★ Neighborhood of Expertise
Neighborhood Guide
University Hills
Postwar ranches, big lots, and an easy commute in Southeast Denver.
Photo: Bill Griepenstroh / Unsplash
Postwar ranches, big lots, and an easy commute in Southeast Denver.
Trailing 12 months through September 2026. Source: MLS data.
University Hills is one of Southeast Denver's most practical and well-loved neighborhoods. It's the perfect balance of suburban amenities with urban access, pairing quiet residential streets with quick access to I-25, light rail, and everyday shopping. The neighborhood is filled with wide, mature tree-lined streets, and lots tend to be generous for a city neighborhood. Light rail at Yale and Southmoor stations makes for an easy trip downtown or to the Denver Tech Center, and DU, Cherry Creek, and the mountains are a short drive via I-25 and US-285. It also has amazing access to green space, including the High Line Canal and Eisenhower Park.
Most of University Hills was built in the 1950s and early 1960s, and the neighborhood is mostly ranches, with the occasional split-level or tri-level. You'll find some brick ranches, but many of the 1950s homes have panel siding. Basements are occasional, and one-car garages are not uncommon. In pockets of the neighborhood, original homes are being scraped and replaced with new homes built in the 2020s, which sit at the top of the neighborhood's price range. A small number of condos and townhomes are found near Colorado Boulevard and Yale Avenue.
University Hills grew out of Denver's postwar housing boom. The land was part of Arapahoe County until Denver annexed it in 1944 and 1946, and developers Ted Hutchinson and Lou Carey started building in 1951. Their 1952 ads featured four house designs, the Columbine, Suburban, Modernaire, and Belfour, priced around $10,000, and about 2,200 homes were finished by 1953.
The neighborhood's landmarks followed over the next decade. The University Hills Center opened in 1955, anchored by the May Company, and UHNA credits it as Denver's first postwar regional shopping center. Eisenhower Park was added along the High Line Canal in 1956, and the Ross-University Hills Library opened in 1960. The shopping center later became an enclosed mall, which was torn down in the mid-1990s and replaced by today's center.
The University Hills Neighborhood Association (UHNA) is the neighborhood's registered neighborhood organization, sharing community news, events, and meeting info.
Visit UHNA.comAssigned schools depend on the address, and DPS also offers school choice. Look up any address with the DPS School Finder.
Arianna lives in Southeast Denver and cares deeply about this community. She serves on the board of the University Hills Neighborhood Association, the volunteer nonprofit behind neighborhood events like Food Truck Nights in the Park. She knows University Hills street by street, from how the original 1950s ranches compare to today's new builds to what's selling and why, and she keeps her finger on the pulse of the local market. Whether you're buying or selling in University Hills, you get local insight and hands-on guidance at every step.
Ask Me About University HillsI can send you recent sales, what's coming to market, and what your budget buys here, or tell you what your home could sell for today.