AURORA, Colo. — A judge has granted an emergency order requested by the City of Aurora to close the Edge of Lowry apartments, the complex thrust into the national spotlight amid concerns over gang activity including the December alleged home invasion and kidnapping of a Venezuelan couple.
The city sought on Thursday of last week the emergency closure order to shut down the complex citing the alleged kidnapping and other violent incidents dating back to September 2023.
Judge Shawn Day’s ruling found the complex presents “an immediate threat to public safety and welfare if allowed to remain open," according to court documents.
"We went ahead and filed that emergency motion that was requested by police chief Todd Chamberlain and our city manager, because the police department felt like they really needed to get in control and get a hold of that property, because it is being completely unmanaged," said Aurora City Attorney Pete Schulte during a news briefing following a criminal nuisance case hearing in Aurora Municipal Court between the apartment owner and the city.
Aurora
'I thought I was going to die': Victims recall kidnapping by alleged TdA members
City officials said they were working on relocation assistance for residents of the 60 impacted units at Edge of Lowry, which is expected to be completely shut down by the middle of February, according to Schulte.
Sometime in the next week, Schulte said, the city will hire a company to go door-to-door to find legitimate tenants still living in the complex. From there, they will receive help from Arapahoe County in finding new housing.
That help could include financial assistance, according to Aurora's Housing and Community Services Director Jessica Prosser.
"We will not be doing kind of a one size fits all for everyone," she said. "We know that people are in very different situations."
Nate Kassa, a community organizer with East Colfax Community Collective, told Denver7 he's nervous about the closure of the complex.
"I'm reminded of how the process went at 1568 Nome Street when the city decided to close that building because of a very similar situation — the habitability conditions and the neglect of CBZ Management," he said.
Kassa said East Colfax Community Collective and other organizations have already started helping families at the Edge of Lowry find new homes.
"We've been able to move out some six to 10 families, and there's still a ton of families here. I'm not sure exactly how many but, you know, every afternoon you can see the building is very vibrant. There's lots of children playing, lots of activity going on. A lot of families still here," he said.
Kassa hopes the management company is held responsible for the conditions in which they've left the complex.
"I hope that CBZ is held accountable. They shouldn't be left off the hook for their negligence," he said. "It's their responsibility that the property arrived in these conditions, that it got to these bad conditions."
- Watch the news conference following the criminal nuisance hearing from Monday in the video player below.
On Monday, formal charges were announced against 9 suspected Tren de Aragua gang members who were accused of the December 17, 2024, home invasion in which a Venezuelan couple was allegedly kidnapped.
The victims of that attack, who spoke exclusively with Denver7, said they were stabbed, beaten and robbed after returning to their apartment only to be taken by gunpoint to another apartment.
"I thought I was going to die," one of them told Denver7 reporter Kristian Lopez. “I started praying silently, telling God if I had to go, to take me to him.”The Edge of Lowry apartments has been in the national spotlight since last summer because of a video that went viral showing armed men entering one of the units in the complex, sparking claims that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) had "taken over" the complex.
CBZ Management and the City of Aurora agreed in December to close the Edge of Lowry apartment complex for safety reasons and repairs before the emergency closure order was sought by the city.
"This place is basically a cancer to the community. And we as a group of stakeholders, as community members, as law enforcement, as the city family, decided this is not going to be tolerated in Aurora," Aurora Police chief Todd Chamberlain said during Monday's briefing. "That's why these steps are being taken with the closure of this venue and to get people in different places throughout the city or throughout the metropolitan area."
Claims of a TdA takeover have previously been downplayed by Aurora police. Chamberlain was asked if recent events have made him think "takeover" is an appropriate way to describe the gang's influence on the complex and the community.
“I wouldn't say a takeover, but I would definitely say that they had a huge influence in that community," he replied. "I would say that they brought fear to that community. I would say that they definitely have brought victimization.”
Chamberlain said he hopes the closure is a much-needed restart for the immigrants living at the complex who have been victims of crime.
"It will give them a new lease on life," he said. "It will give them a new opportunity to explore the things that they hopefully came here to do and not to be victimized, not to be mistreated."
While Chamberlain blamed TdA and the property owners' "mismanagement," he said lax federal immigration policy was "destructive" for the community. He also said the City of Denver should have been more thoughtful in how it moved an estimated 40,000 immigrants to Aurora.
"Think about where you place immigrants," Chamberlain said as his message to Denver and other communities. "Think about the influx of those immigrants and what they need and what they don't need."
Chamberlain warned that in not doing so, cities are "setting it up for people to be mistreated and abused and used."
Denver7's Veronica Acosta and Ryan Fish contributed to this story.
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