A crew works to install new balconies at the former CBZ-owned Whispering Pines property in Aurora on Aug. 7, 2025. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
An Aurora apartment complex that gained national notoriety over gang activity is now in the hands of a lender.
U.S. Bank foreclosed on the 54-unit Whispering Pines complex at 1375 Helena St. last Wednesday, according to Arapahoe County records. No one else bid on the property at an auction.
Whispering Pines was formerly owned by CBZ Management, a New York firm that claimed in August 2024 that its apartment complexes in Aurora, which included two others in addition to Whispering Pines, had been taken over by members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The City of Aurora pushed back, calling CBZ a slumlord. But the situation went national when then-candidate Donald Trump seized upon the controversy amid his calls for an immigration crackdown, traveling to Aurora for a rally where he spoke next to mugshots of alleged gang members.
U.S. Bank initiated the foreclosure process for Whispering Pines in April, saying CBZ had defaulted on a $7.2 million loan.
Before that, in September 2024, the bank successfully petitioned a judge to appoint a receiver to manage the property. The firm it chose, California firm Receivership Specialists, had “developed a protocol for gang-infested properties,” U.S. Bank said at the time.
Receivership Specialists founder Kevin Singer initially found more code violations than crime after starting on the job. There were leaks and electrical issues, and one of the complex’s three buildings didn’t have heat.
“Although there was some evidence of criminal activity, it appeared that the more serious issues which attracted media coverage prior to my appointment had largely been resolved due to the efforts of the Aurora Police Department,” he wrote in a report detailing his activities in October.
He installed eight security camera towers on the property that month, with four to five cameras on each one.
But only one unit paid rent in October, according to Singer, who wrote that “one or more tenant advocacy organizations has apparently met with tenants and advised them not to pay rent, which has complicated my work.”
Singer set up a “cash-for-keys” program, paying residents who wanted to vacate the complex. At least 22 residents took advantage of it in November, while others just left without notice. That month, Singer also lent credence to allegations of a gang takeover.
“Rent collections remain challenging,” he wrote. “Residents have informed my office that alleged gang members have demanded that rents be paid to them rather than to my office, which has apparently been happening at the property since prior to my appointment.”
Francy Rodriguez, a resident of Whispering Pines Apartments, stands outside her apartment building, where the door was kicked off its hinges, on Sept. 26, 2024. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
By early January, nearly 75% of the units were vacant. Singer coordinated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of repairs and secured a new insurer after the previous one declined to renew, according to his reports.
On Feb. 5, two weeks into Trump’s second term, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, raided Whispering Pines and other Aurora apartment buildings.
An April line item on Singer’s report notes a conversation with the property’s ownership “regarding a potential sale of the property,” which apparently did not come to fruition, although a proposed purchase agreement was discussed again in June. Renovations continued, financed by U.S. Bank.
In Aurora, CBZ continues to own a property at 1568 Nome St., as well as the Edge at Lowry complex in the 1200 block of Dallas St., where video showing armed men in a hallway went viral in the summer of 2024.
Singer also serves as receiver for one of the buildings that makes up Edge at Lowry, because U.S. Bank also lent money for that property. The bank has not initiated foreclosure on that property, although Singer’s most recent report, which covers the month of June, refers to discussion of a possible sale.
In late June, according to The Denver Post, the City of Aurora signed a joint agreement with CBZ’s lawyers acknowledging that the Edge complex had been taken over by the gang a year earlier, and specifically that gang members extorted residents for rent.
CBZ’s other Colorado holdings include the William Penn Apartments building at 1644 Pennsylvania St. in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood. Denver shut down the building in January, citing the property’s condition.
A crew works to install new balconies at the former CBZ-owned Whispering Pines property in Aurora on Aug. 7, 2025. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
An Aurora apartment complex that gained national notoriety over gang activity is now in the hands of a lender.
U.S. Bank foreclosed on the 54-unit Whispering Pines complex at 1375 Helena St. last Wednesday, according to Arapahoe County records. No one else bid on the property at an auction.
Whispering Pines was formerly owned by CBZ Management, a New York firm that claimed in August 2024 that its apartment complexes in Aurora, which included two others in addition to Whispering Pines, had been taken over by members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The City of Aurora pushed back, calling CBZ a slumlord. But the situation went national when then-candidate Donald Trump seized upon the controversy amid his calls for an immigration crackdown, traveling to Aurora for a rally where he spoke next to mugshots of alleged gang members.
U.S. Bank initiated the foreclosure process for Whispering Pines in April, saying CBZ had defaulted on a $7.2 million loan.
Before that, in September 2024, the bank successfully petitioned a judge to appoint a receiver to manage the property. The firm it chose, California firm Receivership Specialists, had “developed a protocol for gang-infested properties,” U.S. Bank said at the time.
Receivership Specialists founder Kevin Singer initially found more code violations than crime after starting on the job. There were leaks and electrical issues, and one of the complex’s three buildings didn’t have heat.
“Although there was some evidence of criminal activity, it appeared that the more serious issues which attracted media coverage prior to my appointment had largely been resolved due to the efforts of the Aurora Police Department,” he wrote in a report detailing his activities in October.
He installed eight security camera towers on the property that month, with four to five cameras on each one.
But only one unit paid rent in October, according to Singer, who wrote that “one or more tenant advocacy organizations has apparently met with tenants and advised them not to pay rent, which has complicated my work.”
Singer set up a “cash-for-keys” program, paying residents who wanted to vacate the complex. At least 22 residents took advantage of it in November, while others just left without notice. That month, Singer also lent credence to allegations of a gang takeover.
“Rent collections remain challenging,” he wrote. “Residents have informed my office that alleged gang members have demanded that rents be paid to them rather than to my office, which has apparently been happening at the property since prior to my appointment.”
Francy Rodriguez, a resident of Whispering Pines Apartments, stands outside her apartment building, where the door was kicked off its hinges, on Sept. 26, 2024. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
By early January, nearly 75% of the units were vacant. Singer coordinated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of repairs and secured a new insurer after the previous one declined to renew, according to his reports.
On Feb. 5, two weeks into Trump’s second term, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, raided Whispering Pines and other Aurora apartment buildings.
An April line item on Singer’s report notes a conversation with the property’s ownership “regarding a potential sale of the property,” which apparently did not come to fruition, although a proposed purchase agreement was discussed again in June. Renovations continued, financed by U.S. Bank.
In Aurora, CBZ continues to own a property at 1568 Nome St., as well as the Edge at Lowry complex in the 1200 block of Dallas St., where video showing armed men in a hallway went viral in the summer of 2024.
Singer also serves as receiver for one of the buildings that makes up Edge at Lowry, because U.S. Bank also lent money for that property. The bank has not initiated foreclosure on that property, although Singer’s most recent report, which covers the month of June, refers to discussion of a possible sale.
In late June, according to The Denver Post, the City of Aurora signed a joint agreement with CBZ’s lawyers acknowledging that the Edge complex had been taken over by the gang a year earlier, and specifically that gang members extorted residents for rent.
CBZ’s other Colorado holdings include the William Penn Apartments building at 1644 Pennsylvania St. in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood. Denver shut down the building in January, citing the property’s condition.
