The community also takes two more Grand Awards for Best Landscape Architecture for a Community and Best Community Land Plan at Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC)’s Gold Nugget Awards

Painted Prairie, an award-winning masterplan community in Aurora, Colo., was the top winner in three categories at the 61st annual PCBC Gold Nugget awards ceremony, held June 19, 2024, at the Westin Resort in Anaheim, Calif. The community received Grand Awards for Masterplan Community of the Year, Best Landscape Architecture, and Best Community Land Plan. It also secured an Award of Merit for Best-On-The-Boards Site Plan for its future Town Center development.

“This is a significant achievement for a community to win the Gold Nugget Grand Award for Masterplan Community of the Year and be past Community of the Year winners at the local and national level,” said Lisa Parrish, Judging Chairperson, and Competition Manager for the Gold Nugget Awards. “With this win, Painted Prairie is an international winner – which is extremely rare and above and beyond the norm for a community in our industry to win Community of the Year three times in three different competitions.”

The Gold Nugget Awards are the oldest and most prestigious residential design awards in the nation. Since 1963, the awards represent the best of the best in innovative architecture, planning, and construction. This year, 675 entries were considered by the industry’s top experts before selecting the final winners. Judges base their final decisions on several categories including Community infrastructure/Landscaping, Site Plan Creativity and Solutions, Effective and Efficient Land Use, Pedestrian-Scaled and Pedestrian-Friendly, Respects Local Character, Delivers Genuine Experience of Place, Amenities, and Connectivity to Community Circulation.

“When we sat down with Mark Johnson at Civitas and Peter Calthorpe to create the vision for Painted Prairie, we didn’t do it so we could win awards,” said Chris Fellows, President of Resolute Strategies. “We set out to design a great place for people to live and create a home they could be proud of. Since then, we’ve received Community of the Year honors from three different sets of judges with different sets of criteria who have independently decided that Painted Prairie is truly a best-in-class community. That speaks volumes to the dedication of our partners who have worked so hard to make dreams come true for our residents and push the boundaries of what is possible for the city of Aurora. I’m very pleased and honored by the awards.”

Painted Prairie is the only other Colorado community designed by the same creative planning team–Civitas and Calthorpe & Associates—who successfully transformed Stapleton Airport into a world-renowned, successful urban redevelopment now known as Central Park. The Painted Prairie ownership group is a collaboration of long-time Denver developers Alberta Development Partners and Resolute Strategies.

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About Painted Prairie

Painted Prairie is a neotraditional master-planned community located in Aurora, Colo. Painted Prairie is one square mile bordered by Piccadilly, Himalaya, 56th, and 64th avenues, and sits directly across from the spectacular Gaylord Rockies Resort. The community is five miles from Denver International Airport, nine miles from Anschutz Medical Center, and 17 miles from downtown Denver. Designed by Civitas, the community covers one square mile, the neighborhood is centrally located in the newly formed Colorado Aerotropolis, an emerging economic hub where the aerospace, logistics, hospitality, healthcare, bioscience, manufacturing, and transportation industries converge. Painted Prairie was named the Community of the Year in 2021 by the Denver MAME Awards; the 2022 Community of the Year at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) The Nationals competition, and in 2024 at the PCBC Gold Nugget Awards.

Michelle Tripp, mtripp@lifeatpaintedprairie.com or 303-319-9669 c.