Interesting articles from the Denver newspaper conglomerate Post/News :

Denver Pavilions goes on market: The developers of the Denver Pavilions are putting the downtown retail development on the market.

Argonaut Liquor moves
: The storied Argonaut, one of the oldest and most successful liquor stores in the Denver area, is getting a new home after about a half-century at its current site on East Colfax Avenue in Capitol Hill.

57-acre Evergreen estate on market for $24 million: Denver entrepreneur Richard Bard is selling a mansion on a 57-acre estate in Evergreen.

Treasury secretary: No simple fix for housing: The Bush administration is working to combat the country’s severe housing crisis but there is no simple solution, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday, adding that a correction in the housing market is “inevitable and necessary.”

Efforts to spark economy may be too little, too late: As leaders in Washington turn their attention to efforts to avert a looming downturn, many economists suggest that it may already be too late to change the course of the economy over the first half of the year, if not longer.

This past weekend the articles on real estate were slim. Sally Stitch of the Denver Post had a great article on the Sloan Lake neighborhood: Downtown proximity, views lure diverse mix

History of Sloan Lake:

The neighborhood was settled before the turn of the century. By the 1920s, a large group of Orthodox Jews had moved in, wanting to live near the synagogues they had built.

In the 1970s, many of those same families moved to southeast Denver, and a strong Hispanic population replaced them in the small red-brick bungalows and ranch-style houses.

Today, the neighborhood is a rich mixture of young professionals looking for starter homes, aging boomers looking to downsize, old-timers who never left, a smaller-but-still-present Jewish population and a large group of Hispanic residents. People like Larry Ambrose, president of the Sloan Neighborhood Association, say the neighborhood offers great urban living with rich ethnic and socio-economic diversity.

Facts on Sloan Lake:Sloan’s Lake:

Boundaries: West Colfax to West 29th avenues, Sheridan Boulevard to Irving Street

Who lives here: Young couples; older, long-time residents; professionals; Orthodox Jews; Hispanics

Why it’s cool: Million-dollar views of Sloan’s Lake, Front Range and the downtown skyline; proximity to downtown and the mountains; more R-2 lots than anywhere else in the city; predominantly brick construction; more bang for the real-estate buck in Denver

Why it’s not: Small houses (1,000-square-foot average), often not updated; low-performing public schools; rental properties (duplexes, triplexes) that often are poorly maintained by absentee landlords

Schools: Denver Public Schools, including Cheltenham and Colfax elementaries and Brown elementary, which has a new International Baccalaureate program; Lake Middle School; and North High School

Rentals: A house on the lake: $2,200/month; half a duplex: $900-$1,200/month

Housing: Median home price $247,050; average price per square foot: $212.90