If you've heard "the new community east of E-470" and aren't quite sure what's actually there, here's the short version: 2,500 residential acres, seven active homebuilders, eight planned villages, and a build-out timeline that runs for at least another decade. This piece is the orientation we wish every buyer had before their first sales-office visit.

The plan, in numbers

The Aurora Highlands is a master-planned community in northeast Aurora, Colorado, anchored on the south side of E-470 and surrounded by what local planners call the Aerotropolis — the still-emerging mixed-use district around Denver International Airport. The community's own published figures: 2,500 acres of residential land, eight planned villages, and four new schools to be built within the community footprint.

For context: that's roughly four times the residential acreage of Painted Prairie next door, and large enough that the build-out will span phases through at least the mid-2030s. Buyers who move in today are choosing the early phases on purpose — lower density, more raw land around them, and the privilege of watching the rest of the community come up around them.

The seven active builders

As of mid-2026, seven national homebuilders are actively releasing homes:

  • Tri Pointe Homes — three single-family collections (Prelude, Crescendo, Ensemble) with the widest price range in the community, from approachable starter plans up through the largest 6-bedroom layouts with optional GenSmart® multi-generational suites.
  • David Weekley Homes — three collections on three different homesite widths (35-, 60-, and 70-foot). The Vistas collection is now pre-selling; Pinnacle and Signature are still coming online. The 70-foot Signature lots will be the largest single-family homesites in the community.
  • Richmond American Homes — three distinct collections (Portfolio, Seasons, and Urban paired homes), one of the longest-running builders at the community with multiple models open.
  • Century Communities — eight active floor plans across ranch and two-story single-family, with the most aggressive published incentive program in the community currently (up to $75,000 across price discounts, closing costs, and rate specials).
  • Taylor Morrison Homes — three collections including paired ranch (Landmark) and two single-family two-story collections (Town and Horizon).
  • Risewell Homes — a newer name (built on the legacy of two larger regional builders) with two plans active in their Aurora Highlands Collection, offered in three elevation styles each.
  • Bridgewater Homes — active at the community; current plan lineup and pricing are best verified directly.

Two more builders sit in different states: Lennar Homes is publicly announced as coming soon, and Pulte Homes has sold out of its first phase, with occasional Pulte resales now appearing on the MLS.

What's actually built today

Driving into The Aurora Highlands today, the early phases anchor around two visual landmarks: the clocktower at the community entrance and Winged Melody Park, which features a working carousel. Hogan Park at Highlands Creek is the largest open park to date and the focus of early-phase amenity programming — Coffee at the Park, Movement Workshops in the summer months, and the annual Independence Festival.

The community has staked out an unusually art-forward identity for a new-construction master plan. There are sculpture installations woven through the early phases ("Broken But Together", "Liberty", and a growing collection commissioned for the Art in the Park program), and the marketing positions the community as a creative-lifestyle district rather than a generic builder suburb. Whether that lands for you is taste-dependent, but it's a real differentiator from the more conventional new-construction communities nearby.

How it compares to the neighbors

Painted Prairie

Painted Prairie sits just to the north and is the most natural comparison — both are master-planned new-construction communities in Aurora, both serve similar buyer profiles, and both are five to six miles from DIA. The differences:

  • Painted Prairie is smaller (640 acres vs. 2,500) and further along in its build-out. The community's center is denser and the streetscape is more uniformly neo-traditional, with alley-loaded garages and consistent front-porch detailing across builders.
  • The Aurora Highlands has more varied lot sizes and a broader range of product types — from paired-home Landmark plans at Taylor Morrison through David Weekley's 70-foot Signature collection. Painted Prairie's homes tend to cluster in a narrower size range.
  • Both communities sit at similar price points for comparable product, with the bigger lots at The Aurora Highlands pushing the top end higher.

Green Valley Ranch

GVR is the established community across E-470 to the west, technically in Denver rather than Aurora. It's been building for decades and has the deepest resale market in the immediate area — if you'd rather buy a home that's already lived in (and pay a meaningful premium for landscape maturity), GVR is where you'd start. Trade-off: less new inventory, fewer builder incentives, and homes that mostly predate current energy and finish standards.

Windler

Windler is the next master-planned community to the northeast, currently earlier in its build-out than The Aurora Highlands. It's the option to watch if you're a year or two from buying and want to compare a community at the same stage.

Who this is for

The Aurora Highlands is well-suited for:

  • Buyers who want a new home with a builder warranty, current energy standards, and the ability to make finish selections.
  • Buyers prioritizing access to DIA, the Anschutz Medical Campus, or the Aerotropolis employment corridor.
  • Buyers who want amenity programming and intentional community design (Art in the Park, Cars + Coffee, the carousel) over a strictly residential subdivision.
  • Buyers comfortable with the trade-off of moving into an actively-building community — construction trucks, dust, and the visual experience of houses going up around you for several years.

It's less well-suited for buyers who want a fully landscaped, fully built-out neighborhood from day one; buyers prioritizing close proximity to downtown Denver or the Tech Center; or buyers who specifically want a custom home on acreage.

The short version

The Aurora Highlands is the largest of the active master-planned new-construction communities in northeast Aurora, with the broadest builder lineup and the longest runway ahead. The early phases are now lived-in enough to feel like a real neighborhood, and the build-out timeline means today's buyers are choosing in advance which village character they want to settle into.

If you'd like a current snapshot of the builder inventory, lot premiums, and active incentives across all seven builders, that's exactly what we maintain. Start with the concierge intake form or call us directly at 720-408-7409.

Builder roster, pricing, and community details as of May 2026. All numbers verified against builder sales offices and the official Aurora Highlands site at the time of writing. As with any new-construction community, the lineup and pricing shift with each phase release — we can send a current snapshot on request.