New images show filth, trash in Aurora apartment building shuttered by city

DENVER (KDVR) — Residents of an Aurora apartment building on Nome Street must find another place to live after being ordered to vacate their units in less than a week.

FOX31 obtained video and photographs from the city of Aurora revealing filth and disrepair inside several areas of the Nome apartment building near Colfax Avenue and Nome Street.

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City inspectors discovered piled-up trash, bug infestations and sewage backups in addition to a lack of heat and electricity.

Officers went door to door on Wednesday, posting notices to alert residents that they had to leave the premises by Tuesday — when the city will shut off the water, board up the building and fence off the property.

Herman Jones lived at the building in 2021 but moved out the next year. He told FOX31 the conditions were unsafe.

“Multiple pieces of the building falling apart. At one point a part of the building almost hit my wife and children in the head,” he said.

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Jones said his heart goes out to residents who must now find another place to live on short notice.

“It just disgusts me to see anybody live like this, whether they’re an immigrant, local, native, doesn’t matter. Everybody’s lives matter,” he said.

Nome Street apartment investor, property management respond

FOX31 spoke to a property investor who wanted to remain anonymous but claims the real issue in the 99-unit building is Venezuelan gang violence keeping everyone in a state of fear.

“It’s inappropriate of the city to be blaming an issue that has to do with law enforcement and gangs and violent gangs taking over the building and trying to use it as a scapegoat, that it has to do with code violations and repairs that weren’t done in apartments,” he said.

The investor told FOX31 that the management has not ignored complaints.

“Whatever the city has asked us to fix, we have fixed it and signed it off. Last year it was signed off,” the investor said.

A spokesperson for CBZ Management told FOX31 that police reports confirm gang-related crime at properties in the area.

The Problem Solvers found that in 2022, officers responded to 41 crime complaints at the building, including robbery, drugs and aggravated assault. That number rose to 84 in 2023, with the city declaring the building a criminal nuisance property.

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A city spokesperson told FOX31 that CBZ Management has hired a team of attorneys and a public relations firm to fight the decision.

The city issued a statement explaining that it will work with law enforcement to investigate any occurrence of gang activity, but that is separate from the issue of code enforcement at the building.

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