The Preserve at Greenwood Village: A Buyer's Guide

Where The Preserve is, and how it fits into Greenwood Village

The Preserve sits on the west side of Greenwood Village, south of Belleview Avenue, with the High Line Canal and the Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve running through it. On the Arapahoe County map, its filings stretch roughly from Colorado Boulevard east toward Holly Street, between Belleview and Orchard Road. It's inside the City of Greenwood Village, so the city, not the county, is your local government, and your address will read Greenwood Village, CO 80121.

Greenwood Village is a home rule city that incorporated in 1950 and grew alongside the Denver Tech Center from the 1970s on. Its own property tax is small: the city levies 2.932 mills, compared with 5.076 for Centennial and 7.087 for Aurora in the same county's 2025 abstract. The city maintains about 40 miles of trails, including 5.47 miles of the High Line Canal Trail on the west side and the Cherry Creek Trail on the east side (City of Greenwood Village).

Approximate drive distances from Preserve Parkway (OpenStreetMap routing, checked Oct 2026):

• Greenwood Village City Hall (6060 S. Quebec St.) about 2 miles
• Downtown Littleton (light rail station) about 6 miles
• Park Meadows (Lone Tree) about 6 miles
• Denver Tech Center (Belleview light rail station) about 8 miles by road
• Cherry Creek Shopping Center about 11 miles
• Downtown Denver (State Capitol) about 14 miles
• Denver International Airport about 29 miles

The Tech Center is close enough that a lot of the daily driving here is short. If you'll head downtown or to the airport at rush hour, run the drive at your real time of day first. My South Denver suburb commute guide shows how, and my Greenwood Village guide covers the rest of the city.

The homes: custom homesites built out over three decades

Koelbel and Company bought the first parcel of what became The Preserve in 1971, then won the rezoning at the ballot box and bought the final parcel in 1988 (Koelbel). The homeowners' association was incorporated in September 1990, and the county's subdivision map shows eight filings plus later amendments. Koelbel describes it as the largest master-planned custom-home community in the Denver metro area, says it was the first of its kind to prohibit walls and fences between homes, and won the Home Builders Association's Bar Award for Best Custom Community in 2004. Its community page now lists The Preserve as sold out, so new homes here mean a resale or a rebuild.

There are really two parts. The larger custom-home section has about 398 single-family parcels on lots from about half an acre to 2.3 acres, with a median near 0.73 acre. The 3rd filing, Bateleur at The Preserve, has about 136 homes on lots of roughly 0.18 to 0.37 acre and its own homeowners' association (Arapahoe County parcel data, Colorado Secretary of State). Homes listed for sale in mid-October 2026 were built from 1993 to 2015.

Prices sit near the top of the south metro. Redfin showed a median sale price of about $2.77 million for the three months ending September 2026, with about 31 days on market, but that's on only four sales, so a single sale moves it a lot (Redfin, checked Oct 13, 2026). The county's 2025 actual values are steadier: custom-section homes run from about $1.79 million to $7.67 million, with a median near $2.95 million, and Bateleur homes from about $1.37 million to $2.54 million, with a median near $1.81 million (Arapahoe County parcel data). For the city as a whole, Redfin's median was about $1.51 million over the same three months.

HOA, covenants, school districts and property taxes

The custom-home section is governed by The Preserve at Greenwood Village Homeowners' Association, Inc., a Colorado nonprofit formed September 21, 1990. Bateleur has its own association, The Bateleur Homeowners' Association, formed in 1992 (Colorado Secretary of State). The associations don't publish their assessments online, but recent listings are consistent. Six main-Preserve listings from 2023 to 2026 show $600 a quarter ($2,400 a year). Bateleur's dues are higher because the association handles more: 2025 and 2026 Bateleur listings show about $1,620 to $1,725 a quarter, covering front-yard care, snow removal, trash, periodic exterior trim painting and the Bateleur clubhouse, pool and fitness room. The Bateleur listings I reviewed show only the Bateleur association, not a second Preserve fee. Get the current assessment, what it covers, any second association, and the transfer fees in the status letter before you rely on a number.

Recorded covenants and design review apply to every lot, and the no-walls-or-fences approach Koelbel describes is part of what gives The Preserve its open, continuous look. If you plan an addition, a fence, a pool or a teardown and rebuild, read the declaration and the current design guidelines first, and ask the association how long approvals take.

Here's the detail most buyers miss: The Preserve is split between two school districts. Arapahoe County's tax areas put most of the custom-home section in Littleton School District 6 and the rest, including Bateleur, in Cherry Creek School District 5. That changes the tax bill as well as the school assignment. For 2025 taxes paid in 2026, the Littleton tax area totals 105.018 mills, and the Cherry Creek tax areas total 93.468 to 93.933 mills. None includes a metro district. The difference comes almost entirely from the school levy: 65.193 mills for Littleton versus 54.108 for Cherry Creek (Arapahoe County 2025). Confirm the district for any address with the district's locator, and pull the parcel's tax area from the Arapahoe County Assessor. My post on why similar homes carry different tax bills explains how to read one.

The same tax areas show water from Southgate Water District and South Metro Fire Rescue for fire and emergency medical service, with sewer from Southgate Sanitation District for most homes. Confirm the water and sewer providers on the title commitment.

Open space, trails and what's nearby

The Preserve is built around open space rather than a big clubhouse. Here's what's there, with sources checked in October 2026.

• Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve A 59-acre city open space along the High Line Canal south of Belleview Avenue, with soft-surface trails through grassland, wetland and wooded habitat. The city calls it Greenwood Village's most significant open space area, and Koelbel says it dedicated the land.
• High Line Canal Trail A 71-mile urban greenway (High Line Canal Conservancy). Koelbel notes a 1.5-mile loop of the canal trail through The Preserve, and 5.47 miles of the trail lie in Greenwood Village.
• The Preserve's own amenities A six-acre complex with a private pool, tennis courts and a picnic pavilion for association members (Koelbel).
• Curtis Park and Curtis Center for the Arts City park at 2323 East Orchard Road with reservable athletic fields, next to the city's arts center at 2349 East Orchard Road.
• Westlands Park City park at 5701 South Quebec Street with a reservable pavilion, about 2 miles east. City parks are open dawn to dusk.
• Denver Tech Center Offices, restaurants and the Belleview light rail station, about 8 miles by road.

What to check before you buy in The Preserve

Most homes here were built in the 1990s and 2000s, and many have been remodeled since. That shapes the inspection plan.

• School district and tax area Don't assume. Look up the parcel's tax area with the Arapahoe County Assessor and confirm the school district and assigned schools with the district's locator. It's about 11 mills of difference.
• Which association Confirm whether the home is in the main Preserve association, in Bateleur, or both, and get each one's assessment, reserve information and transfer fees.
• Covenants and approvals Read the recorded covenants and design guidelines before you plan exterior changes, and ask the seller whether past additions, landscaping and exterior work were approved.
• Systems on a 1990s or 2000s home Check roof age, stucco or siding condition, windows, HVAC and water heaters, and order a sewer line camera scope on older homes.
• Radon About half of Colorado homes test above the EPA's action level of 4 pCi/L (CDPHE). Test during your inspection period; my radon testing guide explains the options.
• Open space edges Homes backing to the nature preserve or the canal trail have public trail users nearby. Walk the lot at different times of day so you know what to expect.

Selling a home in The Preserve

With only a handful of sales in a typical quarter, pricing a Preserve home takes more than a neighborhood median. Lot size, frontage on the nature preserve or canal, the school district and tax area, and the level of remodeling all move value, and a custom home on 1.5 acres shouldn't be priced off a Bateleur sale. I build the price from the closest true comparables and explain the adjustments to buyers' agents, especially the school district split, which buyers often get wrong.

If you're thinking about selling, start with a price built on recent Preserve sales. You can request one on my home value page. If you're buying, my free buyer guide walks through the Colorado contract timeline, and you can reach out to me about a specific home.

Nearby guides

• Living in Greenwood Village
• Cherry Hills Village
• Heritage Hills
• Cherry Creek
• All South Metro neighborhood guides