Aurora officials have threatened to imminently close two long-troubled apartment complexes at the center of a national firestorm unless their owner takes “quick and immediate steps” to address crime and “deterioration” of the properties, according to letters sent to the owners that were obtained by The Denver Post on Thursday.
In two letters sent Sept. 20, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain told CBZ Management and its Colorado owner, Zev Baumgarten, that two complexes on Dallas Street — the Edge of Lowry and 200 Columbia apartments — are “criminal nuisance properties.” Chamberlain told Baumgarten and CBZ that he would authorize a civil proceeding directing the properties be closed as soon as Sept. 30 if problems there aren’t addressed.
This week the city also issued a municipal court summons to Baumgarten because of a litany of health code violations related to another CBZ property in Aurora, the Whispering Pines complex on Helena Street, according to a copy of the summons obtained by The Post. It’s at least the third municipal summons issued against Baumgarten in recent years because of CBZ’s failure to fix conditions at its Aurora properties, and the inspection and summons triggered fears among Whispering Pines residents that their homes could be shuttered next.
In one of his letters to CBZ, Chamberlain wrote that the “uptick in violent crime and the physical condition of the properties present a significant public safety concern.” One call for service placed last month at 200 Columbia was for murder, according to the letter. Chamberlain also noted the “extensive criminal call history,” at the Edge of Lowry apartments, the property that sparked a national firestorm about gang takeovers last month after a resident shared video of armed men in her hallway.
Chamberlain also noted numerous violations issued to CBZ over the condition of the properties. Those violations, Chamberlain wrote, “have not yet been addressed.”
If the city were to close the properties, it also would displace dozens of tenants who live there, advocates said. The city previously ordered the closure of another CBZ property, the Aspen Grove apartments on Nome Street, because of repeated code violations. CBZ later agreed to give up control of the property in exchange for the city dropping charges against Baumgarten. The property’s closure displaced the tenants living there and sparked a lawsuit against CBZ and Baumgarten.
An email sent to Baumgarten’s lawyers early Thursday evening was not returned immediately.
The news Thursday that the two properties may close shocked advocates, who had scheduled an unrelated news conference at the Whispering Pines property to call for support from the city there.
Asked about next steps for tenants and the property owners, Aurora spokesman Ryan Luby said it wasn’t yet clear and that “the hope is the property owners and managers abide by the law and support their tenants and take care of their properties.”
Some Aurora officials and CBZ, which owns several properties in Aurora and Denver, have claimed the complexes have been overtaken by gangs, sparking former President Donald Trump to inaccurately claim that the entire …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Politics
