Judge orders Aurora apartment building’s managers to help tenants

An Adams County judge has handed a small victory to former residents of a condemned apartment building in Aurora by ordering the property owners and managers to immediately find housing for the dozens of families displaced.

District Court Judge Sarah Stout on Wednesday afternoon granted a temporary restraining order requested by Javier Hidalgo the previous day. The order requires property owner Nome Partners LLC, management company CBZ Management and its representatives, Shmaryahu and Zev Baumgarten, to provide their former Fitzsimons Place tenants with either hotel rooms or apartment units similar to their old ones.

Once the former residents make those requests, the accommodations must be provided within 24 hours, said Hidalgo’s attorney, Benjamin DeGolia. The focus over the next week is to inform tenants that this option is now available and to help them request it, DeGolia added.

In the larger case, he also intends to seek back rent for every tenant.

“We’re prepared to fight this all the way to a judgment through a trial,” DeGolia said on Thursday.

Stout wrote in the court order that if she didn’t take the initial action, the displaced renters would be put at risk “of being unable to maintain habitable housing, and potentially being entirely unhoused.”

She set a hearing for next Wednesday to hear arguments on whether to extend the temporary restraining order and convert it into a preliminary injunction. As it stands, the temporary order will last 14 days.

An Aurora city spokesperson has said the city is covering hotel stays for former residents through the end of August, and outside organizations will pay for former tenants’ security deposits if they secure a new rental. But the court’s involvement could provide more certainty in the long term.

Representatives of the property management company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. The city of Aurora declined to comment.