Auraria Student Lofts, an apartment building aimed primarily at college students on the Auraria campus — and maligned by tenants and subject to numerous Orders to Comply from the Denver Fire Department — submitted a plan to get out of bankruptcy on Dec. 14 after filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 9, less than an hour before the property was set to be auctioned off in a foreclosure sale, Westword reported. Tenants have described various problems at the building, from broken elevators to management's refusal to return security deposits. The property even hounded former tenant Elliot Liveoak to collect more rent, despite documents that indicated Liveoak had met his financial obligation to the building. It's owned by Patrick Nelson, a businessman who owns Nelson Partners as well as 5280 Auraria, the company he used to purchase Auraria Student Lofts. According to the bankruptcy filing, the building owed its elevator maintenance company nearly $100,000 and other organizations over $150,000. It also has failed to return over $57,000 in security deposits to former tenants, according to the motion, which noted that 5280 Auraria hadn’t turned over $100,000 in security deposits from current residents to DB Auraria, the company that held the $46.5 million loan on the property — the balance of which is now over $51 million. To get out of bankruptcy, Nelson Partners proposes completing about a half-million dollars of renovations and then selling the property at auction. It estimates that, once the renovations are complete, the property could be worth $65 million, enough to pay off the loan and earn some cash for Nelson Partners.
