BLVD Builders started work recently on Iron Works Village, a 136-unit mixed-density neighborhood with for-sale single-family, townhouse and duplex residences that it calls the largest residential development in Englewood in the last 50 years. The neighborhood is being designed by Pel-Ona Architects & Urbanists along New Urbanist lines.

Iron Works Village will feature tree-lined, narrow streetscapes with sidewalks, a fairly common New Urbanist feature designed to encourage walking rather than driving. The residences will sport wide front porches as well to encourage people to be more community-facing, rather than inward-facing in their homes.

“The homes at Iron Works are street-facing and community-oriented," Pel-Ona co-founder Korkut Onaran said.

Inside, the units will have open floor plans to allow in as much natural light as possible. The residences will also include tankless water heaters, high-efficiency furnaces and LED lighting in every unit, among other sustainable features.

The property is on the site of the former General Iron foundry, an industrial operation that was an important part of the economic development of greater Denver and the entire Front Range during the 20th century, finally closing in the 1980s.

The eight-acre site is adjacent to, but not part of, the two acres where SW Development developed the 70-unit Foundry Apartments, an affordable housing project.

All of its units will be part of alley-loaded buildings, allowing the main building façades to be free of garage doors, which brings the scale of the neighborhood down to the pedestrian, according to Pel-Ona.

“The houses use principles of historic neighborhoods in a modern way. They have open floor plans and use modern technologies and building assemblies that live up to current-day sustainability needs," Pel-Ona co-founder Ronnie Pelusio said.

Site work is nearly complete, with water, sewer and storm sewer installed. Building foundations are expected to begin next month, and delivery of residences will start in early 2018.