The electric fencing has been installed behind an initial set of traditional chain-link fencing. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
Denver’s former VA hospital has gone electric — the fences, that is.
Electric fences have been installed at the shuttered facility just east of Colorado Boulevard in recent weeks after a flurry of break-ins were reported since the property sold last year.
A spokesperson for the Denver Police Department told BusinessDen that 26 crimes, primarily trespassing and burglary, were reported with the address of 1055 Clermont St. between August 2022 and late October of this year.
August 2022 is when Denver-based GM Development won a federal government auction for the property. The firm closed on the purchase the next month, paying $41.3 million.
The police said there have been arrests in 13 of the cases.
A public information officer for the Denver Fire Department, which reviews electric fence applications, said the number submitted has been increasing.
“We have seen an increase in requests for the fences due to the increased incidence of people breaking into different locations,” Capt. JD Chism said in an email.
The hospital facility was left empty when the Department of Veterans Affairs opened a new hospital in Aurora in 2018. GM’s purchase last year included five buildings and a parking structure on 8.2 acres.
The former VA hospital at 1055 Clermont St. in Denver, seen here on Nov. 9, was replaced by a new facility in Aurora in 2018. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
The property is surrounded by traditional chain link fencing, with gaps to allow paid parking on some surface lots. The electric fencing, placed in select gaps between buildings behind the chain link fencing, bears signage warning of 7,000 volts.
GM Development did not respond to requests for comment. But in a letter to the city in August, a staffer at fence contractor Amarok — which boasts of providing “ultimate perimeter security” — wrote that the system would “be active 24 hours a day due to the high level of crime at this location (trespassing, theft, etc.).
“The installation of the AMAROK security solution would help to reduce criminal activity and drive them out of the area which would improve the public health, safety, and welfare of adjacent properties,” the Amarok employee wrote.
The city issued a permit allowing the installation days later, records show.
The future of the property remains unclear. Late last year, GM Development submitted two competing proposals. One option called for the demolition of everything except the parking structure. The second called for both the parking structure and the main hospital building, which tops out at about 10 stories, to remain standing.
The electric fencing has been installed behind an initial set of traditional chain-link fencing. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
Denver’s former VA hospital has gone electric — the fences, that is.
Electric fences have been installed at the shuttered facility just east of Colorado Boulevard in recent weeks after a flurry of break-ins were reported since the property sold last year.
A spokesperson for the Denver Police Department told BusinessDen that 26 crimes, primarily trespassing and burglary, were reported with the address of 1055 Clermont St. between August 2022 and late October of this year.
August 2022 is when Denver-based GM Development won a federal government auction for the property. The firm closed on the purchase the next month, paying $41.3 million.
The police said there have been arrests in 13 of the cases.
A public information officer for the Denver Fire Department, which reviews electric fence applications, said the number submitted has been increasing.
“We have seen an increase in requests for the fences due to the increased incidence of people breaking into different locations,” Capt. JD Chism said in an email.
The hospital facility was left empty when the Department of Veterans Affairs opened a new hospital in Aurora in 2018. GM’s purchase last year included five buildings and a parking structure on 8.2 acres.
The former VA hospital at 1055 Clermont St. in Denver, seen here on Nov. 9, was replaced by a new facility in Aurora in 2018. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
The property is surrounded by traditional chain link fencing, with gaps to allow paid parking on some surface lots. The electric fencing, placed in select gaps between buildings behind the chain link fencing, bears signage warning of 7,000 volts.
GM Development did not respond to requests for comment. But in a letter to the city in August, a staffer at fence contractor Amarok — which boasts of providing “ultimate perimeter security” — wrote that the system would “be active 24 hours a day due to the high level of crime at this location (trespassing, theft, etc.).
“The installation of the AMAROK security solution would help to reduce criminal activity and drive them out of the area which would improve the public health, safety, and welfare of adjacent properties,” the Amarok employee wrote.
The city issued a permit allowing the installation days later, records show.
The future of the property remains unclear. Late last year, GM Development submitted two competing proposals. One option called for the demolition of everything except the parking structure. The second called for both the parking structure and the main hospital building, which tops out at about 10 stories, to remain standing.
