Lone Tree’s RidgeGate enters a new phase after 25 years of planning

RidgeGate is no longer just a map line in Lone Tree planning documents. After 25 years of work, the 3,500-acre district south of Lincoln Avenue and east and west of Interstate 25 is filling in with homes, civic buildings and retail projects that will shape where the city’s next center of gravity sits.

The city says RidgeGate already houses nearly 5,000 residents and is expected at buildout to add 10 million square feet of commercial space and 20,000 more people. That scale makes it the largest area of growth in Lone Tree, and one of the most important land-use bets in Douglas County.

The roots of that bet go back to fall 2000, when Lone Tree residents overwhelmingly voted to annex the RidgeGate property and approve zoning for a walkable mixed-use community served by rail transit. The original plan also called for parks, trails and open space on about one-third of the property, a framework that still guides how the district is being built out today.

The clearest sign of that next phase is the Lone Tree City Center, which the city describes as a 400-acre mixed-use urban core east of I-25 between Lincoln Avenue and RidgeGate Parkway. City materials call it the “vibrant heart” of the community and say it will combine housing, shopping, employment centers, parks, plazas, bikeways and transit-oriented development. The vision has been 25 years in the making, and it depends on a district that can finally support a true downtown rather than a collection of separate projects.

Transit has been part of that evolution. The RidgeGate Parkway Interchange opened in 2009, and RTD’s Southeast Rail Extension opened in 2019, giving Lone Tree City Center Station and RidgeGate Parkway Station a role in connecting the district to the rest of the metro area. RidgeGate Parkway Station sits at the end of the line for the RidgeGate community and includes a 1,300-space parking garage.

The next major civic anchor is already under construction. The Lone Tree Justice Center, on the east side of I-25 in RidgeGate, is slated to open in fall 2026 and will house both the Lone Tree Police Department and Lone Tree Municipal Court. The site was donated to the city by Coventry Development as part of RidgeGate. At the same time, Lone Tree has approved a 17-acre project anchored by a 123,000-square-foot King Soopers Marketplace, adding another visible piece to a district that is finally moving from promise to pavement.