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Is Platt Park Denver overhyped, or one of the best places to live in Denver? We break down the real pros, hidden tradeoffs, home prices, and lifestyle.
If you’ve been searching for that ideal mix of charm, location, and walkability, Platt Park Denver is probably already on your radar. In this video, we walk through what it’s actually like living in Platt Park Denver in 2026, beyond just the surface. We cover what draws so many buyers here, how it fits into the Denver Colorado real estate market, and what you should know before making a move.
Platt Park consistently ranks among the best places to live in Denver, largely because of South Pearl Street Denver. This area is packed with restaurants, coffee shops, local events, and a strong neighborhood feel. It’s one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Denver Colorado, which is a major reason buyers are willing to pay a premium.
We also break down homes for sale in Platt Park Denver, from historic homes full of character to newer Denver new construction homes throughout the area. That mix creates both opportunity and tradeoffs. If you’re comparing Washington Park vs Platt Park Denver, those differences can matter depending on what you’re looking for.
We spend time on pricing as well, including what Platt Park homes in Denver Colorado typically cost and how that fits into the Denver housing market in 2026. At the same time, we talk through some of the realities, especially with older homes and ongoing redevelopment. You’ll often see smaller homes next to larger new builds, which can impact privacy and long-term feel. These are the kinds of details many buyers don’t fully consider at first.
We also cover lifestyle, including access to the Cherry Creek Trail, bike-friendly streets, and how connected Platt Park is to the rest of Denver. For many, it hits that balance between established and accessible.
This is a straightforward look at the pros and cons of living in Denver Colorado through the lens of one of its most popular neighborhoods. If you’re moving to Denver Colorado or just exploring your options, this will help you decide if Platt Park is the right fit.
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Here we are in Plat Park, one of the coolest neighborhoods in all of Denver.
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I would say in a lot of ways it's kind of like the little sister of Washington Park. Wouldn't you? Would you say it's cooler, more fun? Everybody likes it a little better.
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I mean, I don't know if everybody likes it better, but it is a little more about going out, getting out on the town, a more robust restaurant scene. In a lot
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of ways, a very similar vibe otherwise, um, but a much smaller and not as cool of a park.
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Yeah. But we're here today to give you some of the distinguishing features of some of the differences it has from the nearby areas and help you figure out if it's right for you.
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We're Jake and Megan Fredel, your brother sister real estate team.
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Full-time real estate agents, part-time tour guides to everything southern Denver living.
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And hey, whether you're looking to move in 9 days or 900 days, it's never too early to reach out to us to start conversations about making your move to
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Denver. So, all of our information is in the description below and we are so excited to hear from you.
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Let's start by putting Plat Park on the map for you. So, it sits on the south end of Denver and its boundaries are going to be Mississippi and I25,
Chapter 2: Location and South Pearl Street lifestyle
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Broadway, Evans, and Downey. And along the the area is its kind of main street.
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It's South Pearl and that's where everything happens. It's lined with shops, restaurants, and lots to do. So, when you say walkable, a lot of times in
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Denver, that's kind of a loosey goosey term. I feel like it's pretty relevant here. You can run out of your house, go hit your drugstore, go grab drinks, go
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grab lunch, grab some shopping, and and you can all do that really walkable in your one little city area. It's also a
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really nice place to walk in. There's lots of cute things around the town.
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Like, I know whenever I'm there, I see these little like fairy sculptures that they have set up. the whole town is played into it and they have them set up all along the shops. So, it's a great
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place to walk around and get everything you need done. And it's not just walkable, it's bikable. And I say this because a lot of times when Jake and I are showing folks around there, they're
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biking to us. We have to drive up in our car from a little further south, but everywhere they go, they're enjoying the sunshine and the nice biking paths that
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Denver has to offer. Denver as a whole has some pretty good bikable areas, some dedicated lanes and the streets that are really helpful. And this particular area
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is pretty close to the Plat River Trail, which is known to be beautiful for biking, and the Cherry Creek Trail, which if you hop on that, you can get all over Denver. As we were filming, we
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ran into Doug. He was such a nice guy, and he talked to us about what it's been like living in the area for many, many years. He actually lives in the Wash
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Park area, but he talks about frequenting Plat Park and what it's been like watching it change over the years.
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Actually, there's not a lot of shopping directly in Wash or in the middle of Wash Park. So, people tend to come down
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here to South Pearl and then there's various shops and so on along Alamita that people go to as well. And I
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definitely agree with that sentiment of doing a little travel to get to everything that Plat Park has to offer.
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From Sushi Den, Park Burger, uh, Kyo Sarapas, there are so many options of things to eat and do down here that you
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really can't go wrong. Oh, and the events. Sunday Farmers Market every single week in the summer and even into
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the fall. You've got Pride on Pearl Street. You've got October Fest, Winterfest, and Art Walks. It doesn't just end at your neighborhood
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restaurant. There's lots of activity and communities to join in the area.
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To understand why Plat Park is such an awesome neighborhood, we got to talk a little bit about the historical context.
Chapter 3: History, landmarks, and community feel
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So, Plat Park has roots going back to the late 1800s. It actually used to be part of its own town, South Denver,
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which was later annexed and just became the rest of Denver. But because of that, it was kind of its own little town center, which is why we have this really
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awesome mix of housing and retail and commercial areas. There's a couple of really cool landmarks that anchor the area. One of them is the Fleming
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Mansion. Uh, and this was a mansion built in the late 1880s by James Fleming. Served as his personal re uh residence for a time and then he sold it
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to the city and for a time it was South Denver's city hall. even served as South Denver's jail for a little while and now
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is just a really beautiful building that adds a lot of character to the neighborhood and it's used for local events, community gatherings, and you
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can even get married there. Next is a really special place. It's the Decker Library, named originally after Sarah Platt Decker, who was a famous women
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suffragist, one of the folks who brought women's vote here to Colorado. Uh it's a really cute smaller library and it's
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done so intentionally. Um so it's really great for kids who have maybe some sensory stuff going on. If you have kids
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who are neurode divergent like I do, this is a really nice calm peaceful library to be in. Uh they even have sensory tool kits. So they have
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headphones and fidget devices and all kind of cool things like that. uh sensory story times and they have uh
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programming for kids all year long and in the summer that focus on early learning literacy. So you've got toddler uh story times, little kiddo story
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times, preschool story times. Um it's a great hub for the neighborhood. So if you're looking for your mom's group, this is where you're going to find it.
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So there are a ton of new builds in this neighborhood. Reason being is we're starting to hit this tipping point for the older homes. A lot of homes were
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built between 1900 and 1940. Uh the Denver area has a lot of expansive soil, which is hard on foundations. So, with
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such a robust Pearl Street area, a lot of folks are identifying this neighborhood and building newer homes, and they're finding the perfect
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opportunities for homes to scrape because of a lot of those foundational issues we see. If you've watched our videos before, you hear us talk a lot
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about this. It's a huge concern and we're always happy to guide you into making sure that your home has a great foundation. But for the homes that have
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maintained structural integrity over time, uh there are some beautiful old homes. We've got lots of bungalows, some Craftsman, some Denver squares, and lots
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of things with big front porches to encourage folks to get out into the community and say hello to their neighbors. So, the the neighborhood
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feels very cohesive even though you've got this disparity between the old 1900s home and some of these earlier 2000s homes. It's a beautiful neighborhood and
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it feels wonderful to walk through. So, uh it's a nice mix. Whatever you're looking for, we can find it. Diving into some numbers in Plat Park. First, the
Chapter 4: Homes and architecture breakdown
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single family detached homes uh over the last year for about 1,200 square ft above ground and just under 2,000 square
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ft total. that's going to sell for right around 900,000.
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Then if we dive into the non-s single families, duplexes and the like, uh you're going to get about 1,800 total
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square ft² above ground and with 2600 total including that basement and then a closed price of about 910,000.
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So what's happening there? We would typically see the single family selling for higher prices. But what's really going on here is that a lot of the
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single families are going to be your older homes and they're going to be built to uh the 1900 standards of architecture and what people needed out
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of a home. So the newer the newer homes are actually going to be some of those duplexes. Uh and so you're getting more square footage, a more modern layout,
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but you're sacrificing the privacy of having a standalone building. Um, so kind of up to you, you know, is it better to have a nicer, more modern home
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or can you take an old craftsman style and turn it into exactly what you want and have that separation? Despite this historic charm that is absolutely pre
Chapter 5: Pricing, market insights, and comparisons
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present at Plat Park, it doesn't have a true historical designation. Now, we've talked about this before. or if you've ever seen our Highlands video, we talk
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into the Potter district is the top one that comes to mind, which is this historic neighborhood that has that designation and it makes it a lot harder
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to do renovations. Um, but here Plat Park, even though it has all that charm, it doesn't have that designation. So, it does have a lot more ability for you to
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do development if you want. If you want to renovate the exterior, there's a little less rules and your permitting process is going to be a little easier.
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Now, the con side of this, Doug in our interview talked about his struggle with this tear down and rebuild.
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People are coming in knocking down the houses and building these like 8,000. I mean, I I don't know if it's 8,
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but these huge hues, those are like, you know, within a foot of the lot line and so on. And I, you know, from my
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perspective, that's not really what I like to see.
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Um, a lot of folks feel like it's taking away some of that charm and you're taking away some of these really historic, beautiful things and slapping
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up things that they're maybe not the most proud of. Now, we talked a lot about how some of these older homes were having a lot of problems and that was
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why they were scraped to begin with, but it really is an argument that deserves a lot of attention from both sides. Also, we saw some recent changes in Denver
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with ADU status, and Plat Park is no exception to that. We're seeing a little bit broader ability to have ADUs put into the back of homes. So, if you have
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a lot that has the space for it, you might have some ability to do ADU. But the really cool thing about Plat Park and its zoning is that there are already
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a lot of lots that are already zoned for two units on one lot. Now, this can be really great for value. It increases the
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drive for redevelopment people. If you're selling your own lot and it already has that capability, it gives you a lot more value on your sale. The
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con of this could be that if you don't want to live next door to a duplex and you currently don't, that could change for you. that lot might be sold and
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eventually turned into a duplex when it was once a single family home. So, lots of drive for economic growth and value increase that we have consistently seen
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over the years in Plat Park and a lot of drive for density growth. And with all that growth does come some redevelopment. There's rumor of a Trader
10:06
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Joe's coming to Plat Park. We're pretty sure it's happening, but it's not 100% confirmed publicly yet. So, up in the air a bit. There's also the
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redevelopment of the Hansen site. That's going to be mixeduse development with some more shopping, retail type things.
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We're also seeing that cause maybe some parking issues. Some people are complaining that Plat Park is not very parkable. I personally have found when
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I'm showing in the area. I don't have too hard of a time finding parking. I usually have to walk a couple blocks and I think that's pretty great for Denver
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in general. But with more density and more spaces does come more parking issues. So, as we just learned from Doug
Chapter 6: Zoning, development, and future growth
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there, not everybody's super into the scraping and the rebuilding of the giant homes. And we just got a tour of this
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beautiful new duplex from our friend Alex. This is the Denver Building Group.
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They are building about 12 projects around Denver right now. They've got this one that is just one block from Sushi Den. I mean, I could literally hit
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Sushi Den with a rock. And they've got a few projects in Cherry Creek and in Washington Park. These beautiful new duplexes are going to be with made with
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high-end finishes. Uh gonna sell for right around $2 million. Um let's take a look inside. Alex was nice enough to give us give us a a construction tour.
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So basically we're just adding recently we added a new pergola that kind of connects to the stone wall here. We're going to make this all wall. We're add a parting wall here as well. 8 ft tall.
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Nice separation from the neighbors. Uh if we head inside, we are really big on accents. So, we have accents across all
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the walls here and that goes all the way down that way as well. Awesome. Mhm. So, is this like a Did you scrape this?
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Yes. Okay, cool.
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This was a full demo being built up. We don't have countertops quite yet. As you can see, this is kind of what construction looks like in the rough.
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This is going to be a really cool giant fireplace.
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Oh, that would be So, like this is how the bathroom's going to look like.
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Nice on top. And then cover this. We're going to fit the two washer and dryers in there. Nice little stone
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laundry room, I suppose. Here's the secondary.
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We have some of the towel work done here as well. Little on suite.
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Oh. Oh, I thought that red was like tile. I was like, that's a bold choice.
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So, usually we use leftover pieces of the stone. I don't want to say granite quartz cuz I'm not good with my stone.
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There's no stone. And we just get out great closet for the master.
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And what I like about duplexes is that we actually do two closets because I know a lot of people complain that, you know, duplexes have way too small
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closets, too small storage. So we said, let's add two. Nice.
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Finishing here. We have under cab lighting here. So it's going to be LEDs.
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Nice. Same uh on the ground. We're going to use the stone finish it through. And then that is the second closet.
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Obviously toilet is bedet ready. We're adding a plug in there. Cool.
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Bathroom. This is going to be a wet bar.
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Also storing from downstairs is going to be oxygen here as well.
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Nice bathroom. This is our office area. Or you can use as another bedroom.
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The windows are awesome.
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We have sleepers right now, but now
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I don't know about you, I got fear of height, so I'm staying close to the wall.
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You know, I used to jump out of airplanes. They're insane.
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Insane. And then that's They don't anymore. I was insane. Yeah. Very cool. I like it's unique.
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We have beams up there. Nice.
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Oh, yeah. Little uh what do they call that? Complimentary colors in your cabinetry. Yeah. Very cool.
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Last, let's talk about some transportation stuff. We are super close to Louisiana Pearl light rail station.
Chapter 7: Transportation and accessibility
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It's an easy walk there and from there it's like 10 minutes to downtown with with a very few stops. Um if you need a parking ride, you have to go to the
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Broadway station which is also very close by and even shorter trip to downtown. So uh transportation is very
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accessible here. There's a parking ride at Broadway. Easy trip downtown no matter where you're from. Thanks for joining us in Plat Park today. If you
Chapter 8: Final thoughts and who it’s right for
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missed the Washington Park Big Brother tour, make sure you find that and subscribe to our channel. And hey, we do YouTube tours for fun and to help you figure out what place is right for you.
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But real estate is our professional.
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That's where we really shine. So, if you guys have any questions about real estate and moving here, we are always happy to discuss with you.
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Please reach out to us. Shoot us a text message or an email. And we'll see you next time
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