would like for us to discover some information about an area that you're kind of wondering about, we're happy to go do that for you. Please like and subscribe to our channel because every week we put out a new podcast and we talk about different relevant topics for the Denver area. So make sure that you're

Yeah.

John Wilkinson (24:05)
Absolutely, this has been fun to talk about my neighborhood. I love it. I'm certainly biased to it. And if you have any questions about the neighborhood, if you're relocating, or if you're in Denver and thinking about moving somewhere, I think you should definitely check out Hale Mayfair. Just give us a call, contact us, and I'd be glad to tour you around. So thanks for listening today.

Kenda Ruck (24:31)
Awesome. And we have lots of other resources on our YouTube page and on our website. So we are happy to share everything that we've discovered as we've just moved recently to this area and we are sharing all of that insight with you. So thanks so much for watching and we'll see you on the next one.

John Wilkinson (24:48)
Thanks everybody.