Denver's "Secret" Luxury Lakeside Suburb Gets National Attention

Twelve miles southwest of downtown Denver sits a town seemingly lost in time. Single-story houses come with large backyards; children swim and fish in a neighborhood lake; and residents feel so secure in their privacy that they don't bother with curtains or blinds.

That's how the Wall Street Journal described the community of Bow Mar, a one-square-mile statutory town between Denver and Littleton, in a glowing article published on August 31. The "well-kept secret," "mythical land of Bow Mar" is among the most expensive neighborhoods in the suburbs around Denver.

Single-family homes in Bow Mar sold for a median of $2.3 million in 2024, WSJ reported. That's compared to around $650,000 in the metro area. Most entry-level Bow Mar properties are one-story midcentury houses that require extensive renovations, at times costing millions on top of the purchase price. But the community's true value lies outside of the homes.

"[Bow Mar] doesn’t have megamansions, but it has something many homeowners crave as the city’s sprawl creeps outward: outdoor space," the WSJ article reads.

Houses in Bow Mar typically sit on one-acre lots — more than seven times the 0.14-acre median lot size of single-family homes built in the Denver metro area in 2023.

In addition to spacious yards, residents enjoy a 100-acre private lake complete with a town-only recreation club. Children can take sailing, swimming and craft lessons, while adults can play pickleball, tennis and even raise chickens. And it comes at a high cost: The community's voluntary social club charges a $22,500 initiation fee and an annual fee of about $2,700, WSJ reported.

Buying a Home in Bow Mar

Exclusivity is kind of the whole point. Bow Mar is comprised of only around 300 homes with a population of 853 as of the 2020 Census. There is no room for further development within the town, and no more than a dozen of the town's houses trade most years, according to WSJ.

Only three houses within Bow Mar are listed for sale on Zillow as of September 3, ranging from $2.1 million to $2.7 million for each of the four-bedroom homes, which sit on between 0.8 and 1.04 acres of land.

The luxury community was developed in the 1950s by Lloyd King, the founder of King Soopers. Its affluent occupants have included Dish Network co-founder Charles Ergen, who bought the town's most expensive home for $7 million in 2011, WSJ reported.

For those of us who can't afford to drop $7 million, Denver's affordable fire-damaged, zero-bedroom houses are only a thirty-minute drive away.