The intersection of 40th Avenue and Race Street in Denver’s Cole neighborhood on Nov. 25, 2025. One River North is seen in the background. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
One local developer is accusing another of cutting her out of a project just east of RiNo.
Katie Abrams, whose KAGE Partners once co-owned the Denargo Market section of RiNo, says she was approached by Wynne Yasmer Real Estate in mid-2021 to turn a vacant industrial property at 40th Avenue and Race Street into two 7-story apartment buildings.
“WYRE was putting land under contract for a development deal but needed funding,” according to a lawsuit that Abrams filed Nov. 21. “(Brian) Wynne engaged Abrams to source capital for the deal, using her professional connections to source the investment’s funding.”
Abrams says she had four institutional investors lined up by the time 2021 turned to 2022 and Wynne Yasmer went with Leste Group, a Miami, Florida-based investment firm. Under a 2021 agreement, Abrams was to receive roughly a third of the project’s profits, she claims.
A year later, K.C. Yasmer left the project, leaving Abrams and Brian Wynne as 50-50 partners.
“Abrams continued to meet with architects and engineers, analyze due diligence issues, correspond with the title company and attorneys, and painstakingly strategize with Wynne to make sure the deal would close with Leste’s funding,” Abrams’ lawsuit recalls.
She and KAGE invested $12,000 in the project, plus labor, Abrams estimates.
Then, in December 2022, Wynne decided to go it alone, according to Abrams.
Brian Wynne
“This project is in its early stages and has barely gotten going. It is early enough to make changes to the team and to the economics,” he reportedly wrote in an email then.
“Leste structured this to erode you out of (the) development side and offer you solely an acquisition fee in exchange for the introduction,” Wynne, who alongside Yasmer developed One River North and its unique canyon look a few blocks west, is said to have written. “Leste was your responsibility. You brought them and then they didn’t want to work with you.”
Reached for comment last week, Wynne responded with a brief and general denial.
“All I’ll say is, the complaint is totally inaccurate in terms of what was happening at the time and what took place,” he told BusinessDen by email. “This is well documented.”
Attorneys for Abrams declined to say how much money they believe their client is owed. Her lawyers are Jamie Steiner and Ola Lisowski in the Denver office of Husch Blackwell.
Meanwhile, the proposed project at 40th and Race has not commenced, Wynne said.
The intersection of 40th Avenue and Race Street in Denver’s Cole neighborhood on Nov. 25, 2025. One River North is seen in the background. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
One local developer is accusing another of cutting her out of a project just east of RiNo.
Katie Abrams, whose KAGE Partners once co-owned the Denargo Market section of RiNo, says she was approached by Wynne Yasmer Real Estate in mid-2021 to turn a vacant industrial property at 40th Avenue and Race Street into two 7-story apartment buildings.
“WYRE was putting land under contract for a development deal but needed funding,” according to a lawsuit that Abrams filed Nov. 21. “(Brian) Wynne engaged Abrams to source capital for the deal, using her professional connections to source the investment’s funding.”
Abrams says she had four institutional investors lined up by the time 2021 turned to 2022 and Wynne Yasmer went with Leste Group, a Miami, Florida-based investment firm. Under a 2021 agreement, Abrams was to receive roughly a third of the project’s profits, she claims.
A year later, K.C. Yasmer left the project, leaving Abrams and Brian Wynne as 50-50 partners.
“Abrams continued to meet with architects and engineers, analyze due diligence issues, correspond with the title company and attorneys, and painstakingly strategize with Wynne to make sure the deal would close with Leste’s funding,” Abrams’ lawsuit recalls.
She and KAGE invested $12,000 in the project, plus labor, Abrams estimates.
Then, in December 2022, Wynne decided to go it alone, according to Abrams.
Brian Wynne
“This project is in its early stages and has barely gotten going. It is early enough to make changes to the team and to the economics,” he reportedly wrote in an email then.
“Leste structured this to erode you out of (the) development side and offer you solely an acquisition fee in exchange for the introduction,” Wynne, who alongside Yasmer developed One River North and its unique canyon look a few blocks west, is said to have written. “Leste was your responsibility. You brought them and then they didn’t want to work with you.”
Reached for comment last week, Wynne responded with a brief and general denial.
“All I’ll say is, the complaint is totally inaccurate in terms of what was happening at the time and what took place,” he told BusinessDen by email. “This is well documented.”
Attorneys for Abrams declined to say how much money they believe their client is owed. Her lawyers are Jamie Steiner and Ola Lisowski in the Denver office of Husch Blackwell.
Meanwhile, the proposed project at 40th and Race has not commenced, Wynne said.
