An Aurora apartment building with a history of code violations is set to be condemned by the city this week, leaving residents — most of whom are Venezuelan migrants — at risk of being uprooted again.

CBZ Management, a firm that’s run Fitzsimons Place since 2019, on Monday blamed recent problems and security concerns at the complex on the presence of a transnational Venezuelan gang that has drawn increasing attention in the U.S. But Aurora city spokesperson Ryan Luby pointed to longstanding problems like rodent infestations, sewage backups, trash pileups, and lack of heat and electricity — issues that resulted in repeated city code violations filed in court against the property manager.

Unless the building’s owners and managers quickly fix those violations, the city plans to inform residents of the 95-unit building about the condemnation on Wednesday. The notice would give them until the morning of Aug. 13 to vacate the building at 1568 Nome St., just north of Colfax Avenue near the Anschutz Medical Campus.

For a couple hundred Venezuelan migrants scraping to get by as newcomers in metro Denver, the city’s response to deteriorating conditions at the complex may leave them no alternative but sleeping in cars or on the streets, several said.

“If they evict us, we’re going to have to get some tents,” said Javier Hidalgo, 26, in an interview Monday. He said he came to Colorado a couple months ago after fleeing Guarico, Venezuela. “It’s not fair what is happening to us here.”

Residents who spoke to The Denver Post on Monday begged for more time. Some proposed that the government contribute funds for them to restore and take care of the complex on their own — as a kind of tenant self-rule. Over the weekend, men consolidated sprawling trash heaps around the overflowing dumpsters that hadn’t been emptied in weeks; on Monday, they tried to raise money to hire a trash hauler to take it all away.

“We have mice here. We have bed bugs. The ceiling panels are falling. It’s dangerous,” said Amilcar Arteaga, 23, who left Valencia, Venezuela, five years ago and stayed in several South American countries before making his way to the Denver area. “Because of the conditions, we have stopped paying rent.”

Like most of the adults in the complex, Arteaga has found informal work — a $500-a-week gig with a small remodeling company.

As migrants fleeing poverty, violence and other conditions in Venezuela have crossed the southern U.S. border in recent years, more than 42,000 have passed through Denver since late 2022, according to the neighboring city’s dashboard. While many have continued on to other places, some have settled in metro cities while they await the outcome of asylum cases.

In Aurora, a July 28 gathering at the Gardens on Havana shopping center drew a crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 people, according to Aurora police’s estimate, on the day of Venezuela’s presidential election. The gathering was marked by celebration as well as some unruly behavior that drew criticism from Aurora city leaders, including Mayor Mike Coffman, and public outcry about potential gang activity.

Housekeys Action Network Denver, an advocacy group for homeless people, told residents of the city’s planned condemnation in recent days. It suggested in a news release Saturday that the action was motivated at least in part by the city’s “racist and bigoted” reaction to last week’s gathering.

But Luby, the city spokesperson, said shutting down the apartment building is the final and “only remaining” step in a long legal process with the building’s managers.

“The scheduled abatement process is not occurring because of specific gang activity or the gathering of Venezuelan nationals at an Aurora shopping center on Sunday, July 28,” Luby wrote in a statement. “The city cannot and will not allow the building to remain open to occupancy.”

Housekeys Action Network estimated the decision would affect 50 migrant families. The building has some other tenants who told The Post they have lived there for several years.

Aurora officials plan to work with the state government and metro Denver nonprofit groups to help find housing for people displaced, Luby said, while acknowledging the city had a limited ability to provide assistance.

Gang activity cited by residents, management

CBZ Management owns or operates apartment buildings in Colorado and New York, according to its website.

On Monday, the area in front of Fitzsimons Placewas dotted with abandoned grocery carts and full trash bags. One man sat among a collection of furniture set up outdoors. It’s the largest complex on the block, and also the most rundown.

“The city has documented substantial, longstanding, unresolved code violations and other poor conditions at the property for the last few years,” Luby said.

CBZ hasn’t paid its Aurora Water bills, and the building’s conditions have worsened in recent weeks, he added. In March 2023, the apartment building was the subject of a Denver7 story, with residents depicting untenable living conditions.

Google reviews are full of allegations about pests, trash, safety concerns and problematic management dating back seven years. One review from last week states: “Apparently, being overrun by a Venezuelan gang. Take caution.”

That’s a view endorsed by the owners.

Problems have occurred for more than a year, with police pinpointing Venezuelan gangs as the culprits nine months ago, according to an investor in the property who declined to be quoted by name, citing safety concerns.

The security threats grew so worrying, the person said, that no staff member has worked on site for the last six weeks, and it’s been that long since garbage was picked up.

The investor said the company was trying to work with law enforcement, despite police’s limited resources, and listed several crimes that allegedly occurred at the apartment building — including car thefts, hidden weapons, shootings and break-ins. According to the source, gang members illegally occupied units, which caused some residents to leave out of fear while others were threatened.

Residents also spoke to The Post about suspected gang activity in the complex, with some saying the manager quit after being threatened with a gun by a gang member who tried to shake him down for a portion of residents’ rent.

And shootings have stoked safety concerns, including one reported by Aurora police at Fitzsimons Place last September that injured two people.

“I don’t go out of my unit when I’m here,” said Yorkes Ramos, 35, a resident who has been cleaning houses part time and washing dishes at a restaurant on weekends to make rent.

A representative for CBZ identified the gang behind it as Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that originated in a Venezuelan prison. It’s become known for taking advantage of migrants through smuggling and trafficking activities, particularly in Latin America.

But Tren de Aragua also has gained recent notice in the U.S. — though the extent of its activities is unclear. Last month, the federal government designated it as “a significant transnational criminal organization” and took action by sanctioning the gang as part of a crackdown.

Luby said Aurora police leaders shared the national concern about the gang and was working with other local agencies to establish any connections to criminal activities in metro Denver.

Court action and eviction await

But he said gang activity was not related to the Fitzsimons Place condemnation, and the city’s statement accused the landlord of engaging in “diversionary tactics.”

Crime has been rising at the apartment building’s address, though. The Aurora Police Department designated it as a criminal nuisance property last year, Luby said, and from Jan. 1 through July 31, police investigated 66 reported crimes there. That’s on top of 84 crimes in 2023 and 41 crimes in 2022, according to the statement. The list includes robbery, drugs, trespass, sexual assault and aggravated assault.

The city of Aurora is pursuing legal action for the code violations against CBZ Management’s Zev Baumgarten, with jury trials set for Aug. 27 in the Aurora Municipal Court, Luby said.

Housekeys Action Network pressed the city in its Saturday news release to pause the building condemnation, ensure the landlord returns renters’ security deposits and fine the landlord. It’s also seeking volunteers to host families, help pay for hotel stays and donate goods like sleeping bags and tents.

For now, residents are still absorbing the news.

In a fourth-floor unit, Ire Cordero, 7, lay on a bed, sleeping Monday afternoon as a tube drained an infection from his head. His mother, Nazareth Pagano, 27, said she had taken him to a nearby hospital and that doctors had induced a coma to try to determine the cause of his encephalitis. It was an infection he developed in Colorado, she said.

He’s supposed to head back to the doctor for check-ups, she said.

“They did a lot of blood work,” but couldn’t determine the cause, said Pagano — who’s among many who have no plans for shelter if she’s forced to leave.

Originally Published: August 6, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.