City of Aurora plans to quickly close apartment complex, citing code violations

The City of Aurora plans to close an apartment complex with a long list of code violations that have plagued residents for years, leaving many to scramble to find new housing as they'll be forced to vacate in a matter of days.

“The city has documented substantial, longstanding unresolved code violations and other poor conditions at the property for the last few years,” said Ryan Luby, a spokesman for the City of Aurora, referring to the apartment complex at 1568 Nome St. near Colfax and Peoria.

The city said the property management company, CBZ, has failed to address the violations and has been uncooperative.

“Conditions at the property have rapidly deteriorated further in recent weeks,” said Luby.

On Tuesday, Denver7 found mountains of trash piled up at the property, which has been called by multiple names by tenants and community members, including the Fitzsimons Place Apartments and the Bahamas Apartments.

Shayra Caez, a tenant at the apartment complex, said residents chipped in and hired a company to remove some of the trash.

“We're trying to get this trash removed,” said Caez. “Because it's a lot of smell, a lot of flies. We have kids. They can get any kind of health problem.”

Caez said the property manager is nowhere to be found.

“We’ve been trying to get in touch with the manager,” she said. “He quit and we have no manager.”

She said not only has the property management let the trash pile up, they’ve let the complex fall apart.

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It’s a problem that residents at the complex first told Denver7 about last year . But now they face another issue, with the city moving to close the property.

"We gonna have only six days to move out of here,” said Caez. “We have no place to go.”

Caez said most of the tenants are immigrants.

CBZ officials admitted its property management team has not been on site and claimed a notorious Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua is the reason. A public relations firm the company hired sent Denver7 a statement it said was from a property investor who wanted to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

“Because we care for the safety of our tenants, and other members of the community, what we will say is, that the issue of Tren de Aragua taking over properties and communities in Aurora means that we are not able to be present on this property, or any of our other properties in similar situations, also being impacted by gang presence,” the investor said. “We would like to be able to resume normal operations at our buildings, but we cannot do so under the threat of present and immediate danger against residents, staff, and management. This is an issue our city needs to face head-on with law enforcement and the further support of our state and country’s leaders to protect affected tenants, the surrounding communities, and Americans across the nation.”

The statement also said the property owners have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into repairing and upgrading the buildings.

“It is irresponsible to categorize this act of organized terror as the result of code violations when it is understood by several local and federal agencies that this gang has overtaken several apartment complexes in the area,” the statement said.

Tren de Aragua was designated as a “significant transnational criminal organization” by the Biden administration last month . The gang has been linked to human smuggling, gender-based violence, money laundering and drug trafficking.

A Homeland Security memo obtained by the New York Post said the gang had also been given the “green light” to target and attack police officers.

The city said the code violations are separate from any criminal activity taking place.

“The city and the APD are also aware of concerns at the national level that members of a Venezuelan prison gang have arrived in the United States and established organized crime cells in cities throughout the country. APD leadership shares in those concerns and is actively working with law enforcement agencies across the metro area to conclusively determine if there is a connection between metro criminal activity and a specific group or organization,” said Luby. “In the meantime, any such specific activity is immaterial to and separate from the city’s code enforcement actions at the property and the building’s inhabitability.”

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APD investigated 41 crimes at the property in 2022, 84 crimes in 2023, and 66 crimes in 2024 through July 31, according to Luby.

Caez said residents aren’t responsible for any criminal activity taking place at the property.

“I know it's been shootings here, but it's not because of people from here,” said Caez. “It's people from other places that comes here looking for problems.”

Luby also said the city has been pursuing legal action against CBZ’S property manager, Zev Baumgarten.

“Mr. Baumgarten is set for jury trials in Aurora Municipal Court beginning on August 27,” Luby said.

The city plans to official notify tenants about its plans on Wednesday.

City officials said residents will have until Tuesday to vacate.

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