The building at 1331 17th St. and Turing School founder and executive director Jeff Casimir. (BusinessDen illustration)
A decade-old computer programming school in Denver could close if a Thursday court hearing doesn’t go its way.
Jeff Casimir, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Turing School of Software and Design, told BusinessDen he “can’t see a way around” a shutdown if a judge doesn’t reconsider last year’s ruling that the school owes $450,000 to its former landlord.
“We keep hoping for mercy and have not yet found any,” he said. “It’s not great.”
The damages stem from a lawsuit filed in November 2023 by Los Angeles-based CIM Group, which owns the 12-story office building at 1331 17th St., where Turing once operated. The landlord said the school was behind in rent to the tune of nearly $200,000.
Casimir told BusinessDen at the time that Turing’s “megacorp landlord” had filed the suit “as a means to bully and intimidate.” But Turing didn’t actually respond to the lawsuit in court. So last March, Denver District Court Judge Jill Dorancy awarded CIM $456,196, which included rent for months after the lawsuit was filed.
In November, Turing — which has been operating remotely since 2020 — asked Dorancy to reconsider the amount. The school argues the landlord made no effort to fill the space after Turing stopped using it.
“A landlord must mitigate its damages as a result of a tenant’s default under a commercial lease, including when a tenant has abandoned the premises,” the school wrote.
CIM disputes that the office space was abandoned, saying in a court filing that Turing kept furniture there and continued to pay rent after going remote. That led CIM “to believe there was a reasonable possibility that (Turing) would resume its regular use of the Premises.”
Casimir said he hopes the more than $2 million the school paid between 2020 through July 2023 will be enough and that it will not have to pay the $450,000. Turing’s lease ran through February 2024.
“I understand that a lease is a contract, and we signed the lease in January 2020 and in March the world changed out from underneath us,” he said. “It’s not like we’re out here profiteering and making money hand over fist and not wanting to pay. We’re just a little charity.”
Before Turing stopped paying rent, Casimir said he had 53 staff and around 250 students. But today, that is down to seven and roughly 50. Some students started at Turing this week. He said they’ll be able to complete the course.
Casimir said a downturn in the tech industry caused the school to lay off half its employees in mid-2023. He said that was also a key reason it didn’t make rent after.
“I can’t knock another business for being successful. But the fact that they have $30 billion in assets, does that $450,000 make a difference to them?” he said, referring to CIM. “I don’t think so, but it means everything to us.”
Turing’s coding courses run for seven months and cost $25,000. In 2023, according to tax filings, Turing lost $1.8 million on revenue of $6.14 million. In 2022, it lost $966,000 on revenue of $8.4 million. Casimir was the highest-paid employee in 2023, with a salary of $315,000, per the filings.
Casimir said the school has been on life support and needed a cash infusion from alumni in recent months to continue operating through 2025. That infusion was “significantly less” than CIM is asking for.
“If you’re starving and you get one MRE, it keeps you alive for another week,” he said. “It’s definitely not a situation where it’s easy now.”
Turing opened in 2014 at 15th and Blake and moved to LoDo in 2017. It initially rented 17,500 square feet there but later expanded to 20,300 square feet, according to CIM’s lawsuit.
While Dorancy will hear arguments Thursday, Casimir said he doesn’t necessarily expect a final decision for a few months.
CIM Group bought the 220,000-square-foot building at 1331 187th for $103 million in 2018. The company declined to comment.
Attorneys Caleb Ray and Phillip Parrott of Campbell, Killin, Brittan & Ray are representing Turing. Steven Abelman and Courtney Bartkus are representing CIM.
