Lowry
Denver, CO

From Air Force Base to Award-Winning Neighborhood — A 30-Year Transformation

Lowry Air Force Base operated for 57 years, training more than a million military personnel from all branches of the U.S. and Allied Forces before closing in 1994. The base was named after Lieutenant Francis B. Lowry, an aerial photographer killed in combat over France in 1918. Charles Lindbergh landed at Lowry Field in 1927 during his post-Atlantic publicity tour. During World War II, the base population reached 20,000, operating in three shifts around the clock. What replaced it after 1994 is one of the most successful military base redevelopments in the United States.

The Lowry Redevelopment Authority, working with the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, transformed the 1,866-acre base into a master-planned community of approximately 4,500 homes, 1.8 million square feet of office space, 130,000 square feet of retail, seven independent schools, one DPS elementary school, and 800 acres of parks and open space. The project earned the Governor’s Award for Smart Growth, the U.S. Conference of Mayors Sustainable Community Award, and the HUD Secretary’s Award for Innovative Collaboration. In 1999, the Homebuilders Association of Metropolitan Denver named Lowry Community of the Year. Those awards reflect what the neighborhood delivers daily: a thoughtfully planned community where residential streets, commercial corridors, parks, trails, and repurposed historic buildings coexist in a way that most master-planned communities spend decades trying to replicate and rarely achieve.

The housing stock spans a wide range. Boulevard One, Lowry’s newest section, features contemporary townhomes and single-family homes with modern floor plans and walkable access to retail and green space. The Historic District preserves original base buildings repurposed into stylish lofts, condos, and offices. Park Heights offers larger single-family homes with proximity to parks and schools. Entry-level condos and townhomes start in the low $400s, while custom single-family homes and premium Boulevard One properties reach $1.5 million and above. More than 25,000 people now live, work, and go to school in Lowry.

Central Denver — 20 Minutes to Downtown, 30 Minutes to DIA

Lowry sits in central-east Denver, bounded roughly by 11th Avenue to the north, Alameda Avenue to the south, Yosemite Street to the east, and Monaco Parkway to the west. Downtown Denver is approximately 20 minutes west, and Denver International Airport is roughly 30 minutes northeast via I-70 or Pena Boulevard. The neighborhood’s position between the Hilltop neighborhood to the west and Aurora to the east gives residents access to both Denver’s established inner-ring neighborhoods and the east metro’s commercial corridors along Havana and Parker Road.

Lowry Town Center, anchored by a Safeway and local shops and restaurants including Timbuk Toys and The Delectable Egg, handles most daily errands within the neighborhood. The Quebec Street commercial corridor adds additional retail and dining options along the eastern boundary. Lowry’s internal street design prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists with broad boulevards, wide sidewalks, and a trail network that connects the community’s parks, schools, and commercial nodes. The Westerly Creek Trail runs through the neighborhood and connects south to the High Line Canal system. For a master-planned community, the car-optional daily experience is better than most buyers expect.

800 Acres of Parks, a Public Golf Course, and a Dog Park That Gets Used Every Day

• 800 acres of parks and open space (35% native plants and grasses)
• CommonGround Golf Course (public, home of Colorado Golf Association)
• Lowry Sports Complex (turf and grass fields, soccer, lacrosse)
• Jackie Robinson Fields Park (softball, baseball, playground)
• Lowry Dog Park (off-leash, Westerly Creek Dam trails)
• Great Lawn Park (sundial, open green, paved paths)
• Big Bear Ice Arena (converted hangar, public skate, hockey leagues)
• Westerly Creek Trail (connects to High Line Canal)
• Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum (historic Hangar 1)
• Crescent Park
• Ulaanbaatar Park
• Multiple playgrounds, tennis courts, basketball courts
• Community pool and recreation center

Lowry’s 800 acres of parks and recreational land represent roughly 35 percent of the community’s total footprint, with more than a third of that acreage dedicated to native plants and grasses. CommonGround Golf Course, a public course and home of the Colorado Golf Association, provides an 18-hole option within the neighborhood that most residents don’t need to drive to reach. The Lowry Sports Complex spans hundreds of acres with turf and grass fields for soccer and lacrosse, and Big Bear Ice Arena, converted from an original base hangar, hosts public skating sessions and year-round hockey leagues. The Lowry Dog Park sits along Westerly Creek Dam with over two miles of dirt trail looping through the open space, and the Westerly Creek Trail connects south to the broader High Line Canal network. Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, housed in historic Hangar 1, is one of the top 20 aviation museums in the world and one of Lowry’s most visible connections to its military history.

Education in Lowry

Lowry is served by Denver Public Schools and has an unusually strong concentration of both public and independent school options. Lowry Elementary, built in 2001 specifically for the new community, serves PK through 5th grade. William “Bill” Roberts ECE-8 is a highly regarded DPS school serving kindergarten through 8th grade that consistently draws families from across Denver through DPS school choice. George Washington High School, one of DPS’s established comprehensive high schools, serves Lowry’s 9-12 students. The Logan School for Creative Learning, a well-known independent school emphasizing creativity and individualized instruction, is located within the Lowry neighborhood. Seven independent schools total operate within the community’s boundaries.

Lowry is served by Denver Public Schools, an open-choice district. School assignments are not determined solely by address. Always verify current attendance boundaries and school choice options directly with DPS before purchasing.

Where Lowry Residents Eat — The Hangar 2 Dining District

Hangar 2 is the centerpiece of Lowry’s dining identity. Originally built in 1939 to hold Air Force planes, the historic hangar at 7581 E. Academy Boulevard was repurposed into a dining district, retail hub, and community gathering space that anchors the neighborhood’s social life. The Lowry Beer Garden’s 9,000-square-foot outdoor garden fills with 500 people on a Friday evening. Officers Club pays homage to the base’s mid-century officers’ club culture with classic American fare and 10 varieties of Old Fashioned. Café Mercato brings Sicilian fine dining from a chef-owner who makes his own gelato. North County channels Baja California with 100 tequilas and hand-made tortillas. A B-52 bomber sits adjacent to the beer garden, and a Burning Man rocket ship houses Rocket Ice Cream at its base. The Hangar 2 district is what happens when redevelopment gets the dining part right.

Life in Lowry

Lowry residents describe their community in terms that reflect both its military history and its modern identity: the B-52 bomber they walk past on the way to dinner, the hangar they eat inside on a Friday evening, the golf course they play on Saturday morning, the museum their kids visit on a Sunday afternoon, and the trail system they use every day connecting all of it without getting in a car. The combination of 800 acres of parks, a public golf course, a dining district inside a historic Air Force hangar, one of the top aviation museums in the world, and a housing stock that ranges from $400K condos to $1.5M custom builds is not something that can be assembled from scratch. It took 57 years of military history and 30 years of intentional redevelopment to produce what Lowry is today.