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Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain threatened to shut down The Edge at Lowry and other apartment buildings where new immigrants are living.
Chamberlain says the goal is to make the landlord create safe, healthy living conditions.
But at a Thursday press conference, Edge at Lowry renters said they fear they’ll be left homeless by the city action.
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The Edge made international news when a security video from Aug. 18 went viral, showing six men with guns entering an apartment. Shortly after the video was captured, a gunfight erupted outside the building and 25-year-old Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo was killed.
Former President Donald Trump and multiple media outlets have claimed the building has been taken over by the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, a claim residents and Aurora police have denied. (He’s also falsely claimed the gang controls the whole city.)
Aurora want to close the apartments for both habitability and crime concerns
On Sept. 20, the police department notified the owner, CBZ Management, that the properties were a criminal nuisance.
Chamberlain outlined a string of crimes committed around the apartments over the past few years. Those included carjacking, home invasion, aggravated assault with a firearm, murder and other gun crimes.
The threat to shutter the buildings was first reported by the Denver Post.
“Property owners are excepted to be vigilant in preventing or deterring crime on or in their property and will be held responsible for the use of their property by tenants, guests and occupants,” Chamberlain wrote. “APD is aware that there is no property management company present at this property and ownership has no plans to replace on-site property management services.”
Beyond criminal issues, Chamberlain cited a series of habitability concerns: “trash accumulation, leaking pipes, broken windows, unlawful vehicles and other public safety concerns.”
Chamberlain said it amounts to a significant public safety concern.
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“If your property continues as a specified crime property despite this notice, I will authorize a civil proceeding seeking closure of the structure as well as the imposition of civil penalties against you, as the owner of the property,” Chamberlain wrote.
The chief gave the landlord 10 days to respond.
The Aurora apartment residents have been speaking out about conditions
Residents of the Edge at Lowry have been rallying for weeks, asking the city to get the property owner to bring their apartments up to compliance.
The city earlier closed another CBZ property, the Fitzsimons Apartments at 1568 Nome St. Hundreds of people were kicked out of their homes by Aurora police, and the Edge at Lowry residents fear the same fate.
The renters held their Thursday press conference at another CBZ property, Whispering Pines, where Edge at Lowry resident Moises Didenot described a rental nightmare.
His family has dealt with mold, broken appliances and rodents. All of that’s bad, but it’s not as bad as homelessness, he said. He begged the city not to kick the tenants out.
“How is it that right now, when it's starting to get cold and winter's coming,” Didenot said. “They're going to throw us out onto the streets.”
