Aurora vows to close apartment complex of ‘slum owner’, Tuesday 7am

AURORA | City officials say they will close a controversial apartment complex in northwest Aurora early tomorrow morning. Anyone who refuses to leave the property, which has been declared uninhabitable, will be arrested.

“Let us be clear, the blame for this unfortunate circumstance lies solely with CBZ Management and its directors, 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 spokesman Ryan Luby said in a statement.

City officials last week notified residents that they had to vacate their uninhabitable apartments in the North Aurora complex by 7 a.m. on Aug. 13. Some city lawmakers say, without evidence or details, that the decision is a result of Venezuelan gang activity.

The deadline is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding Aurora that target Venezuelan immigrants in the region.

“As we have stated repeatedly since last week, the city and its staff sincerely recognize the burden, uncertainty and frustration that the remediation process has caused the residents of 1568 Nome St.,” Luby said. “As such, we continue to proactively work on ways to support residents with resources.”

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

Luby said all remaining residents will be offered hotel rooms and additional assistance in finding housing tomorrow through the end of August.

City officials said they will pursue a court order against the landlords to recoup the residents’ rent, security deposits and money the city spent on the cleanup.

Last week, members of the Aurora City Council Public Safety Committee and Mayor Mike Coffman got into an impromptu conversation about recent issues involving immigrants and refugees from Venezuela living in Aurora and Denver.

On July 28, some 4,000 cars gathered in the parking lots of the Gardens on Havana shopping mall in the west-central part of Aurora, apparently celebrating the political downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro has been in power ever since, despite international demands that he step down following an election defeat and electoral fraud by his government.

Some city council members and witnesses described the events in Aurora on July 28 as violent, criminal and destructive.

A storm of social media posts about the flash mob event prompted police to conduct a ‘fact check’ the next day of what they said was misinformation.

A few days later, the owner of an apartment complex in northwest Aurora and his public relations agent told the media that Venezuelan gangs had effectively taken over his 99-unit complex.

City officials rejected the claim, saying the complex will be closed next week after more than two years of neglect and mismanagement that have left it with a string of public safety and health violations and rendered the complex uninhabitable.

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

She said that despite being asked for evidence to support their claims and there being overwhelming evidence from the city denying the gangs’ allegations, “our views are not up for debate.”

City officials again denied this claim on Monday.

Although city officials have provided extensive municipal and court documents documenting hundreds of unsafe living conditions and police calls to the building, police have not publicly disclosed whether any members of the Tren de Aragua gang are active in the complex and responsible for the crimes.

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

Coffman distanced himself from the claims, saying he was confident TDA gangs were present in the metro area, but that the history of security violations at the embattled complex is well known and that police have not made it clear which crimes at the complex were gang-related.

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

In an interview Thursday with Next on 9News host Kyle Clark, Coffman called the owners of the buildings “out-of-state slum landlords.”

Aurora Deputy Police Chief Chris Juul said last week that police are confident there are immigrants in the metro area with ties to the TDA gang, but the extent of their involvement in local crime is still under investigation.

“We’re working hard on it,” Juul said. An internal police task force has been set up to focus on the issue. “We’re learning a lot about this community.”

Aspen Grove Controversy

The owner of the 99-unit Aspen Grove Apartments at 1568 Nome St. told Sentinel Colorado last week that Aurora police have failed to police what he calls rampant Venezuelan gang activity at his apartment complexes. The city denies that, pointing to a property manager who is being sued over numerous health and safety code violations at the building dating back to 2019 — before Venezuelan immigrants arrived in Colorado — as the real problem.

All residents of Aspen Grove, listed in city records as “1568 Nome,” are facing eviction next week as the city moves to close the complex, which has been declared uninhabitable. The complex’s owner calls it “Aspen Grove,” some city records and online rental sites refer to it as “Fitzsimons Place.”

Aurora released photos and documents to the media yesterday showing persistent and widespread rat, mouse and cockroach infestations, piles of trash, dangerous electrical and plumbing problems, and other health and safety issues.

The city has taken steps to close the complex through municipal “nuisance” laws, citing a string of documented crimes and its maintenance.

Underlying the growing dispute is how Denver and Aurora will handle the challenges of a wave of 40,000 Venezuelan migrants who have poured into the region in the past two years. The influx of migrants has overstretched local immigrant resources.

The crisis is a recurring theme in the 2024 parliamentary elections, which will pit local and national political parties against each other.

On July 28, an estimated 4,000 cars flooded a shopping mall in Aurora. The flash mob, sparked by social media posts, attracted people focused on the outcome of Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election.

City officials said last week that the legal action to close Aspen Grove has nothing to do with any of this.

The owner spoke to the Sentinel by phone, along with his spokesperson. He asked to remain anonymous because he feared violence and threats against him and his family.

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

The owner told the Sentinel that he has been pressuring Aurora police since September of last year to help remove what he alleges are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, who have been squatting in his buildings and threatening his tenants and employees.

He said tenants told him that gang members were breaking into vacant apartments, patrolling with assault rifles and threatening them that they had to pay the rent to the gang members, not the landlord.

City officials deny that this is part of the strike issue, but police would not say whether TDA gangs or members are active in this complex or other complexes nearby.

A document obtained by the Sentinel from the Albuquerque Police Department warns police in the Denver area that the TDA gang is active and has been given a “green light” by gang leaders in Venezuela to shoot local police 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 have ties to crimes in the area,” police said. “Confirming gang affiliation is difficult because suspected members of this gang often provide false identities during contacts with law enforcement and generally do not admit to gang membership.”

Denver police said: “In collaboration with law enforcement partners, DPD continues to actively investigate to learn more about the gang, its members and any associated criminal activity so we can respond appropriately – just as we would with any gang or criminal organization.”

A “nuisance” letter sent to the complex’s owner and manager last September specifically threatened to close the apartment building due to criminal nuisance. It noted more than 100 calls for service at just one building from October 2022 to September 2023. These included calls for shots fired, stolen cars, trespassing, public disorder, assault, arson, drugs and loitering.

The owner told the Sentinel that these are issues that should be addressed by police.

“They can’t expect landowners to solve these problems,” he said.

— Reporter Andrew Fraieli contributed to this report.

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