Meadowbrook Heights

For some people, Meadowbrook Heights' biggest draw lies with what this community just west of Littleton doesn't have, rather than what it does have. "It doesn't have that many HOAs," says Blake Wertz, an associate broker with American Home Agents who has spent seven years selling houses in the area. "A lot of people don't like HOAs. They want a nice slice of the American dream in Littleton, and they can get it here without a homeowner's association telling them what to do."

Located 17 miles south of Denver on U.S. Highway 85, Meadowbrook Heights is a skinny 1¾-mile-long neighborhood where most of the streets run parallel to each other on a north-south course interrupted by a few streams and thoroughfares like West Chatfield Avenue. It offers a mixture of ranch-style houses and contemporary homes seated atop larger lots ranging from a quarter acre to a third of an acre. "That's a lot larger than the standard city size," says Wertz, who counts these larger lots as one of the neighborhood's selling points. Prices for these houses range from $550,000 to $850,000, while you can find a 2-bedroom townhouse in the community for $300,000 to $450,000. It's important to note that Meadowbrook Heights' lack of sidewalks makes this a car-dependent neighborhood. Its narrow streets don't offer much space for on-street parking, and a lack of cross streets that run east-to-west could lead to traffic bottlenecks and make it difficult to turn around in case you accidentally drive past your destination.

Children in Meadowbrook Heights will start their K-12 academic journeys at Coronado Elementary, which sits on the neighborhood's eastern boundary and is within walking distance from many of its houses, or Mortensen Elementary, which is about 1¼ miles east from the center of the neighborhood on Chatfield Avenue. From here, they'll attend Falcon Bluffs Middle School and Chatfield Senior High School. All four schools have scored between B and an A-minus on Niche. The neighborhood's two elementary schools also offer a Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program that invites students’ fathers and other older male adults to volunteer at the school for at least one day and serve as a positive role model for students.

Coronado Park surrounds Coronado Elementary School and offers a basic playground, a two-acre bluegrass field, a tennis court, a basketball court, and wetlands at a nearby stream. Willow Creek Park also offers a playground, a grass field and wetlands on the western side of the neighborhood. Those looking for more of an adventure can follow a five-mile loop trail over some rolling terrain outside the Dakota, Lyons and Niobrara hogbacks at 1,450-acre Hildebrand Ranch Park, which is just southwest of the neighborhood. "Lots of people like to go to the Chatfield Reservoir," Wertz says, referring to the 1,500-acre dammed lake in the neighborhood's southeast corner where you can go boating, let your dogs run in an off-leash park and watch the 212 species of birds that frequent the area every year. The neighborhood's closest opportunities for indoor recreation are at the Lilley Gulch Recreation Center on South Holland Way and the SeaQuest Littleton ndoor aquarium at the Southwest Plaza shopping mall. Both destinations are about five miles north of the neighborhood on State Route 121.

Southwest Plaza is part of a cluster of shopping centers directly west of downtown Littleton with a Sam's Club, a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods, as well as a handful of chain restaurants like Applebee's, Bonefish Grill and Chick-fil-A. But Meadowbrook Heights residents don't need to travel five miles to pick something up. A King Soopers and Southside Pizzeria, known for its full bar and specialty pies, are at Columbine Knolls Village just east of the neighborhood. You'll also find a Safeway, a Chili's, and a selection of Neapolitan thin-crust pizzas at Virgilio's Pizzeria and Wine Bar just west of the neighborhood's boundaries at Jefferson Village Shopping Center on South Kipling Parkway.

Written By

Matthew Simmons

Photography Contributed By

Alex Dickerson

Video By

Houston Knight