But that will all change if Wheat Ridge 2020 (WR2020) has its way. On Feb. 1, the city-funded community and economic development organization will launch an ambitious home investment project intended to breathe new life into the community, one home at a time. The home investment project will offer no-interest home improvement loans to applicants within the project's target area, which spans west from Sheridan Boulevard to Pierce Street and south from West 44th Avenue to West 32nd Avenue - excluding Mountain View. WR2020 also is planning a few fix-and-flip projects of its own to show the neighbors that it doesn't take much to make a big difference.

And 4300 Gray St. is the first baby step in what project organizers hope will be a sustained effort to revitalize the neighborhood. If this project proves successful, WR2020 hopes to soon be juggling as many as five to 10 remodels at a time, says Denise Balkas, director of real estate and development for WR2020.

"We need to get many of these going if we are going to have any kind of an impact, if you're going to really influence the market" says Balkas, as she walks through the newly painted master bedroom of 4300 Gray St.

Balkas says she chose this house because it only needed a moderate amount of work to turn it from a solid house to a great family home. And, partnering with Arvada-based remodeling contractor Value-builders, WR2020 has taken a little more than $20,000 and turned a dark, cramped one-level ranch house, typical of both the neighborhood and the year in which it was built, 1948, and turned it into a bright and warm home.

Gone are the green tin awnings that used to shade the windows. Gone, too, are the stained wood paneling and single-paned aluminum windows that used to make the master bedroom, already dark because of the awnings, feel like a drafty cave. In their place are a new kitchen, new windows and energy-saving appliances.

"There are a lot of people who are interested in the Highlands, who don't know that if they come five blocks this way they have a much more affordable opportunity than in Denver," says Britta Fisher, director of community and small-business development for WR2020.

And by tossing free money at home improvements, WR2020 hopes to help plug the drain of investment and tax revenue that has plagued the city for the last two decades and has, according to their Web site, hurt the city's capacity to attract and retain residents. After a lengthy study of Wheat Ridge's economic realities and possibilities in 2005, city council concluded that Wheat Ridge had steadily lost its share of what the WR2020 Web site refers to as "strong households," and that loss had the effect of diminishing its hopes of attracting new ones. And so, pledging $1.5 million to its budget annually, Wheat Ridge city council founded WR2020 in early 2006 to help turn the tide.

But does the loss of "strong households" imply their replacement by weak ones?
"Rather than looking for strong households versus weak households, which is a subjective term, we are looking for stakeholders," says Wheat Ridge Mayor Jerry DiTullio. "We would like for them to stay a while and be the building blocks of a vibrant community."

With that goal in mind, WR2020 hopes to use the house on Gray Street as a cornerstone on which to build a stronger community in northeast Wheat Ridge. One house at a time.