Central Park's Sticker Price Isn't the Whole Bill

Two homes in Central Park list at the same price this month. Same square footage, same finish level, same walk to the trail system. A buyer comparing them on paper would call it a coin flip. Run the actual monthly payment on each and the numbers split by hundreds of dollars, and the reason has nothing to do with the house.

It has to do with which tax and fee structure sits underneath it, and that structure is the part no portal listing spells out.

The Bill No Portal Shows

Every home in the City and County of Denver pays a base property tax built from a mill levy. For bills payable in 2026, that citywide baseline runs around 79.2 mills, covering schools, general city operations, and pension obligations shared across the whole county. That number applies whether you're buying in Washington Park or West Colfax.

Central Park carries an additional line that most of Denver doesn't: a mill levy from the Westerly Creek Metropolitan District, the entity that taxes property here to fund the infrastructure built when Stapleton Airport was redeveloped. For 2026, Westerly Creek certified a total mill levy of 68.514 mills, split into roughly 66.459 mills for debt service and 2.055 mills for district operations. That's not a rounding difference. It's a second taxing authority layered directly on top of the first.

Even professionals who work this market don't always describe the add-on the same way. Some mortgage guidance quotes the Park Creek Metro District portion as roughly 44 mills stacked on Denver's base, landing near a combined 123 total and an effective rate close to 0.84%. Westerly Creek's own certified figure for 2026 is 68.514 mills. Both numbers describe pieces of the same layered structure, and the gap between them is exactly why a buyer shouldn't rely on a rule of thumb pulled from a blog. The number that matters is the one tied to the specific parcel, pulled from the county assessor and the district's own certification.

Why This Tax Exists At All

The structure traces back to a specific problem. When Stapleton Airport closed after Denver International Airport opened, the city needed a way to fund new roads, sewer lines, and parks across the old airport footprint without pulling from general city tax revenue. Denver taxpayers outside the redevelopment area didn't want to foot that bill.

The solution was a public-private partnership. Westerly Creek Metropolitan District was formed to collect the mill levy. A separate entity, Park Creek Metropolitan District, was set up to actually finance and build the infrastructure, using bond proceeds and developer advances. A third organization, the Stapleton Development Corporation, was given authority to select the master developer and oversee the redevelopment on the city's behalf. That developer was originally Forest City and is now Brookfield Properties.

None of this shows up in a listing description. All of it shows up on the tax bill.

The Reset Everyone Assumes Is Coming

The most common assumption buyers make is that this extra tax is temporary and will eventually disappear once the neighborhood finishes building out. That's mostly true, but not entirely.

Roughly 97% of the mill levy is dedicated to retiring Park Creek's infrastructure debt, and once that debt is paid off, that portion drops away. The remaining slice, about 3% of the total, funds ongoing maintenance and operations for Westerly Creek's in-tract parks and shared public facilities that the city doesn't maintain. As one community explainer on the district put it plainly:

"There is no ending date for the WCMD tax."

That distinction matters for anyone running a long hold on a Central Park property. The big number does eventually shrink. The small number is permanent.

The Second and Third Bills

The metro district tax isn't the only layer stacked on top of a Central Park home's price. Central Park has a Master Community Association, a separate entity from any city or district government, that funds neighborhood programming and upkeep for shared amenities like parks, pools, and community events. As of January 1, 2026, that assessment runs $58 per month for most for-sale residential homes, billed monthly rather than folded into the property tax bill.

Depending on the home, a third layer can apply: a sub-HOA tied to a specific building or subdivision, covering things like exterior maintenance, building insurance, landscaping, or shared utilities. In recent Central Park listings, these sub-HOA fees have ranged from about $56 a month on some single-family homes up to $300 to $400 or more a month on townhomes and buildings with more comprehensive coverage.

Stack all three, the metro district tax, the MCA assessment, and a possible sub-HOA, and two homes at an identical price can carry monthly costs that diverge by several hundred dollars before a single utility bill arrives.

Where You Land Changes The Math

Central Park isn't one uniform tax zone, and the differences go beyond housing type.

The established core sections, built in Stapleton's earliest phases, sit closer to Eastbridge Town Center and Northfield, with mature trees and smaller original lots. East Central Park, near Bluff Lake Nature Center, is newer construction with more direct access to open space. The north side, closer to Northfield retail and the Anschutz medical campus, is mostly newer townhomes and single-family product. Each carries its own mix of sub-HOA structures depending on when it was built and by whom.

There's a sharper wrinkle at the edges. Central Park's Bluff Lake neighborhood actually crosses a municipal boundary. Homes in the Aurora portion of Bluff Lake pay Aurora's own mill levy, roughly 104 mills, on top of Westerly Creek's district levy of about 55 mills, for a combined total near 159 mills. That's a materially different total than a Denver-side Central Park home paying Denver's base plus Westerly Creek's certified rate. Two homes inside the same master-planned community, a short walk apart, can land on entirely different tax bills because one sits in Denver and the other in Aurora.

What This Means If You're Comparing Central Park to Somewhere Else

None of this makes Central Park a bad buy. It means the comparison a lot of buyers run, price per square foot against a neighborhood without a metro district, is comparing two different cost structures as if they were the same one.

The fix isn't complicated, but it does take pulling documents most buyers never think to ask for: the current WCMD mill levy certification for the tax year in question, the MCA assessment schedule, and if the property has one, the sub-HOA's budget and reserve documents. Run those against the county assessor's actual value for that specific parcel, not a neighborhood average. In 2026, condos and smaller homes in Central Park have sold in the low $300,000s up through the mid $400,000s, with some townhomes priced from the $400,000s into the $500,000s, and the carrying cost on any one of those varies enough by sub-area and housing type that the sale price alone won't tell you what you're actually signing up to pay monthly.

A Few Questions Worth Asking Directly

Does the metro district tax ever go away completely? Most of it does. About 97% is tied to Park Creek's infrastructure debt and retires once that debt is repaid. The remaining share funds ongoing operations and has no scheduled end date.

Do all homes in Central Park pay the same add-on? No. The rate depends on which taxing jurisdiction the home sits in. Most of Central Park is inside Denver, but part of the Bluff Lake neighborhood sits in Aurora and pays Aurora's mill levy in addition to the district levy, producing a noticeably different total.

Is the Master Community Association fee the same as the metro district tax? No. The metro district tax appears on the property tax bill and funds infrastructure debt and district operations. The MCA assessment is billed separately and funds community programming and shared amenity upkeep. A sub-HOA, where one exists, is a third and separate charge tied to a specific building or subdivision.

If you're weighing a Central Park purchase against another Denver neighborhood, or trying to understand what a specific address will actually cost to carry month to month, Mark Callaghan can pull the district certification, the MCA schedule, and the sub-HOA documents for that exact property and run the full comparison before you write an offer. Request the Downtown Denver Market Update for a broader read on how these numbers are shifting across Metro Denver's neighborhoods this year.