Denver is crowded. If you’ve tried to drive down I-25 at 4:00 PM on a Tuesday, or basically any time on a Saturday, you know the feeling of being packed in like a sardine. People keep coming. They want the mountains, the breweries, and that weirdly intense sunshine that hits even when it’s ten degrees out. But here’s the thing: the old way of expanding—just building more sprawl in Highlands Ranch or Castle Rock—isn’t working anymore. It's expensive. It’s killing the commute. So, when we talk about a way to grow Denver, we aren’t just talking about adding more people; we are talking about how to keep the city from breaking under its own weight.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a mess.
Denver’s population skyrocketed by nearly 20% between 2010 and 2020. While that growth has cooled slightly recently, the regional demand is still through the roof. We are currently staring down a housing shortage that makes "affordable" feel like a punchline. To fix it, the city is moving away from the 1950s dream of a white picket fence for everyone and moving toward something much denser. It’s controversial. Neighbors are fighting neighbors over accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and multi-family zoning. But if you want to know the real way to grow Denver sustainably, you have to look at the dirt, the transit lines, and the legislative battles happening at the State Capitol.
✨ Don't miss: September 20 Zodiac: Why This Virgo Degree Is the Perfectionist’s Greatest Trap
The Death of the Single-Family Monopoly
For decades, Denver was a sea of single-family homes. You had your yard, your garage, and your quiet street. That’s changing. Fast. The city’s "Advancing Denver" initiatives and the recent focus on the "Near Southeast Area Plan" are pushing for what urban planners call "missing middle" housing. Think duplexes, triplexes, and row homes.
It’s not just about cramming people in. It’s about the fact that the average home price in Denver is hovering around $600,000 to $700,000, and most first-time buyers are simply locked out. By changing zoning laws to allow more than one unit on a standard lot, the city is trying to lower the barrier to entry. This is the primary way to grow Denver without turning the entire metro area into one giant parking lot.
Some people hate it. They worry about parking. They worry about "neighborhood character." But as Mayor Mike Johnston has pointed out in various town halls, you can’t house a workforce in 1950s-era zoning. The math doesn't work. We need rooftops.
Why ADUs are the Secret Weapon
Have you noticed those fancy "granny flats" popping up in backyards in Whittier or the Highlands? Those are Accessory Dwelling Units. For a long time, you needed a special permit or specific zoning to build one. Now, the city is making it easier. This is a brilliant, low-impact way to grow Denver. It allows a homeowner to stay in their house as they age by renting out the back, or it lets a young professional live in a high-demand neighborhood without needing to buy a whole house.
It’s a gentle density. It doesn’t ruin the skyline, but it adds a unit of housing where there was once just a shed full of rusted lawnmowers.
Transit-Oriented Development: No More Cars?
Let’s be real: RTD has a reputation problem. Between "ghost buses" and the light rail slow zones, many Denverites have given up on public transit. However, the most effective way to grow Denver involves building up—literally—around transit hubs. Look at Union Station. Ten years ago, it was a beautiful building in a sea of gravel lots. Today, it’s a dense forest of glass towers, offices, and apartments.
That’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).
The goal is simple. You build the housing where the trains are. If someone lives at 38th and Blake, maybe they don’t need two SUVs. Maybe they don’t need any car at all.
- The "A-Line" Effect: The train to the plane changed the game for the RiNo and Northeast Denver area.
- The Federal Blvd Overhaul: There’s a massive push to turn Federal into a "Bus Rapid Transit" (BRT) corridor. It’s currently one of the most dangerous streets in the city for pedestrians.
- Parking Minimums: One of the quietest but biggest changes is the city reducing how much parking developers must build. Parking is expensive. It costs about $30,000 to $50,000 per spot in a garage. If you cut the parking, you cut the rent.
The Water Problem Nobody Wants to Mention
You can’t talk about a way to grow Denver without talking about the Colorado River. It’s the elephant in the room. We live in a high-desert climate, yet we have miles of Kentucky Bluegrass that sucks up millions of gallons of water.
Denver Water has been pretty aggressive about this. They have a goal to reduce water use significantly by 2030. This means the future of Denver's growth looks less like "green lawns" and more like "xeriscaping." If we don’t get smart about water recycling and landscape requirements, the growth will simply stop. The taps will go dry, or more likely, the cost of water will become another "mortgage payment" for residents.
We’re seeing a shift toward "greywater" systems in new developments. This is where sink and shower water gets treated and reused for toilets or irrigation. It’s technical, it’s a bit gross to think about at first, but it’s the only way to sustain 700,000+ people in a place that gets 14 inches of rain a year.
Economic Diversification Beyond "The Patch"
Denver used to be an oil and gas town. Period. When the price of crude dropped, Denver went into a recession. That’s not the case anymore. A huge way to grow Denver's resilience has been the influx of tech and aerospace.
Companies like Palantir moved their headquarters here. We have a massive footprint for companies like Lockheed Martin and Ball Aerospace. This brings in high-paying jobs, which is great, but it also creates a massive wealth gap. The "new" Denver is tech-heavy and expensive. The "old" Denver—the artists, the service workers, the teachers—is being priced out to Aurora or Lakewood.
To grow correctly, Denver has to figure out how to keep its soul. If the city becomes nothing but a playground for remote tech workers, it loses the very culture that made people want to move here in the first place. That’s why programs like the "Priority Preference" for affordable housing—which gives locals who were displaced a first shot at new units—are so vital.
Downtown’s Identity Crisis
Post-2020, 16th Street Mall felt a bit like a ghost town. With hybrid work, the office towers aren't full. This is a massive challenge for the city’s tax base. But it’s also an opportunity.
Converting offices to apartments is the hot topic right now. It sounds easy, right? Just put in some beds and kitchens.
Nope.
Plumbing is the nightmare. Most office buildings have one central bathroom "core." Apartments need bathrooms and kitchens every few feet. It’s expensive. But the city is looking at tax incentives to make this happen. Turning the Central Business District into a 24/7 neighborhood rather than a 9-to-5 cubicle farm is a necessary way to grow Denver for the next generation. We need people living downtown, not just commuting there to sit in a glass box.
What Needs to Happen Next
If we are going to do this right, we have to stop thinking about Denver as just the city limits. We have to think about the "Front Range Urban Corridor."
- Stop the sprawl: Every time we build a new subdivision in the middle of a prairie, we commit to more traffic and more infrastructure costs that the city can't afford to maintain.
- Legalize ADUs everywhere: No more "special districts." If you own a lot, you should be able to build a small, secondary home on it.
- Invest in BRT: Light rail is great, but it’s slow and expensive to build. Bus Rapid Transit (dedicated lanes for buses) can be deployed in a fraction of the time.
- Tax the vacant lots: We have too many "surface parking lots" downtown owned by billionaires waiting for the land value to go up. Tax them until they build something useful.
Growth is painful. It’s loud, it’s dusty, and it makes your favorite dive bar have a two-hour wait. But a city that isn't growing is a city that's dying. The goal isn't to stop the people from coming—you can't—it's to make sure that when they get here, there's a place for them to live that doesn't ruin the experience for the rest of us.
Actionable Insights for Residents and Investors
If you're looking to play a part in how the city evolves, or just want to protect your own investment, keep these points in mind:
- Look at Zoning Maps: Check the "Denver 8020" or "Blueprint Denver" maps before buying. If your street is slated for high-density, expect construction but also expect your land value to jump.
- Water-Wise is Mandatory: If you're renovating, rip out the lawn now. There are rebates available through Denver Water that basically pay for the transition to xeriscaping.
- Follow the L-Line: Keep an eye on areas along the smaller, often overlooked light rail lines. These pockets are often the last "affordable" spots before they explode.
- Participate in Registered Neighborhood Organizations (RNOs): This is where the real decisions on density and development happen. If you don't show up, you can't complain when a five-story apartment goes up next door.
Denver is in its "teenage years"—growing too fast, experiencing growing pains, and trying to figure out its adult identity. It’s messy, but the potential is still there if we stop clinging to a suburban model that doesn't fit a modern city.