Lower Downtown District, Inc.

Loft Locator, LDDI Volunteer and Language Guru

Jan 14, 2000

Joslyn Green, Owner of City Life Real Estate
LDDI Personal Profile by Laurie Rachkus Uttich

Joslyn Green doesn't just talk. She mixes words in a way that makes even a writer want to reach for a pen. And once you allow the meaning of those words to soak in, you find she's more than articulate. She's passionate, sincere, modest and not just a little smart.

Maybe it's the study of language - Joslyn holds a doctorate in Slavic languages and literature - that makes her conversations so interesting. Or maybe it's her love for life?…and change.

After years of teaching, working with non-profit groups and "writing for hire" (including co-authoring the book Good Neighbors: Designing Next to History for the Colorado Historical Society), Joslyn earned her real estate license and moved to LoDo with her husband, architect James Leese.

"There was a lively overlap of things happening in LoDo in 1994," says Joslyn. "And I was ready to try the business world." So Joslyn began City Life Real Estate and now, almost six years later, she matches LoDo lovers with local lofts.

It's a natural fit for someone who lives, works and enjoys LoDo.

"When I open my door, I see all types of movement," says Joslyn. "There are people walking, skateboarding, rollerblading, biking, 'wheelchairing' and horse and carriage riding. There's a wonderful sense of possibility?…of openness to anything that can happen."

Joslyn's love of LoDo stretches to her philanthropic spirit. She joined LDDI in 1995 and has been an active volunteer - last year she received the Brick Award from her efforts - ever since.

For the last two years, Joslyn helped organize and sponsor the Loft tour and Information Fair ("it's fun for us to show off what we have here in LoDo?…and good for the city to see") and also serves on the newsletter committee. (She is a careful editor, a tough proofreader and an active contributor who found it "awkward" to be forced into this profile.)

"I joined LDDI at first, because I wanted to get to know the neighborhood," says Joslyn. "Then I found that it is a group that truly attempts to reach the entire neighborhood and not just a slice of it?…that wide view appeals to me."

What type of transportation do you use on the streets of LoDo?
I walk and, after hours, my husband and I are often accompanied by our two West Highland Terrier dogs. We're the gray-haired couple with the little dogs, the Westies.

What's the best book you read last year? The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a wonderful book with vivid, poignant language that's painfully accurate in its presentation of children. I also enjoyed the nonfiction book, The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration, 1966-1999. The author Ray Suarex presents a strong case about the hollowing out of cities?…a trend that LoDo is working to reverse.