AURORA, Colo. — Inspection records show residents at an Aurora apartment building were deeply troubled and upset about their living conditions years before reports of Venezuelan gang members garnered widespread media attention.
It’s a fact that has gotten lost or omitted in much of the recent coverage about Aurora.
Code enforcement and inspection records dating back to 2020 show numerous violations, including mice infestations, ceiling damage, and dozens of unlawful vehicles parked in the parking lot. Aurora city officials say property owners failed to address and resolve most of these issues.
In March 2023, residents of the Aspen Grove apartment complex (known by several names) at 1568 Nome Street invited Denver7 inside their homes to see their living conditions.Residents said they had been without heat for several months and were dealing with mold and rodents.
"I've told the managers since the first week I lived here about the mold," Alyssa Alva said at the time.
Alva, who had a 10-month-old baby, said CBZ Management, which owns and manages the property, would not fix the problem.
“They have yet to come up to do anything about it. They hound me for rent, which they get their money every month. And I can't even get what I'm paying for,” said Alva.
When Denver7 reporters returned to the property in August, it was clear things hadn’t improved. Mountains of trash were piled up outside the building and residents still felt hopeless.
“We have mice. We have bed bugs. We have mold,” said tenant Shayra Caez. “If you go to my unit, you can smell the mold that comes from the basement."
Code enforcement and inspection records from the City of Aurora show just how bad things were.
The records, which total hundreds of pages, date back to 2020, more than two years before large waves of immigrants from Venezuela began arriving to the Denver area.
The records include dozens of photos taken from different parts of the property, including inside multiple apartment units. They show ceiling and wall damage, broken and missing doors, and mice infestations in multiple units.
Several units with mice infestations were listed in 2022 and 2023 inspection reports, meaning the problem had not been fixed. Outside, inspectors documented dozens of vehicles they said were unlawful (tags on the vehicles were expired).
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman has accused the property owners of being “slumlords.” The city closed the property in August due to numerous code violations.
In addition to Aurora, CBZ Management owns rental properties in several other Colorado cities, including Denver. They also own rental properties in New York.
Some residents in those apartment complexes have also reported issues. Natasha Barshalom said she moved to CBZ’s property at 1399 Vine Street in Denver in July.
“It was like 112 degrees the day I moved inside the unit,” said Barshalom. “The first night I tried to cook, my stove didn't work. My oven didn't work. The water doesn't get hot.”
Barshalom said things went from bad to worse when part of her bathroom ceiling collapsed.
"I literally fell to my knees crying. Like, I don't know what to do at this point,” said Barshalom.
She said to their credit, property managers had the ceiling fixed, but she wonders why her concerns were addressed so quickly.
“The guilt and shame of experiencing how quickly they acknowledged my concerns when there's tenants in Aurora that have had concerns and complaints,” said Barshalom. “Why am I getting the special treatment? It makes me feel uncomfortable."
CBZ Management said gang members prevented them from making repairs at their Aurora properties, saying it was too dangerous for their employees to be on site.
“Because we care for the safety of our tenants, and other members of the community, what we will say is, that the issue of Tren de Aragua taking over properties and communities in Aurora means that we are not able to be present on this property, or any of our other properties in similar situations, also being impacted by gang presence,” an investor for the properties said in a statement to Denver7 last month. “It is irresponsible to categorize this act of organized terror as the result of code violations when it is understood by several local and federal agencies that this gang has overtaken several apartment complexes in the area.”
Messages sent to CBZ Management again on Friday for additional comment were not returned.
