West Colfax

Pricing trends

West Colfax prices below Sloan's Lake and the Highlands for comparable homes, with the new townhomes on the hospital site and renovated bungalows near the lake at the top and original ranches and cottages among the more attainable detached homes on the west side. The Denver table below carries the citywide numbers.

Citywide figures for Denver. Source: Local Market Update, August 2026, REcolorado data compiled by the Colorado Association of REALTORS®. Neighborhood-level figures vary; ask me for comparables on any specific home. See all area tables.

About West Colfax

West Colfax is the neighborhood between Sloan's Lake and Colfax Avenue on Denver's west side, a grid of 1900s to 1950s houses that spent decades in the shadow of the old St. Anthony Hospital. The hospital's 2011 move opened 30 acres for the Sloan's Lake redevelopment of apartments, townhomes and shops, the W Line brought two stations, and the neighborhood has become one of the fastest-changing in the city.

Location

West Colfax runs from Federal Boulevard west to Sheridan Boulevard and from 17th Avenue south to Colfax Avenue, with Sloan's Lake Park and the Sloan's Lake neighborhood to the north, Villa Park and Lakewood Gulch to the south, Edgewater and Lakewood across Sheridan and Jefferson Park and the stadium to the east. The Perry and Knox stations on the W Line serve it; downtown is ten minutes by rail.

History and background

West Colfax was platted in the 1880s as the town of Colfax, a streetcar suburb along the road west to Golden, and annexed by Denver in 1897. Its early residents included a large Jewish community that built synagogues, a hospital and the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society's sanatorium along the avenue, giving the neighborhood a character it kept into the 1960s.

St. Anthony Hospital opened on the shore of Sloan's Lake in 1893 and grew through the twentieth century into a regional trauma center that occupied most of the land between 16th and 17th avenues. The motels, car lots and diners of U.S. 40 lined Colfax as the highway's traffic peaked in the 1950s, then faded after Interstate 70 opened.

St. Anthony moved to Lakewood's Federal Center in 2011, and the W Line light rail opened through the neighborhood in 2013. The hospital's land became the Sloan's Lake development of apartments, townhomes and shops, and the two station areas drew the townhome construction that has reshaped the neighborhood since.

Housing and architecture

The streets hold 1900s to 1920s brick cottages and bungalows near Federal, 1940s and 1950s ranches toward Sheridan, and a large new stock of townhomes, slot homes and apartments on the former hospital site and along the station areas. Many blocks mix original houses with 2010s and 2020s construction. The Colfax frontage still carries motels and commercial lots being redeveloped.

Parks and recreation

Sloan's Lake Park's loop, boathouse and skyline views are across 17th Avenue, and the Lakewood Gulch trail runs along the southern edge toward the river and downtown. Paco Sanchez Park, with its playground and the Decatur-Federal station, is at the eastern end, and Edgewater's lakefront is to the west.

Dining, shopping and daily life

The Sloan's Lake redevelopment on the old hospital site holds restaurants, an Alamo Drafthouse, coffee and shops, and Colfax carries a growing run of restaurants, breweries and the Lakewood-Denver dining strip near Sheridan. Edgewater's 25th Avenue and the Highlands are a short ride, and groceries are at the King Soopers on 26th or the Safeway on Colfax in Lakewood.