The City of Aurora has settled its civil case in Aurora Municipal Court with the owner of several of the Edge at Lowry apartment buildings at the center of President Donald Trump’s Venezuelan gang city takeover claims.
The company, Five Dallas Partners, is associated with CBZ Management, which owns three of the Aurora apartment complexes where the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua had a presence. The company will pay Aurora $300,000 to reimburse costs the city paid to close, maintain and secure the buildings at 1218 Dallas St. in Aurora.
Five Dallas Partners will sell the five buildings the company owns at the Edge of Lowry. A sixth building, owned by another entity, will stay in receivership. The settlement requires Five Dallas Partners to hire a professionally licensed and insured security company to protect the property until it goes on sale.
“The agreement the city reached with Five Dallas Partners is a resolution that is amenable for both parties to avoid the risk and costs associated with a jury trial and to position the company’s property to be sold to new independent ownership,” wrote an Aurora spokesperson in a statement.
The other properties connected to CBZ include Whispering Pines at 1357 Helena Street, which is being managed by a court-appointed receiver, and Fitzsimons Place, also called Aspen Grove, at 1568 Nome Street, which was shuttered over the city’s habitability rules after Aurora evicted hundreds of people. The city will not open Aspen Grove until the owners, investors and lenders in charge of the complex return it to livable conditions.
Zev Baumgarten, an employee of CBZ Management, continues to face criminal charges unrelated to the settled civil case. He has several warrants out for his arrest for failure to appear for mandatory court appearances tied to cases regarding the properties.
CBZ Management, which maintained Tren de Aragua took possession of the complexes from the company, did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
The company has been involved in multiple legal cases in both Aurora and Denver and subject to a Colorado attorney general investigation. Tenants, across those properties, shared horror stories with Denverite last year.
