A custom builder in Lakewood creates a spacious walkout ranch

Builder Zach Klimko, left, joins Jack and Justin Fine, outside of his new walkout ranch near Lakewood Country Club, open this weekend.

While small, old bungalows two miles away in Highlands are getting offers into the $500,000s and new places are reaching for a million dollars, it's amazing what real estate connoisseur Jack Fine and his son Justin Fine will show you tomorrow, exactly two miles southwest in Lakewood. On Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m., they'll have open a newly completed walkout ranch, 2,859 finished square feet, with premium finishes right down to the guest baths, at $625,000.

Unlike Highlands new-builds that trend toward highly vertical plans to fit postage-stamp lots, this one sprawls on a quarter-acre that reaches 190 feet down into an urban forest - ash, pines, spruce. The kitchen/entertaining areas are elaborately finished, leading to a 200-square-foot deck looking into the greenery; and there's an oversized 2-car side-load garage - pretty hard to find in LoHi.

"This is so close to the city, yet it's quiet," says custom builder Zach Klimko, who's just wrapped up this ranch at 5730 W. 8th Avenue - and has sites tied down for other homes like this in surrounding areas near Lakewood Country Club, and heading south.

Zach's dad Dennis Klimko was a pioneer in rescuing these urban lots around Lakewood, Edgewater and Wheat Ridge, and creating plans for them that took advantage of their size and their proximity to downtown Denver. After Dennis passed away three years ago, Zach completed all seven homes that he'd had underway - at a moment when the urban context of these areas was rocketing ahead with Denver's new fortunes: Prices for re-sales near the center city soaring, the new St. Anthony's redevelopment underway a mile east, and Light Rail open between Union Station and Golden right through this neighborhood (Sheridan station is just a four-block walk).

This buyer may be somebody shopping those bungalow-type homes in Highlands, or looking for commuter access either east (downtown is five minutes) or west, new St. Anthony's Medical Center is ten). Either way, Klimko shows consistent quality throughout: plank floors, 9-and-10 foot ceilings, quartz tops not just in the kitchen but even secondary baths, stainless 5-burner cooktop and fridge, and a signature of his homes - a stacked stone fireplace flanked by windows (double-sided, opening to the deck/outdoor living space).

You'll see a gorgeous master sheltered by windowed trees on three sides, with his-her closets, his-her-vanity, and a stone walk-in shower with rain heads, plus designer tub. There's a study on the main, a seated mudroom/laundry area heading to the garage, and down a wide staircase, a nicely finished entertaining area on the walkout beside a bar/party kitchen and a third/guest bedroom. The landscaping is lush, front and back, shaded by all of those trees.

It's ready for move-in now, at a price that Jack Fine notes is well supported by activity in the neighborhood, showing lots of new building now. Klimko has other sites like this in Lakewood - including a larger parcel adjacent to Colorado Academy where he plans to deliver an enclave-scaled single-family neighborhood late this year.

Jack and Justin Fine will have sandwiches and drinks out tomorrow and Sunday, 11-4, for this open house. To reach, take the Sixth Avenue Freeway to Sheridan, turn north a long block to W. Eighth Avenue, and then west toward Lakewood Country Club, two blocks. Fine has a web site at JackFine.com, and can be reached at 303-520-FINE (3463).