Builders are luring buyers with neighborhoods that get more livability from their landscapes

By Mark Samuelson

How do you get homebuyers to make a move up—or sideways or to downsize—in a market where interest rates are twice as high as buyers had come to expect a few years back? One way is by squeezing more value out of the landscape—something that’s the very first thing you’ll notice when you tour five trend-setting master-planned communities in some compelling new south-metro settings.

“When buyers enter a community, a lot of their impression depends on the terrain,” says residential broker Rike Palese, who heads Re/Max Professionals’ DTC office. “Buyers are willing to give up on their own lot size for open space, biking paths, and for a setting that shows winding streets and up-and-down topography.”

Master planning also lets builders make the bottom-line work for buyers in an era when prices for raw development land can run around $425,000 an acre—not to mention higher costs for infrastructure. That new buyer profile—wanting to give up lot size in favor of walkable amenities and more chances to meet new friends—is captured by airline captain Bob Markert and his wife Mary, who made a move last year from their older house in Governor’s Ranch.

“We looked everywhere; we went to Boise, to San Antonio, to both coasts,” Bob Markert says, adding that their search started in 2019 when home prices and rates were each much lower. “Every time we got off the airplane, we said, ‘What are we doing?’ Colorado is so perfect.’”

Two years ago, the Markerts decided to search closer to home. That took them to Solstice, a recently opened master plan alongside Chatfield State Park, where they found a ‘Brookside’ 2,535-square-foot ranch plan with a basement and 3-car garage for a site close to the lake’s marina. They closed last year.

“I wanted to live in a patio home, but my wife didn’t want to share a wall with anybody else,” Markert says. “This makes both of us very happy.”
Builders are reaching for buyers living in south metro homes that are 30 to 40 years old by offering them new features and technologies, but also the amenities that were rare when older areas were built. That takes developers south into Douglas County, where four natural settings await—all with a character of terrain that allows planners to work their master-planned magic.

Setting: Trails Through Canyonlands
The first of those areas is the canyonlands along I-25 between Castle Pines and Castle Rock. Forty years ago, developers chose the landscape with its promontories, pines and scrub oak for pricey Castle Pines Village. Now, the setting has grown closer to the I-25 business corridor and has a more comprehensive range of buyers wanting into its coveted zip code.

The Canyons Castle Pines
The winner of the 2022 MAME Community of the Year award was The Canyons by Shea Homes in The Canyons Castle Pines, east of I-25 at Castle Pines Parkway. The entry experience is all about the landscape, where visitors pass through a covered bridge, then to The Exchange visitor center with a coffee house.

The Canyons will also offer Canyon Village, which already has a pool and event lawn, and more attractions to come. It’s the starting point for 15 miles of trails that wind seven neighborhoods, with some large, eye-catching homes that share glimpses into the shoreline of Reuter-Hess Reservoir.

The Canyons Castle Pines
Developer: Shea Homes
Location: Half mile east of I-25 at Castle Pines Pkwy/Hess Rd., Castle Pines, CO
Size: 1,270 Acres Builders: Shea Homes, Infinity Properties, Tri Pointe Homes
Price range: From the $700s to upper $1Ms
Move right away: From low $800s to $1.6M
thecanyonsliving.com

Macanta
A few miles further south, Houston-based developer Hines transformed a landscape carved in canyons and gulches into Macanta, a trail-themed master plan. The 1,200-acre site bounded by Cobblestone Ranch Open Space and 450-acre Macanta Regional Park has 13 miles of single-track bike trails, including an ‘Enchanted Forest Trail” that weaves the community’s eastern edge.
“Now is the time to get in,” says Carrie Kayle Castilian, marketing director with Lennar, with new Legends Collection models opening (the smallest is 2,175 feet) on sites that typically back to open space. “Everybody is looking for hiking and biking,” she adds.
With biking as a core theme, the community center is The Spoke—where you can tune your bike or enjoy a pool wrapped by open-air gathering areas centered around a fire pit. There’s a 1,500-foot fitness center, a co-working space and a full bar for coffee and casual dining. Three builders offer single-family homes: Taylor Morrison from the $700s, Lennar’s from the $800s, and Toll Brothers from the high $900s.

Macanta
Developer: Hines
Location: East of I-25 on Founders Pkwy to Crowfoot Valley Rd., north 1 mi., Castle Rock, CO
Size: 1,200 Acres Builders: Taylor Morrison, Toll Brothers, Lennar
Price range: From the $700s to upper $1Ms
Move right away: From low $800s to $1.6M
livemacanta.com

Setting: Mesas and Mountain Views
Castle Rock’s namesake promontory above its historic downtown is just one of the mesa formations that create terrain for 75 miles of trails. With a growing dining scene, the town has attracted master plans for 30 years and earned multiple appearances on Money Magazine’s national “Best Places to Live” list.

Montaine
East, across the valley from the town’s Phillip S. Miller Park with its 200-step “Challenge Hill,” you’ll find Montaine, a master plan with 548 acres of open space and 13 miles of trails. Its site is near one promontory, which gives its two amenity centers great views of the Rampart Range and craggy Devil’s Head Peak.

Vista Clubhouse, with a zero-entry pool, fitness center and playground, serves neighborhoods by Toll Brothers and Brightland Homes; and Regency Clubhouse is for Toll Brothers’ age-55-plus neighborhood, with pools, pickleball and tennis courts, fitness center and six roomy ranch models to explore.

Montaine
Developer: Toll Brothers
Location: From I-25, take Plum Creek Pkwy east to Wilcox, south 2 mi. to Crystal Valley Pkwy, Castle Pines, CO
Size: 850 Acres
Builders: Toll Brothers, Brightland Homes
Price range: From the upper $600s to $1.4M
Quick move-in homes: From the upper-$700s
livemontaine.com

Setting: Urban-Suburban Living
Lone Tree stands out among new home areas for its closeness to the Denver Tech Center and its bordering terrain for trails. Along with new shopping and dining that orbit Park Meadows, Lone Tree has some of the most alluring new residential neighborhoods in metro Denver.
The newest area east of I-25 at Ridgegate Parkway, where scenic bluffs that rise a thousand feet above Denver’s downtown have very easy access to urban attractions via Light Rail. Lone Tree’s Performing Arts Center is a mile west, and trails to the overlooks are closer still, including an East-West Regional Trail that’s arriving beside the newest homes.

Lyric at RidgeGate
Lyric is a 699-acre community (48 percent is set for parks and open space), part of Lone Tree’s 3,500-acre RidgeGate master plan, where homes are close to the Light Rail stop and Lone Tree’s new City Center, planned for shops, dining options and workspaces. Shea plans a combo coffee shop-welcome center in Lyric for 2026, as well as an amenity center with a pool and fitness area.
You can already tour three Shea collections, including urban-styled homes with an option for an accessory dwelling unit and luxurious contemporaries by Infinity, and see where Thrive Home Builders and Lokal Homes are pre-selling from the low $600s.

 

Lyric at RidgeGate
Developer: Shea Homes
Location: From I-25, take Ridgegate Pkwy east 1 mile; Lone Tree, CO
Size: 699 Acres
Builders: Shea Homes, Infinity Properties, Thrive Home Builders, Lokal Homes
Price range: From the $500s to $1.4M.
Move right away: From the $600s
livelyricco.com

Setting: State Parks, a River and a Lake
Chatfield State Park is anchored by one of Douglas and Jefferson counties’ most popular attractions: 1,500-acre Chatfield Reservoir, for both powered and sail-type craft. But that’s far from the only lure of this near-perfect setting for outdoor-oriented buyers.
Residents are also five to ten minutes from the red rock sentinels of Roxborough State Park, the trout waters of the South Platte River running out of very bikeable Waterton Canyon and the historic High Line Canal Trail.

Solstice
The 71-mile trail passes along a 37-acre linear park dividing Solstice—the area that won this past year’s MAME Community of the Year Award. The lake marina is where airline captain Bob Markert has his 21-foot Sea Doo pontoon boat tied up. But like many other residents attracted to master plans, the community aspects are as important to the Markerts as the outdoor attractions.
“Mary and I are very social,” Bob Markert says. “We wanted amenities that allow people to interact.” Solstice helps make that happen with its High Line House private club, with a fitness center, resort-style pool and elaborate spaces designed for social interaction—indoors around a fireplace and outdoors on an event lawn, picnic area and social garden.
You can tour five collections of single-family homes, including the new Reflection Collection of luxury-sized ranch plans from 2,369 to over 4,000 square feet.

Solstice
Developer: Shea Homes
Location: From C470, take Santa Fe south 4 mi. to Titan Rd., west 2 mi., right on Roxborough Park Rd, Littleton, CO
Size: 384 Acres
Builder: Shea Homes
Price range: From the $700s to low $1Ms
Move right away: From the mid-$700s
livesolsticeco.com

All of these master plans are reporting good sales from this past summer. Re/Max’s Palese says that despite the timing, builders are aggressively adding inventory, creating a noticeable advantage for buyers in a resale market with high prices and too few homes.

He says, “Builders have inventory and they’re passing on great incentives now—discount, and more often, some really attractive interest rates not seen for a while.”