Retirement
Forget Wednesday-night bingo and mashed potatoes in a dingy dining room. Metro Denver’s retirement homes are called communities for a reason: They offer residents a place to recreate, socialize, and thrive. Auditoriums, fitness centers, restaurants, and swimming pools are only a few of the amenities. And with the older generation getting stronger and more prevalent—over the next five years the area will see a 30 percent increase in the number of people over 60 living here—housing options are getting better.
Metro Denver isn’t exactly a retirement mecca on par with Arizona or Florida, but its sunny, mild climate (belied by our rare but news-making blizzards) has lured thousands over the years, including seniors who want to be closer to relatives or who end their careers in colorful Colorado.
The city and county of Denver has by far the greatest number of independent and assisted-living facilities for seniors in the area, but when you seek word-of-mouth recommendations, Denver’s outlying areas, and especially the suburban counties, tend to get the most praise. That may not be fair to Denver’s senior communities. It may simply say more about life being more difficult for the elderly in an urban setting.
1. The Cottages at Dayton Place
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (303) 751-5150
Address: 1950 S. Dayton St.
Description: Dayton Place is on the western edge of the city of Aurora’s south side, just off Parker Road, a major thoroughfare that runs northwest to Denver and southeast past the Cherry Creek Reservoir State Recreation Area. It is a 3-story complex with an open feel, in part due to its suburban location and perhaps in part due to its setback on large grounds with meandering walkways, gardens, and outdoor patios. Dayton has a general store, chapel, beauty and barber shop, TV lounges, a billiards room, and a cards and activities room. The facility has 96 assisted-living and 104 independent-living units called “cottages.”
2. The Courtyard at Lakewood
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (303) 239-0740
Address: 7100 W. 13th Ave.
Description: Three blocks east of Wadsworth Boulevard and a couple blocks south of Colfax Avenue in Lakewood, the Courtyard is in a quiet residential neighborhood. Every apartment in the 3-story building has a view of the center courtyard, where there are flowers, rock gardens, and a pond. The Courtyard is managed by two husband-and-wife teams who live on the premises.Beyond the living quarters, the Courtyard’s amenities include a giant-screen TV room, a large kitchen for group activities, a beauty shop, a library, billiards areas, and a spa. They have 122 apartments. The Courtyard is owned by Holiday Retirement Corporation.
3. Harvard Square Retirement Community
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (303) 696-0622
Address: 10200 E. Harvard Ave.
Description: Harvard Square’s interiors are bright and open yet reminiscent of the club spaces in an Ivy League university, with dark wood and formal, old-world style. They maintain 189 private, unfurnished rooms. The exterior and grounds—overlooked by a second-story deck—also exude a country club air. Harvard Square is in the northwest corner of Denver’s Hampden Heights neighborhood, just west of Aurora near the pleasant green spaces of Babi Yar Park and the private Los Verdes Golf Club. Although it’s basically an independent-living community, it has a formal Assisted Living Program managed by a professional social worker with nursing support. Under the same roof, Harvard Square also includes a dining room, beauty and barber shop, game room, library, and multipurpose room.
4. Heritage Club
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (303) 756-0025
Address: 2020 S. Monroe St.
Description: Heritage Club has a good reputation for elegant living at affordable prices. The apartments are luxurious. The dining room looks like something in an upscale downtown restaurant with a menu to match, and there’s a private dining room for special occasions. Heritage Club has a private library, exercise room with whirlpool and spa, country store and ice-cream parlor, billiards room, cards and games room, arts and crafts studio, and a beauty and barber shop plus shuffleboard, a putting green, and horseshoes pit. The bay windows and balconies are nice features, and the community is in the University Park neighborhood, a pleasant part of the city southwest of Colorado Boulevard’s intersection with I-25.
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Address: 10695 W. 17th Ave.
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Address: 111 Emerson St.
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Address: 1001 E. Yale Ave.
8. Shalom Park Senior Residences
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (303) 680-5000
Address: 14800 E. Bellevue Dr.
Description: One of Metro Denver’s newer retirement additions is Shalom Park Senior Residences. The 41-acre community offers residents lovely grounds as well as an in-house activity department to keep them entertained. There are a total of 104 units, including 44 patio homes and 60 apartments. Any of the 104 units can be assisted or independent living, depending on the needs of the occupants.
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Address: 6550 Yank Way
10. The Villas at Sunny Acres
City: Denver, CO
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (303) 255-4100
Address: 2501 E. 104th Ave.
Description: Perhaps the most oft-recommended retirement community by word-of-mouth, Sunny Acres is a large facility on a campuslike setting just south of Stonehocker Park in Thornton. The northern suburbs are quiet areas with good mountain views and a lot of remaining open space, and the landscaped grounds include two fishing lakes as well as gardening areas for residents. To that Sunny Acres adds amenities including home health care, 10 libraries, a 3,000-square-foot fitness center, a whirlpool, pool tables, a woodworking and carpentry shop, lounges, dining rooms including a restaurant, a convenience store, and beauty and barber shops.