Aurora apartments in disputed viral ‘gang’ video targeted for closure by city

AURORA | Aurora officials have notified owners of a now-notorious apartment complex that it will file legal action in an effort to close down the complex primarily because of unchecked crime at The Edge at Lowry.

The complex at 1218 Dallas St. was the site of an August home-security video depicting armed men in an apartment hallway that went viral and became the focus of heated controversy about Venezuelan immigrants and gang members.

Apartment complex owner CBZ Management has become the nexus of the controversy as some of its apartment complexes in Aurora have become the focus of conflicting claims about gang members, immigrants and property mismanagement.

Officials from CBZ Management from the Sentinel were not immediately returned.

Aurora closed another CBZ apartment complex earlier this summer, creating fear among other tenants of CBZ properties that they, too, will be evicted as cold weather approaches. The apartments are filled primarily with financially struggling tenants, many of them immigrants.

Controversies in the area have created a firestorm across the nation, culminating with presidential candidate Donald Trump persisting in false claims that all of Aurora has been taken over by Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gangs.

Although the Sept. 26 letter said the city is prepared to file in court if the company does not act, it would still be “several weeks” before the building would be forced to close, according to Aurora Deputy Director of Communications Ryan Luby.

“Our primary focus is getting these delinquent property owners to take care of their properties and their tenants,” Luby said in an email.

The letter states that the city has determined it will file a criminal nuisance action against CBZ Management by Oct. 6 for the six buildings on Dallas Street making up The Edge at Lowry complex, if the company does not act. 

The action would include the building where the notorious viral video was taken Aug. 18. Building owners and Aurora City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky have claimed that the video, depicting six men with guns, knocking on an apartment door, and walking in, and another video depicting two men kicking in an apartment door somewhere in the complex, is proof that the complex was “taken over” by Venezuelan gangs. A man outside the apartment complex was fatally shot minutes after the armed men were seen in the security footage, police said.

Aurora police Tuesday announced they have identified all the men in the Aug. 18 video and are in the process of issuing warrants and making arrests. Police said that, to date, they are unaware of any evidence linking any of the men in the video to Venezuelan gangs, or any “organized crime.”

Aurora officials in the letter point to repeated crime reports in the Edge and lack of response to security and other issues by owners of the complex as the reason for a nuisance procedure.

Mayor Mike Coffman has referred publicly to CBZ as “slumlords.”

It was the same procedure used to shut down Aspen Grove apartments this summer after the city and residents reported unlivable conditions that the owner failed to resolve, in that case after more than two years of citations. 

City officials have repeatedly said they have offered to assist and work with CBZ to rectify problems such as the lack of trash removal, police security, lack of water and a long list of public health concerns at this complex and others owned by CBZ.

Aurora city and police officials say they have focused on The Edge since controversy erupted in August.

On Sept. 20, the City of Aurora sent CBZ Management a “Specified Crime Property Determination Notice” for the Edge. Six days later, the Aurora City Attorney’s office sent CBZ Management a Criminal Nuisance Action including all six buildings in the complex. 

The property owners are given 10 days before the city could file any criminal nuisance action to the Aurora Municipal Court. If filed, the city will “seek” a closure, according to the letter.

Since an updated letter was sent on Sept. 26, the property owners have until Oct. 6, city officials said Tuesday.

“The City will be prepared to file the necessary pleadings to commence the criminal nuisance action against these six properties in the Aurora Municipal Court the week of October 14, 2024,” the letter states.

The city’s letter requests that CBZ Management manage its properties or hire a qualified property management company for the six properties along Dallas Street before Oct. 14. In that case, the city will be willing to discuss the delay in filing, according to the letter.

The city has offered to provide temporary police presence at the property, but the offer was not accepted, city officials said previously.

“To be clear, this situation is different from the circumstances that closed one of your clients’ other properties located at 1568 Nome St, Aurora,” the letter states.

Aspen Grove apartment complex at Nome Street is the complex Aurora forced to close Aug. 13 due to negligence. Officials and legal representatives from CBZ Management have repeatedly insisted that that complex, too, was “overrun” by Venezuelan gang members, preventing the company from managing the apartment complex. Aurora police and city officials have repeatedly disputed the claim, saying there appeared to have been gang members on site, but that the problems were caused by years of neglect and mismanagement.

Unlike the Nome Street apartments, the six apartments on Dallas Street are being cited primarily for criminal activity going back about a year.

“Criminal activity on a property is a public nuisance under the Aurora Municipal Code,” stated in the Specified Crime Property Determination notice sent by the Aurora Police Department on Sept. 20. “Property owners are expected to be vigilant in preventing or deterring crime on or in their property and will be held responsible for the use of their property by tenants, guests and occupants.”