Aurora officials agreed to drop all charges against the owner of the Aspen Grove apartment complex in exchange for selling the property, leasing it — or a "similar disposition" — and assuming the cost to board up and secure the building, The Denver Gazette has learned.
Under an agreement negotiated between the city and Nome Partners, officials agreed to drop dozens of charges against Zev Baumgarten for failing to maintain the property at 1568 Nome St. in Aurora, according to documents obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).
In exchange, Baumgarten agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial and Nome Partners LLC agreed to sell or lease the property, and, among other things, pay up to $60,000 of the costs to clean up and secure the complex.
Notably, the agreement said that the apartment's owners may "re-tenant" the building, provided the building is in compliance with the city code.
Court documents show that Baumgarten was also charged for similar violations for his Edge of Lowry Apartments at 1258 Dallas St.
These two complexes — as well as the Whispering Pines complex at 1357 Galena St. — have all been affected by gangs.
Based in Brooklyn, CBZ Management operates these three complexes and rental apartments in New York and Colorado, with 11 properties in Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
Last month, officials shuttered Aspen Grove — evicting roughly 300 people — citing a string of health and safety issues that included rodent infestations, sewage backups and trash pileups, water leaks and a lack of electricity.
Through a Florida PR firm, the company blamed the deteriorating conditions at Aspen Grove on gang activity — an allegation that city officials initially denied and then later walked back.
As early as June, an attorney representing the landlords sent a flurry of letters, obtained and authenticated by The Denver Gazette, to police, state and local officials seeking help with the Venezuelan gang, which the lawyer said had “forcibly taken control” of the property.
The landlord also sought to hire off-duty police officers to provide security for the properties, a request that the Aurora Police Department declined.
“He was told we didn’t have the staffing to provide adequate security at all his properties,” Joe Moylan, an Aurora police spokesperson, has said of the police department's conversations with Baumgarten.
The Aurora Police Department is at roughly 90% of its authorized complement with 682 sworn officers, according to the most recent city data.
Two properties owned by CBZ Management saw the number of citations and reported crime double since 2022, according to a report from the Common Sense Institute. At one property, the crime nearly doubled, said the study, which used publicly available datasets.
Federal officials believe the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, or TDA, is operating in the metro Denver area, although local politicians insist that the gang's footprint is small. The prison gang is linked to a diverse portfolio of criminal activities that includes drug trafficking, human trafficking, particularly of immigrant women and girls, extortion and money laundering.
Victims are often killed by gang members, with their deaths publicized as a way to intimidate others from coming forward, according to government officials.
Venezuelans are among the nearly 43,000 immigrants who have come to Denver after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border over the past 22 months. Officials estimate about half of those stayed. More than seven million Venezuelans have fled since President Nicolás Maduro assumed power in 2013, plunging the country into economic and political chaos.
Nome Partners LLC purchased the 99-unit property from Fitz 2018 LLC on Dec. 17, 2019 for $12,375,000.
As of Friday, the property was not listed on Costar, a database for commercial listings.
The agreement with Aurora was signed on Aug. 12, a day before the city evicted about 300 residents and boarded up the property. The agreement between the property owner and the city gave Aurora the permission to evict residents on Aug. 13.
City officials said they have documented health and safety issues at the complex since at least February 2021, while CBZ Management said the gang's presence precluded it from maintaining the building.
“It's hard to say how public perception is going to impact the value of a property,” said Brian Campbell, a commercial real-estate broker with Caldwell Banker.
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