AURORA | Dozens of apartment residents, many low-income and migrant, are at the center of a dispute among the owner of the complex and the City of Aurora over unsafe living conditions and alleged crime.
The owner of the 99-unit apartment complex at Aspen Grove Apartments at 1568 Nome St. told Sentinel Colorado 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.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE “NUISANCE” ORDER
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.
Last week, 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 yesterday, the legal action to shut down Aspen Grove is unrelated to all of that.
The owner spoke to the Sentinel, via telephone, with 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, 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, 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.”
Aurora police have not responded to the Sentinel regarding the warning.
City officials, however, repeatedly said the issue at Aspen Grove is unrelated to that.
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL PHOTOS, REPORTS AND RECORDS PROVIDED BY THE CITY OF AURORA
Aurora spokesperson Ryan Luby points to a September 2023 order against property managers at the complex to cease overlooking years of documented crime activity or face consequences of a city “nuisance” abatement law.
It’s that measure being imposed next Tuesday.
The owner, however, says not only has APD failed to respond to the majority of his calls but, due in part to their lack of action, the gang members have fully taken over his properties and that he hasn’t had a presence there for almost six weeks.
“I told them time and time again, if you guys only took this seriously eight months ago, nine months ago, you probably could have stomped it out with relative ease,” he told the Sentinel.
Aurora said the allegations are “diversionary tactics” and fabricated narratives. The years-long history of “substantial, longstanding, unresolved code violations,” and uncontrolled crimes committed among and to residents, began in 2020 according to city records — the year after the owner bought the property.
The issues have included rodent infestations, a lack of heat and electricity, sewage backups, trash pile-ups, water leaks and shattered or missing windows,” city officials said.
Online apartment finding sites list average rent at Aspen Grove for a 2-bedroom, 750-square-foot apartment at about $1,600 a month.
Aurora officials said the owner also has also stopped paying the property’s water bill. The amount of that past due was not immediately available.
The “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.
It was unclear Monday night whether there can be a resolution by next week other than closing down the building. Residents will have until the morning of Aug. 13 to vacate their apartments, officials said.
The city acknowledged they do not have shelter for the tenants of the building, and instead say they are working with the state for available resources and the metro area’s nonprofit community.
Representatives of regional immigration community support and activist groups were not immediately available.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
I Would guess that there is truth on both sides. The legislature made sure that the gangs don’t have to worry about the police.
Agree. Crime is soaring, especially theft, where these Venezuelans have moved in.
Who would buy an old apartment building off of troublesome Colfax? Most likely someone who was planning and expecting to turn it into an “affordable housing” property either by taking section 8 payments or by leasing to an NGO or by selling it to the city. In all three cases there was no desire to maintain the property — only to pocket the money. Now after 5 years, they can sell the distressed property and work the tax codes to pay zero in capital gain taxes.
Exactly right.
As an experienced property manager (including “problem properties”), supposed gangs, nor the police, are responsible for sewer backups, rodents, roaches and other MAINTENANCE issues that ANY landlord not only is responsible for, but should EXPECT.
This sure sounds like your typical cash comes out, but never into, the property.
You bought the building for pennies compared to new construction cost.
Do the math: 99 units x 12 months @ $1400 = $1.66 Million EACH YEAR.
More than enough revenue to pay for maintenance and taxes.
Pay a security company.
Slumlord tactics.
How dare you judge them without knowing all the facts. It sure looks to me like busted out windows. Maybe they were going to fix the roaches, & make repairs when they got enough $ to do it. But now because of no fault of their own…they have a gang with rifles, knives etc threatening the other residents to take over the apartment building. Gang leaders in Venezuela gave the okay for gang members here to shoot the police! No wonder they’re taking the cowards way out & pushing the new owners into bankruptcy!
You need to learn how to read!!!
Pretty sure, if you read the entire article, nothing references the property being recently sold; nor is there any mention of the property being for sale.
Per Adams County:
Property purchased for $12M in 2019
Current Value is $18M
(At least $6M in gained value in 5 years. Most likely more because of continued interest in Fitzsimmons growth).
Gross Rent Roll is $1.5-$1.6M
Rents have held steady (or increased) for the 5 years it’s been owned.
Bottom Line: Fix the plumbing, the sewers, the vermin and bug problem. Fix the water leaks, because you know, it’s harming your property (unless of course you’re just going to cash out. Hire some APD Off-Duty Officers to work security. Install cameras and triple lock any vacant units.
It ain’t rocket science.
But, slumlord’s do what’s best for themselves only.
The City should condemn it, take it over and create some affordable and/or transitional housing.
I bet the slumlord isn’t betting they’ll actually be losing their entire rent receipts.
Prove me right. Take it and send a message.
The article stated that it was purchased in 2019. And you are correct that the property is currently not for sale— but it is the one obvious pathway for the current owner to reap a tidy profit.
How by selling to a gaggle of gangbangers? That doesn’t sound logical.
uncontrolled crimes committed among and to residents, began in 2020 according to city records — the year after the owner bought the property.
What ELSE happened in 2020 that could cause 40,000 Venezuelan immigrants to congregate here? How did all these immigrants get into Colorado in such a large number with no vetting? Maybe we should ask if we have a housing problem in this country why we are allowing so many people from other countries before we take care of our elderly and our vulnerable?
Good question for President Joe Biden & the boarder zaar, Vice President Kamala Harris!
How dare you judge them without knowing all the facts. It sure looks to me like busted out windows. Maybe they were going to fix the roaches, & make repairs when they got enough $ to do it. But now because of no fault of their own…they have a gang with rifles, knives etc threatening the other residents to take over the apartment building. Gang leaders in Venezuela gave the okay for gang members here to shoot the police! No wonder they’re taking the cowards way out & pushing the new owners into bankruptcy!
You need to learn how to read!!! It says that they bought the property in 2019 right before Biden & Harris opened the borders.
First and foremost, that area has had gang problems since the arrival of the crips’ and the bloods’ gangs from California. So, it’s sad that landlords and APD haven’t had support from other agencies to rid that area of the unsavory individuals that plegue the area. Although there was a slight improvement, now there’s an influx of outsiders invading the an area that was struggling to survive. The problem is the area is again saturated with undesirables and recovery for the already weak spot, of Aurora, has yet to recover from the pandemic. Perhaps the council will continue to do what they can to encourage merchants to return to the area, find a way to lure qualified individuals to train at the police academy. In the meantime, it’s hard to implement any kind of training program since there’s politics interfering with the chain of command in the police dept!!! Sooo, what the hell???
The videos with the men with guns don’t lie. No way would I bring a business to that area and definitely not return to that area. If they can’t or won’t get rid of the problem, it will only get worse.
Owner is blaming cops for him not doing his job he’s had since Sept to fix the problems, then two weeks ago our new neighbors from across the border practice free speech and are told to get out because the city has condemned their apartment complex, I smell retaliation from our lawmakers afoot I’ll give you three guesses who..,, this owner is ridiculous and needs to man up and do the right thing.
Forget the immigrants. Who is helping the low income residents who were already there?
Bulldoze the dump.
So what a surprise with all this Fitz apartment rigmarole? This story that has legs. Because of the nature of what’s going on with the influx of “Newcomers” and the cities slipshod attitude toward enforcing anything anymore.
The city for some reason think they can control reality of this furor with a little city style spin. But not this time. This is simply two party’s that are finger pointing at each other. This is ripe with curious accusations, everything from, hungry cockroaches, no city water, all due to poor apartment management, greedy building owners. On the other hand, the city is said to fumble-bumbled their opportunity and shirked their responsibility. They’re said to have failed miserably over the years to maintain proper oversight of the city zoning standards. These zoning deficiencies’ have gone on for years and all talk, no action. Further, the APD support we have an expectation of producing some follow thru seemingly did not happen. Their job is to clear out known criminal activity. Subsequently, that inspired more of the same and became totally out of control. On Havana Street last week, the city calls this kind of thing – Fake News. This apartment dust-up news shows the reality of what North Aurora squalor has gotten to. It’s odd we don’t hear much from the Ward One rep CM Murillo on this. Perhaps she’s not aware of what’s going on? Her priority nonetheless is cheap subsidized housing, this fits the bill. Now there are no alternatives left, its blame-game time. The Federal Gov. policy of force-feeding “Newcomers” which includes specifically bad-actors of dangerous gang members into the cities helps drive the closing down of scarce housing.
Currently it’s headed for the city court house where we can observe the accuracy and credibility both sides will offer. This is not a dog-at-large case, one rather more fitted for a district court. A jury will ferret out who’s more believable to sort through its chapters of unwinding history.
Finally, the take away the city cannot ignore any longer will come out of this dispute, its unquestionable. We all know Aurora City Leaders like to create resolutions and proclamations sending their council backed letters of concern to high level Government officials. And since Aurora council passed a resolution in February on its position as a “non-sanctuary city” status of any future support, that no taxpayer revenue will fund any migrant arrivals. How bout this as a resolution.
Dear Congressman Jason Crow, because of the open borders do-nothing policy you have had involvement with and oddly seem to encourage more of, this disaster is attracting dangerous gang members to Aurora, this damage being done is obvious. Now they have infiltrated/ taken over a large apartment. Additionally, we are aware and told this gang has issued “Green Light” orders to take out our cops. This city council fully disagrees with whatever your notion of sound border protection looks like, Sir, it’s frankly delusional. You have further turned down every opportunity you have had to be proactive in the matter, no matter what it has been. We feel it and cannot continue with this pathway set by policies you think are righteous. If we start to evict these people as we have threatened to do, who do you think should pay for their new places to say? The city can’t. Thank you for your most sincere help. Regards, Aurora City Council.
Let me explain how most municipalities and private landlords work.
The landlord has an obligation to maintain a safe and hygienic environment. They must provide a practice of non-discrimination, trash service, electricity to the units, heat, fire safety, hot water and free of sewage.
In return, they receive rent and are pretty much left alone by the City.
However, if the landlord fails to provide these standards, they are first hit with individual building violations. This violation provides specifics to remedy the problem(s) and a deadline to do so. The timeframe prioritizes the danger or seriousness of the violation.
The fact that ANY City or County would get to the point of condemning a large property, should tell you how bad it is.
Only a negligent owner/landlord could ever let a property reach this point. It means the City has been ignored, fines haven’t been paid and tenants are living in squalor. Ever been to a building where sewage enters a hallway? I have. That’s a crisis.
Out of curiosity, I drove by today. The front of the building already looks condemned; notices posted everywhere. Broken windows, tenants half moved out and congregating in front.
The tenants I saw looked like a mix of races and ages, not a Venezuelan gang takeover.
Sad for residents. Sad for neighbors. Sad for Aurora.
Shame on the Landlord. All that revenue and not a trash service, plumber, glazier or maintenance crew in site to spend it on.
City of Aurora Police and Code Enforcement with the Feds served all 99 units today giving tenants less than a week to get out. This is absolutely true and the media wasn’t given any notice. We know a tenant who lives there
Roberta I’m curious, did the tenant that you know who lives there ever say anything about gangs taking over the building? It seems like no one is actually talking to the tenants to find out the truth and they are the ones that would know. Is it a slumlord or have gangs truly diverted the money from the owner and taken over the building?
Once upon a time Aurora had a Community Outreach Attorney officed in Original Aurora who worked hand in hand with Multi-Family Housing Officers from the Aurora Police Department. Together they implemented several programs to abate nuisance properties. They worked closely with Code Enforcement and cleaned up those properties which could be brought back and closed those which could not. Over time the City moved on to other priorities and let that program languish and die.
Understood, the City has a role.
However, let nobody be in denial that the landlord was caught off-guard. There would have been dozens or hundreds of violations that weren’t addressed by the landlord.
It’s obvious that the landlord/owner has consistently acted in bad faith. Slumlord defined.
How long ago was that program?
Instituted after the Summer of Violence in 1993. It continued for about 15 years and then was discontinued.
I don’t buy what the city is selling they have gone out of their way to aid illegals before. Stupid cops are likely running ops for the gangs as well.
vote democrat and expect more of this insanity
Don’t lump these horrible people in with the hardworking ones who come from countries with their families to make an honest living. I live in Michigan, and some people will put chips into their pets so that if lost they have a good possibility of being found.
Round up these punks and do the same to them before deporting them back to their own country, or maybe Russia, Somalia, etc., and see how tough they are.
There is also no reason to shut down this apartment, is there? Like I mentioned,
I live in Michigan and only saw a brief article.
But please, let the good people stay.
My Father was from Spain, and the Spaniards lived under the thumb of Franco, who was a horrible dictator. They put both my Abuela and Tia in jail for no reason.
They were finally able to escape, thanks to a friend of a friend who was with the government.
My Father was a very hard worker, and took the best care of our family. He was grateful for every freedom he had here.
I live in NY where these Hasidic landlords have done this for years. Pay off local officials, ruin entire towns and enriched themselves. While on welfare to boot! We need FBI to investigate. These slumlords are the REAL threat to our way of life, they are the REAL criminals. They are the organized criminal gang! They are the immigrants who are ruining our country and they are NOT coming from Central or South America! If these people are moving to or are buying real estate in your state–you need to take all the legal action you can to stop their grift of America! This is the God’s truth.
If the building was sold to the present landlord in 2019 my guess it that it was highly leveraged. So the scam is put as little down as possible, collect rents, do no work on the building and eventually walk away. After a year or two the landlord probably got his money out, now it’s just gravy. Lenders will be left holding the bag. The classic definition of a slumlord. Laws around the country should be strengthened for this type of activity should have fines and jail time as a consequence.
Having said that, watching online and seeing the armed men repeatedly breaking and entering to a specific complex and the Aurora Police essentially doing nothing about it makes the Aurora Police look really, really bad. If you don’t check the criminals right at the outset of something like this, they will just continue on to another and another becoming more emboldened until you eventually lose part or all of your city.
Good luck Aurora, due to your incompetent politicians and cops, I think it is already too late for you.