Aurora shutting down ‘slum lord’ apartment complex Tuesday

AURORA | City officials moved in early Tuesday with police to shut down an embattled northwest Aurora apartment complex, deemed uninhabitable.

“Let us be clear, the blame for this unfortunate circumstance rests solely with CBZ Management and its principals, the owners and managers of the property, who have repeatedly failed their tenants for years by allowing the building and property to fall into a state of complete disrepair,” city spokesperson Ryan Luby said in a statement.

City officials notified residents last week that they must vacate their condemned apartments in the north-Aurora complex by  7 a.m. Aug. 13, a move that some city lawmakers, without evidence or details, say is the result of Venezuelan gang activity. 

As of Tuesday morning, some people and families could be seen still moving their belongings from apartments. Police cordoned off the area with police tape, not allowing anyone back into the complex.

The deadline is the latest in a string of Aurora controversies centering on Venezuelan immigrants in the region.

“As we have stated repeatedly since last week, the city and its staff wholeheartedly recognize the burden, uncertainty and frustration the abatement process has created for the residents of 1568 Nome St.,” Luby said. “That is why we continue to proactively work on ways to support the occupants with resources.”

Luby said the city is working with area immigrant and homeless advocates to ensure all residents have temporary shelter.

Any remaining residents were offered hotel rooms through the end of August and additional help in finding housing, Luby said.

City officials said they will work toward a court judgment against property owners to retrieve resident rent, deposit dollars, as well as money spent by the city on the abatement.

Last week, members of the Aurora City Council public safety committee and Mayor Mike Coffman broke into an impromptu discussion about recent issues connected to immigrants and refugees from Venezuela living in Aurora and Denver.

On July 28, as many as 4,000 cars descended on the parking lots at the Gardens on Havana shopping center in west-central Aurora, apparently to celebrate what at the time looked like the political demise of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro has since held on to power, despite international demands he step down after an apparent electoral loss and election fraud perpetrated by his administration.

Some city council members and witnesses painted the July 28 Aurora event as violent, criminal and destructive.

A storm of social media posts about the flash-mob event prompted police the next day to “fact check” what they said was misinformation.

Days later, the owner of a northwest Aurora apartment complex and his public-relations agent told the media that Venezuelan gangs had effectively taken over his 99-unit complex.

City officials countered the claim, saying that the complex is slated for closure next week after more than two years of neglect and mismanagement, creating a bevy of public safety and health violations that has left the complex uninhabitable.

“None of us buy that story, that this is based on a code enforcement violation,” Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky said at the end of the committee meeting, referring to herself and fellow committee members council members Stepahnie Hancock and Steve Sundberg. “The three of us believe there is a huge gang problem.”

She said that despite being asked for proof of their claims and overwhelming city evidence disputing the gang allegations, “our opinions are not up for debate.”

City officials on Monday countered that claim again.

While city officials have provided extensive city and court records documenting hundreds of unsafe living conditions and police calls to the building, police have not publicly said whether Tren de Aragua gang members are active at the complex and responsible for crimes.

Sundberg said he’s convinced that the TDA gang is extensive, and that they have “taken over” multiple apartment complexes in the city.

Coffman distanced himself from the assertions, saying that he was confident TDA gangs were present in the metro area, but that the history of safety violations at the embattled complex was well-established, and that police have not made clear what crimes at the complex were gang-related.

“The problems there go way back,” Coffman said.

In an interview Thursday with Next on 9News host Kyle Clark, Coffman referred to the building owners as “out-of-state slumlords.”

Aurora police Deputy Chief Chris Juul said last week that police are certain that immigrants associated with the TDA gang are present in the metro area, but the extent of involvement in local crime is under investigation.

“We’re working diligently on that,” Juul said. An internal police task force has been created to focus on the issue. “We are learning a lot about this community.”

Aspen Grove controversy

The owner of the 99-unit apartment complex at Aspen Grove Apartments at 1568 Nome St. told Sentinel Colorado last week the Aurora Police Department has failed to control what he says is unchecked Venezuelan gang activity at his apartment buildings. The city denies that and points to a property manager facing court action for numerous health and safety code violations at the building dating back to 2019 — before Venezuelan immigrants arrived in Colorado — as the real problem.

All of the residents at Aspen Grove, listed in city records as “1568 Nome” face eviction next week as the city is moving to close down the complex, stating that the complex is uninhabitable. The owner of the complex refers to it as “Aspen Grove,” some city records and online rental sites refer to it as “Fitzsimons Place.”

Aurora provided photos and records to the media yesterday documenting consistent and widespread rat, mice and cockroach infections, piles of garbage, dangerous electrical and plumbing issues among other health and safety problems.

The city has moved to shut down the complex through municipal “nuisance” laws, citing the catalog of documented crimes and upkeep.

Underlying the growing dispute is how Denver and Aurora are handling the challenges of a wave of up to 40,000 Venezuelan migrants coming to the region over the past two years. The surge of migrants has overloaded local immigrant resources.

The crisis has become regular fodder in the 2024 General Election, pitting local and national political factions against each other.

On July 28,an Aurora shopping center was overrun with an estimated 4,000 cars as a disorderly flash-mob, lured by social media posts, attracted people focused on the results of the July 28 Venezuelan presidential election.

City officials said last week, the legal action to shut down Aspen Grove is unrelated to all of that.

The owner spoke to the Sentinel, via telephone, joined by his public relations representative, asking not to be named, citing a fear of violence and threats against him and his family.

The city has identified the property owner in numerous court documents as Nome Partners LLC. Court filings against the property name Zev Baumgarten and Nome Partners LLC, a Denver company.

The owner told the Sentinel that he’s pushed Aurora Police since last September to help remove what he claims are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua squatting in his buildings and threatening his tenants and employees.

He said tenants described to him gang members breaking into vacant apartments, patrolling with assault rifles, and threatening them to pay rent to the gang members, not the owner.

City officials deny that this is part of the cease issue, but police officials would not say if there is TDA gang activity or members at this complex or others nearby.

A document obtained by the Sentinel from Albuquerque Police warned police in the Denver area that the TDA gang is active and was given a “green light” by gang leaders in Venezuela to shoot local law enforcement officers.

In a statement to the Sentinel on Wednesday, Denver Police said the “Department takes the presence of Tren de Aragua seriously, and protecting the safety of our residents and our officers is always our top priority.

“There are reasons to believe that members of this gang are tied to crimes in the area,” police said.  “Confirming gang affiliation is challenging because suspected members of this gang often give false identities during law enforcement contacts and typically do not admit membership to the gang.”

Denver police said, ”In coordination with law enforcement partners, DPD continues actively investigating to learn more about the gang, its members, and any associated criminal activity so we can respond accordingly – just as we do for any gang or criminal organization.”

A “nuisance” letter sent last September to the complex owner and property manager threatened to close down the apartment building specifically for criminal nuisance, pointing to over 100 calls for service to only one building from October 2022 to September of 2023. These included calls for shots fired, stolen cars, trespassing, disturbing the peace, assault, arson, drugs and loitering.

The owner told the Sentinel that those are problems for the police to address.

“They can’t expect these issues to be resolved by landowners,” he said.

— Reporter Andrew Fraieli contributed to this report.