July 23, 2015 VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 27
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Lone Tree real estate prices booming The light rail extension is among amenities expected to spur growth By Mike DiFerdinando
mdiferdinando@colorado communitymedia.com Lone Tree housing prices are some of the highest in the metro region, with the median sale price for a single-family home now at $705,000. And with new amenities on the way, those numbers may only go up from there. Real estate brokers and city officials gathered at the Lone Tree Arts Center July 15 to discuss the current state of the real-estate market in the city and look forward to areas of growth soon to come. “Those numbers were staggering,” Mayor
Jim Gunning said at the Lone Tree Realtor Summit. “I’ve got about a year left on my term but it might be time to sell now and get out.” Lone Tree, with a population of about 13,000, has an average household income of $149,000. Homes are currently selling for 97 percent of list price, according to Steve Konecny of the South Metro Denver Realtor Association. “The office rents here are $27 per square foot,” said Gunning. “I’m told that’s only behind LoDo and Cherry Creek. That’s amazing to me given the size of our city.” Lone Tree also has the second-highest rent in the state for a two-bedroom apartment, a recent survey shows. The city’s median rent of $1,620 trails only Boulder, according to the Colorado Rental Price Monitor, published on the website apartmentlist.com. Housing continues on Page 10
Lone Tree Mayor Jim Gunning speaks at the Lone Tree Arts Center July 15 during the 2015 Realtor Summit. Photo by Mike DiFerdinando
STEM kids launch into rocketry Highlands Ranch students travel to Pueblo for project By Taryn Walker
twalker@coloradocommunitymedia. com
Officer Tyler Patten of the Lone Tree Police Department refills glasses of water during the Tip A Cop event July 19 at the Chili’s restaurant in Lone Tree to raise money for Special Olympics athletes. Photos by Mike DiFerdinando
Tips go to special cause
Six students from STEM School and Academy in Highlands Ranch built a payload and flew it aboard a 25-foot rocket in Pueblo on July 18. The payload is a 2-meter, 2-pound Automatic Packet Reporting System beacon that transmits radio frequencies to determine GPS data, elevation, speed and altitude while in flight at 10,000 feet. Besides providing information, the payload will help students locate where it will land by giving the GPS longitude and latitude, said Bryon Paul Veal of APRL Rocky Mountain Division. On July 13, the STEM kids, who are interns with United Launch Alliance and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., as well as other numerous interns from kindergarten through 12th grade, showed off their hard work at an open house in Centennial. Rocket continues on Page 10
Law enforcement waited tables at Chili’s July 19 to raise money for Special Olympics By Mike DiFerdinando
mdiferdinando@colorado communitymedia.com
Officer Jason Rogers of the Lone Tree Police Department helps tie an apron around officer James Dinges July 19 before he works as a server at the Chili’s restaurant in Lone Tree to help raise money for the Special Olympics.
If you ate at a Colorado Chili’s on July 19, you probably noticed the waiters were a little more dressed up than usual. Some of them even had guns, badges and handcuffs. For the second year, Chili’s and local law enforcement across the state came together to raise money and awareness for the Special Olympics during its Tip A Cop event. In Lone Tree, officers donned aprons, poured drinks, carried trays and doled out information about the Special Olympics and its athletes at the restaurant at 10460 Park Meadows Drive. Tips continues on Page 10
The 25-foot tall Future rocket, the largest rocket to launch from Colorado, blasts off just outside Pueblo on July 18 as part of the 2015 United Launch Alliance and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Student Rocket Launch. The Student Rocket Launch offers hands-on opportunities for students from kindergarten through graduate school to learn and apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. Courtesy photo