Firestone and Barefoot Lakes

Pricing trends

Firestone is not in the monthly city reports on file, so I pull comparables from the MLS for each home. The broader pattern is that Barefoot Lakes homes trade below comparable new construction in Erie and Broomfield while offering amenities those communities lack, with resale demand supported by continued building in the later phases.

This community is not covered by the monthly Local Market Update tables on file. See the metro and area tables, or ask me for current comparables.

About Firestone

Firestone is one of the Carbon Valley's three old coal towns, and since 2000 it has grown from under 2,000 people to more than 16,000 as newer communities like Barefoot Lakes filled in the land along the St. Vrain River. Barefoot Lakes is the headline: a master-planned neighborhood built around two lakes with paddling, fishing spots, trails and a clubhouse, next to St. Vrain State Park. For buyers who want a new or nearly new home with real amenities at a north-metro price, within reach of Longmont, Boulder and I-25, this is the community I recommend.

Location

Firestone sits in southwest Weld County between I-25 and State Highway 66, about 15 minutes from Longmont, 30 from Boulder and 35 to 40 from downtown Denver. Barefoot Lakes lies on the town's north side along the St. Vrain, with a Longmont mailing address and ZIP 80504.

History and background

Firestone was founded in 1908 on land owned by Jacob Firestone, one of several coal-mining towns, with Frederick and Dacono, that grew along the Union Pacific tracks in the northern coalfield of Weld County. Miners from Italy, Eastern Europe and Mexico worked the underground mines until the field played out in the 1930s and 1940s.

The town stayed small for decades, a farming community of a few hundred people along Highway 119 between Longmont and Interstate 25. Oil and gas drilling in the Wattenberg field brought a second industry to the area from the 1970s on.

Since the late 1990s Firestone has been one of the fastest-growing towns in Colorado, as subdivisions spread across the former farmland between the interstate and the St. Vrain River. The Barefoot Lakes community, built around two lakes on the river's north side, is the newest chapter, and the town's population has grown from about 1,900 in 2000 to more than 16,000.

Housing and architecture

Old Firestone, around the original 1908 townsite, has early-1900s miners' cottages and mid-century ranches. Nearly everything else is post-2000: two-story and ranch-style homes in the town's newer subdivisions and, newest of all, Barefoot Lakes, where national builders have delivered homes since the late 2010s. The 2017 two-story The Nest Team is listing on River Rock Way, with a remodeled kitchen and an oversized detached garage, is typical of the community's first phase.

Parks and recreation

Barefoot Lakes residents can paddleboard, kayak and fish on the community lakes, walk the lakeside nature trail and use The Cove clubhouse with its pool, splash pad, courts and fitness room. St. Vrain State Park, next door, has eleven ponds, seven miles of trail, camping and winter bald eagles. Firestone's 12-mile trail follows the old coal railroad bed and links to the St. Vrain Legacy Trail, and Saddleback Golf Course sits on the site of Colorado's first production coal mine.

Dining, shopping and daily life

Firestone's daily shopping is along Colorado Boulevard and the I-25 corridor, with Firestone Central Park and the town's recreation programs in between. Longmont adds a historic downtown, restaurants and larger shopping centers; Boulder and the Flatirons are a half hour west. Schools are in the St. Vrain Valley district.