DENVER--Stapleton, the groundbreaking project to transform a shuttered airport into new urban neighborhoods, has won a Grand Award for Best Sustainable Residential Neighborhood through the prestigious Gold Nuggets Award of the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC).

The award was made last month at the PCBC’s annual conference attended by 35,000 in San Francisco.

Since 2001 this pioneering sustainable project--one of the nation’s largest urban redevelopments-- has attracted nearly 5,000 residents, more than 100 stores, services, and businesses, and three public schools to a walkable urban neighborhood punctuated by hundreds of acres of parks and open space.

The Gold Nuggets cited Stapleton for:

• A Sustainability Master Plan that is graded and updated;
• Recycling the former airport’s 6 million tons of runways and 200,000 tons of asphalt as new infrastructure;
• “Built Green” commercial and residential design and construction that requires energy conservation of 40 to 70 percent over conventional buildings;
• Parks and public spaces that employ colorful, low-water landscapes;
• Transit alternatives such as bike paths and bus lines and mixed-use planning that places shopping and schools a short walk from homes;
• Recycling of the site itself as an alternative to thousands of acres of suburban sprawl consuming agricultural and natural lands.
• The New Leaf newsletter informing residents how to be better environmentalists at home, with tips on everything from eating organic food to recycling to protecting local air quality.

“Stapleton is proving to be one of the most environmentally progressive and livable urban communities,” says Hank Baker, senior vice president of Forest City Stapleton, Inc. “Economic success makes it an even stronger model. Ten years ago many doubted this could be done; now one of every 20 new homes sold in the region is at Stapleton.”

Stapleton’s other awards include:

• “Smart Growth Hall of Fame,” Colorado Public Interest Research Group, 2001
• “Model of Sustainability,” the United Nations World Conference on Sustainable Development, 2002
• Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Communities Award, presented by King Gustav of Sweden, 2002 (selected from more than 250 entries in 50 countries)
• MetroVision Award, Denver Regional Council of Governments, 2005
• Best in American Living (BALA) for Smart Growth, National Association of Home Builders, 2005
• Award for Excellence, Urban Land Institute, 2006.

Stapleton's 4,700 acres, or 7.5 square miles, represents the nation’s largest urban redevelopment. Within 15 years, Stapleton will grow to more than 12,000 homes and apartments, 3 million square-feet of retail, 10 million square-feet of office, research and industrial space, and more than 1,100 acres of regional parks and open space.

Centrally located 10 minutes east of Downtown Denver and 20 minutes from Denver International Airport, Stapleton will be home to 30,000 residents and 35,000 workers when complete.