Welcome to the Parkwood Homes blog, where we share all our latest news, trends and design inspiration.
If you've visited our website before, you'll notice right away that things have changed. As timeless as our homes are, websites get pretty dated after a few years.
We're not a huge company that spends millions on marketing or anything, so this baby was self-made on Squarespace. We've tried to include more photography and make it intuitive and easy to navigate. It's always going to be a work in progress, and we'll continue adding features and photography in the coming months.
We are excited to announce that Parkwood Homes have joined the initial team of builders at Sterling Ranch, in southwest Denver. Parkwood has built nearly 1,000 homes in our 25 years, but until now we have only been a part of three communities–Kentlands and The Villages of Urbana in Maryland, and Stapleton in Denver. Kentlands and Stapleton were both named to The Urban Land Institute’s list of the world’s “Great Planned Communities,” and we have been able to be very selective in choosing where we want to build homes. So this is a BIG step for us.
THIS OLD HOUSE is one of our favorite publications, and they recently surveyed readers to ask, “Which old house trends would you like to bring back.”
Buying a Parkwood homes lets you choose both the charm of old houses AND the functional design and energy efficiency of a new home. And you even get to sit down with our designer and truly customize the plan to fit the way your family lives.
Here are the Top 9 favorite features of old homes, according to This Old House fans. Can you get them into a Parkwood?
Walk-in or Butler’s Pantries: Oh yes. Families love our spacious pantries and their ability to customize them.
Photo: Alan Shortall/Cornerhouse Stock
Double Pocket Doors: Definitely. Lots of buyers have opted for double pocket-door entries into custom office spaces. Barn doors are very popular, too.
Wraparound Porches: Ditto. And Parkwood builds functional, 8′ deep porches, not 6′ concrete slab afterthoughts. Plus, beadboard ceilings painted either white or authentic, southern haint blue.
Picket Fences: Umm, they’re pretty much synonymous with Parkwood Homes.
Summer Kitchens: Well, some of us younger folks might have needed to look this up, but summer kitchens are separate outbuildings, which were useful when cooking required woodturning stoves. So no, we don’t do summer kitchens. But you’re free to do just about anything else your heart desires as you customize your kitchen.
Fold-Down Ironing Board:Ugh. Ironing boards bring up much less fun visuals than the rest of the items on this list. But yes, through our partnership with The Closet Factory, you can choose a fold-down ironing board if you’d like, along with all sorts of other fun features and gadgets for your dreamy master closet.
Photo: Mark Lohman
Rose Bushes: Certainly. Along with the true customization you can do inside your house, Parkwood buyers can meet with a landscape architect and decide what they want to plant outside. Parkwood even throws in a free 4′x4′ raised bed vegetable garden with irrigation. Our friends at The Urban Farm Company of Colorado will build it, bring in their special blend of soil, help you plant it, and work with you to develop a green thumb.
Root Cellars:At this point, no. We can’t say that we’ve has demand for storing root vegetables underground. But if we did, we’d certainly think about it. We did do a greenhouse for a family last year.
Photo: GeoStock/Getty Images
Built-Ins: Another Parkwood trademark. Parkwood families have done all kinds of cool things with mudrooms, bookshelves, window seats, and more. Built-Ins really add character that lasts.
Where else do you have the ability to custom-tailor a new home that can check off all of these items on your wish list, without spending $2 million on a custom home?
Start working on your “Dream Home” Pinterest or Houzz board, and come visit us soon so we can get started building that dream home together.
To see the post from This Old House follow this link.
Single Family Homes Contact Info:
Heather Barben, Dede Jefferey, or Tahnya Pierce
(303) 320-4938 • 8056 E. 50th Avenue
Sales@ParkwoodHomes.com
Townhomes Contact Info:
Ashley Sage
(303) 373-3994 • 8212 E. 49th Avenue
Townhomes@ParkwoodHomes.com
This recent Stapleton newsletter article is the kind of story we love to see.
Jesus and Lisa Escarcega raised their family for years in this beautiful Parkwood home in Stapleton. Now that the kids have grown and moved out of the house, the Escarcegas are looking to downsize and simplify. And with Parkwood’s new Beacon Hill Collection of luxury townhomes, they get to stay in the neighborhood they have grown to love, work with a home builder whose quality they trust, and pick out exciting new features and finishes that are only available in a new home.
Click here to read the article about the Escarcegas and a life change that baby boomers across the country are looking forward to.
And click here to check out our new Beacon Hill Collection of townhomes, including the main floor master Rockport plan. Thinking about moving your parents closer for more grandma and grandpa time? Imagine them living in a beautiful, low maintenance Parkwood townhome in Conservatory Green–just minutes away from your family in Stapleton and within a short walk of parks, shopping, dining, and movies!
After many years of success building townhomes in Maryland, Parkwood Homes introduced The Beacon Hill Collection of townhomes to Stapleton early this year. Our first purchasers are just now moving in to their new homes, and we took a few minutes with Marsha, our first move-in, to ask her about her experience.
The Beacon Hill Collection's nearly-complete first building in Stapleton, facing Central Park.
Q: Where are you moving from? Was it a single family home or a townhome?
A: I moved from Chicago to Denver in 2005 (a work-related move), and purchased a single-family home in Stapleton. After living in a too-big-for-me home for almost eight years, I made the decision to downsize, so I called my realtor and we started looking for smaller homes.
Q: Why Stapleton?
A: I have enjoyed living in this community, I feel safe here, I like new construction, so I wanted to stay.
Q: What led you to choose to buy a townhome? Have you lived in one before?
A: I haven’t ever lived in a townhome. I wasn’t looking to buy one (I wasn’t opposed to the idea), but my realtor knew about the new Parkwood townhomes and, knowing me so well, he knew I would like the construction details and architectural style that Parkwood Homes is known for. And townhomes are generally smaller than single-family homes, so we went to the sales office to take a look. I knew it was the builder/product for me, and I reserved my townhome that day.
Marsha, with Parkwood superintendent Sam and her broker, Karl, in her beautiful new kitchen just before moving in.
Q: What attracted you to Parkwood Homes?
A: I have admired their homes since coming to Denver in 2005. I love the outside paint colors. And the homes look good. I was so happy to hear that they were building townhome. What impressed me the most were all the details that come standard with their homes.
Q:What do you think about the rather unique architectural style (at least for Denver) of these townhomes?
A: I love the architectural style—it’s totally me. The homes are beautiful and well thought out.
Q: What are your favorite things about your new home?
A: There are so many things: the exterior look, my big front porch (and its painted blue ceiling), the high ceilings (10 feet on the main level!), beautiful crown molding, the archway leading into my dining room, chair railing, the way the windows and doors are framed on the inside, smooth walls (that’s a big one!), my kitchen, my soaking tub … I could go on and on!
Marsha on closing day.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: I’d say that the staff at Parkwood is exceptional. They all became my friends. Special thanks to Dede, Heather, Randy, Shauna, and Sam for always greeting me with a smile and being very accommodating.
Also, the companies and their associates that you meet with to choose your flooring, cabinets, and appliances are all very professional, plus it’s so much fun to pick everything you want.
Finally, I appreciate the company’s philosophy of only building a small number of homes each year. Other builders bang out homes so fast, it’s difficult to believe you could get a quality product. With Parkwood Homes, you definitely get a beautiful home.
Many of my childhood memories are of airplanes, airports, and traveling. As with most children’s experiences, we do not appreciate them until we are much older. I am very fortunate and blessed to have experienced significant milestones in history.
Both of my parents were born and raised in Denver. They met each other on a blind date and graduated from South High School. They have a history in the Denver area and at the Denver Municipal Airport. This is the airport where my mom went on her first flight in a DC 3 tail dragger to visit my Dad in the Air Force stationed in Texas. The drive from her Wash(ington) Park home to Denver Municipal Airport took much longer than the trip would today. Later this would become Stapleton International Airport where my Dad would fly for the original Frontier Airlines and retire 30 years later.
Stapleton Airport was as familiar to me as any other landmark in the Denver area. As a small child I knew how to get there, I knew where the employee parking was, and I knew how to catch the employee bus to get to the airplanes. Security was not an issue and non existent. We would board the employee bus that would take us directly to the plane on the tarmac. We did not have to enter the terminal, get our luggage checked or go through any screening. More than likely I would recognize the pilot and he would help us board the plane via steps and not a jet way. The Pilots would help board the passengers and load luggage on the airplanes. This was a normal duty for Pilots. Another normal was the required dress code. Females had to wear nylons and closed toed shoes and men had to wear jackets and a tie. To us the meals were gourmet, with linens, silverware and a bottle of wine on each tray.
Some memories are vague. Perhaps I remember the excitement more that the event. I recall the old tower that was the original tower at Denver Municipal Airport. It was very exciting when the “big” tower was opened. I remember going to the top and feeling dizzy because we were so high in the air.
There was excitement about an airplane called the “747”. This new, huge plane was the latest and greatest in travel. We arrived at the hanger off of Smith Road to tour the plane. As a child I was bored standing in line and could not keep my boredom under control. Once entering the plane, I too became excited to think that one day I could possibly travel in a plane like this. I was used to traveling in a prop jet or Convair 580. As we walked through the plane a Pilot and Stewardess (politically correct name in those days) were being married in the upper portion (what we called the bubble) of the aircraft.
Often my Dad would ask my sister, brother and I if we wanted to go on a trip with him. This trip would be from Stapleton to Grand Junction, Montrose, Gunnison and back to Stapleton. It was a trip that we could go on after school and return almost before bedtime. We would take our homework with us and do it as the 580 bounced through the sky. At Montrose Dad would get off the plane, unload the luggage, help the passengers deplane and then buy us a hamburger. When we flew over our home, Dad would announce over the intercom that we were flying over our small, rural town. This was our clue to look out the window. Dad would turn the landing lights on and off and Mom would then turn our deck light on and off. We then knew that Mom was watching us fly over.
It was a natural progression for me to pursue flying and I entered into the Aerospace Science program at Metropolitan State College. Looking back it is incredible to think we found it normal that part of our College routine was to fly to Colorado Springs for breakfast or fly to Boulder for a concert. However it was a milestone in our education when we had to fly from Arapahoe Airport (now called Centennial) to Stapleton. It was a course requirement to land at Stapleton, taxi to Colorado Air Center and then turn around and fly back to Arapahoe. We had to complete one flight during the day and one flight at night. We did this in a small Cessna 152. I can not imagine doing this today at DIA.
I worked for Bill Daniels in the 1980’s. Bill would invite employees to take trips with him in his Learjet if he had room for additional passengers. My oldest son was around 16 months old and I was pregnant with my second. I thought why not. It took us 27 seconds to depart from Stapleton and clear the first mountain range. It took us less than 2 hours to land at Los Angeles. I never had experienced this kind of speed in an aircraft. Bill was generous and very understanding with a 16 month old that cried the entire time. I worked in the executive offices at Daniels and Associates and helped coordinate sending the jet to pick up Scott Hamilton after winning the gold at the Olympics. I remember the reception at Stapleton and how exciting it was to meet an Olympian. The Learjet that I flew in is now hanging in the concourse at DIA. It was the first non-commercial flight that landed at DIA during its official grand opening.
There were many monumental events at Stapleton that we experienced. Seeing the 747 for the first time, the landing of the Concord, the new tower, the opening of a new concourse, the opening of the expansion of the runway that went over I-70, my Dad flying Captain with Emily Howell (the first female commercial pilot) on her inaugural flight, the Pope landing for World Youth Day, the shut down of the original Frontier Airlines, and the closing of Stapleton to name a few. The closing was nothing like we had ever seen before, the last flight departing and the convoy of tugs, equipment and trucks as they headed to DIA. It was a very cold February night and the stream of lights seemed never ending. We realized we were watching history and what we knew, and grew up with, was gone.
I worked on the ramp for Federal Express for a while. I had learned weight and balance during my Aerospace education and calculated the loads for the small aircraft that delivered to rural areas. It was a Saturday morning routine to go for breakfast at Sapp Brothers after our shift. I am now working in almost the exact same location at Conservatory Green that I was on the ramp with FEDEX. I am also making the same commute that my Father did some 45+ years ago.
Airline families were a very close group. More often than not these families came from a military background. They supported each other and helped each other. Dads that were Pilots were gone a lot. There were tough times with furloughs’ and changes as the industry became deregulated. The unions went on strike and there were labor disputes. Gas prices escalated in the 70’s and airline travel became unaffordable and there were more layoffs. But the families stuck together and helped each other. These were the families that were our neighbors, went to school with, attended church with, traveled with and are still connected to. This is the same spirit I have seen with the families in Stapleton today. They are a community of strength that supports one another and has a commitment to their families and neighbors. Stapleton International Airport may no longer be, but the history of the Stapleton spirit is alive and strong.
Dede Jeffery
Parkwood Homes
Framed photo of the old Stapleton Airport with Downtown Denver in the background, now hanging in a Northfield restaurant.
To be honest, when the home builders in Stapleton first turned our attention to the community’s move north of I-70, there was some uncertainty and maybe even a little apprehension. How would potential homeowners react to the move? Would the north neighborhoods feel like they were part of Stapleton?
On the other hand, we had seen firsthand the almost miraculous transformation of the old runways and parking garage of Stapleton Airport into one of the nation’s best selling and most vibrant new communities. And we were happy with our new house plans–the result of incorporating the best ideas from our customers’ meetings with our architect and a lot of thought and effort from the entire Parkwood team. So as we made plans to open new models and make the move north, we were cautiously optimistic.
The NEW Asheville Model Home, inspired in part by our architectural scouting trip to the Carolinas.
The Chesapeake--the evolution of our most popular floorplan for over 15 years.
As it turned out, between a sharp upturn in the real estate market and great planning and preparation by Forest City and all of the builders who developed new house plans, Conservatory Green has been a HUGE success! Before we even opened our two new single family models in Conservatory Green, we had either sold or reserved almost all of our 30 or so home sites in the neighborhood. And things haven’t slowed down yet. August, normally a slow time of year, was one of our best months ever, and new home sites are being snapped up almost as fast as we can get them ready.
It’s been amazing to see how quickly a neighborhood is springing up out of the dirt in Conservatory Green. It’s going to be a special place–just a few minutes walk to shops, dining, and entertainment at Northfield, surrounded by beautiful and spacious parks, with the Conservatory Green plaza in the center of it all for social events and activities.
Check out these aerial photos of Conservatory Green, taken in July:
Conservatory Green under construction, with Northfield across the street to the left and Downtown Denver and the mountains in the background.
Conservatory Green and Northfield--Macy's, JC Penney, Super Target, Bass Pro, movies, restaurants, and more. Parkwood's two single family models look like islands toward the bottom left of the picture.
