Aurora apartment complex taken over by Tren de Aragua must sell

A Colorado landlord has agreed to sell a troubled apartment complex that was taken over by the violent Venezuelan migrant gang Tren de Aragua.

Landlord Zev Baumgarten has been fighting with the Denver suburb of Aurora over the Aspen Grove after the city accused him of allowed it to become a trash-ridden, gang-infested hellhole, according to records obtained by the Denver Gazette. 

Baumgarten’s company has now agreed to sell, lease, or find some “similar disposition” for the complex — which was shuttered in August, displacing some 300 residents, the Gazette reported.

His company Nome Partners LLC must also pay to clean up the site.

Baumgarten’s company blames a takeover by Tren de Aragua for the dismal state of Aspen Grove.

One investor told the Denver Post that police had known about the gang problem at Aspen Grove for nearly a year. The investor said the situation got so bad that staff abandoned the site, allowing trash to pile up and the building to go to ruin.

In June, attorneys for the landlords had sent letters begging police and local officials for help, claiming Tren de Aragua had “forcibly taken control” of Aspen Grove. Finally, when a video surfaced showed a gun-toting crew breaking into an apartment unit, the city deemed the site a “criminal nuisance” and evicted the residents.

That’s when Baumgarten found himself facing more than 80 charges for building code violations, ranging from vermin infestations to power outages.

Though he puts the blame on gangs, prosecutors alleged that Baumgarten had faced similar charges involving another apartment building, also shuttered in August, which had code violations dating back to 2020, according to local publication Westword. 

That property, too, had been overrun by migrant gang members, as has a third site in Aurora, a suburb of Denver that opposed its neighbor’s “sanctuary city” policy that has allowed more than 42,000 migrants to enter the city. 

Now, Aurora is feeling the fallout — with residents complaining of shootouts and other criminal activity tied to Tren de Aragua.