Residents of an off-campus apartment building serving students who attend Denver’s Auraria Campus are being told to sign up to shower at an adjacent hotel because their units have been without hot water for nearly two months.
The boiler system at the Auraria Student Lofts, located in a high rise at 1051 14th St., across from the Denver Performing Arts Complex, malfunctioned in mid-September, leaving student tenants without consistent hot water, said Paula Platt, senior vice president of Nelson Partners Student Housing, which manages the property.
The Auraria Campus, home to the Metropolitan University of Denver, the University of Colorado Denver and Colorado Community College, is not affiliated with the private student apartments, which offer 125 units with 438 beds.
The parts to fix the boiler are custom and must be manufactured, Platt said. The apartment building is working with the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment to comply with the agency’s concerns and deadlines, Platt said, which include having the repair work completed by Dec. 11.
Officials with Denver’s health department said Thursday that they have been working with property management on the hot water issue since September after receiving eight complaints.
“Our investigators have reported water temperature readings below what is required in the housing code and our rules and regulations,” said Amber Campbell, a Denver Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson. “We take violations of the housing code seriously and issued an order for the property to comply with city regulations and correct this issue on Sept. 21.”
Auraria Student Lofts’ management submitted a request to extend that deadline because a specially made part had to be ordered, Campbell added, and the request was granted.
In the meantime, student tenants who live in the building have been told they can sign up for 30-minute hot showers between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily at the Curtis Hotel. The student lofts and hotel share the same building — the hotel is on the first 16 floors, while students live on floors 17 through 30 — but they have separate entrances and elevators.
Fiana Surace, 18, said she doesn’t have time during her day to go to the hotel next door and shower. Instead, she has braved cold showers or boiled water to bathe in when she gets desperate.
The MSU Denver student said she doesn’t understand why she’s paying full price to live for months in an apartment without hot water.
Surace, who has roommates, said she’s paying close to $1,000 a month for her share of the apartment, but has heard from other tenants who called to complain that they received discounted rent.
“Residents are paying the full monthly rent,” Platt told The Denver Post. “Any final compensation for affected residents will be considered once repairs are complete.”
Amenities touted on the complex’s website include gaming lounges, poolside cabanas, a yoga studio and a seasonal lounge pool.
Arthur Rice, a 19-year-old CU Denver student, said one of his roommates at the Auraria Student Lofts called to complain about paying full rent and received a $250 discount.
Rice said he’s busy with classes between the designated Curtis Hotel shower times, so that’s not a good option for him.
An email from the apartment complex to tenants reviewed by The Post said the online system to sign up for hotel showers was glitching so much that students can now only schedule a hot shower by phone or in person at the front desk.
“I used to work out at night but now I don’t because I don’t want to take another freezing shower,” Rice said. “I don’t think it’s fair because there aren’t a lot of student housing options close to campus. This is robbing students who are already working through debt and in stressful financial situations. A hot shower is something a human deserves, especially now that it’s getting cold out. There should be some kind of repercussion and financial compensation for this.”
Last year, a Nelson Partners Student Housing complex in Greeley called University Flats was ordered into receivership by a judge after lawsuits alleged the property management company defaulted on loans and didn’t pay for maintenance, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald.
The New York Times reported on Nelson Partners Student Housing in 2021 in an investigation titled “A Sinking Student Housing Empire” detailing the company’s financial woes, mismanagement and the impacts on students’ lives around the country.
“Your comfort and satisfaction are of the utmost importance to us, and we are so sorry that we have to go through this as a community,” Auraria Student Lofts leasing manager Crystal Chase wrote in an email sent to tenants earlier this month.
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