The owner of a Boulder apartment complex that caters to University of Colorado students illegally modified most of its 96 units — turning two-bedroom units into four-bedroom spaces — after inspectors had signed off on new renovations to the complex, city officials said Thursday.

The illegal room subdivisions posed safety risks that led the city to deem Sterling University Peaks apartment complex uninhabitable on Wednesday evening, forcing out hundreds of CU students just days before fall classes begin.

Boulder officials deemed all units habitable by Thursday afternoon after work crews made changes to return the units to two-bedroom spaces.

Whether the owners of the complex at 2985 E. Aurora Ave. will see any repercussions has yet to be determined as the matter remains under investigation, city officials said.

Richard Lopez, a Boulder attorney who said he was representing the building’s owners, said “simple city-approved modifications quickly brought the units into compliance.” Lopez said each resident will be offered a $500 cash payment for the “unexpected modification.”

After getting over the shock of being kicked out of their apartments, tenants and their families on Thursday turned their frustration to the fact that the property owners had created a potentially dangerous living situation for them and that they would now be living in two-bedroom units when they thought they’d be living in four-bedroom spaces — with no apparent reduction in rent.

“This is a bait and switch,” said Andi Kupferberg, whose 21-year-old daughter moved to Boulder for a job. “They promised one thing. They misled, they manipulated and then they got shut down. The best part is they intended to do this all along. After they got their inspection, they changed their rooms.”

Boulder spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said the city conducted inspections of the Sterling University Peaks apartments between Dec. 21 and May 31 as crews finished renovating units within the complex.

The renovation plans that work crews submitted were for two-bedroom units, and city officials inspected them as two-bedroom units, Huntley said. As of May 31, inspectors believed all the units within the complex were compliant with city code, she said.

Then, on Tuesday, the city heard from the parent of a CU student who was concerned about the lack of a heater in the student’s room. When city inspectors arrived, they discovered swinging bookshelves had been installed that could be used to turn the two-bedroom units into four-bedroom units.

“Sometime subsequent to our (initial) inspection, the property owner attempted to modify the units to essentially create four bedrooms,” Huntley said. “They did this by placing or fixing some bookcases to divide the rooms in half… By doing it the way they did it, which was without city permission or approval, they were in violation of life-safety provisions.”

The majority of the units — 92 out of 96 — had been modified illegally, Huntley said.

Two of the bedrooms in each unit had an exterior-facing window, but no closet. The other two bedrooms in each unit had closets, but did not have exterior-facing windows.

Huntley said all bedrooms must have two exits, typically a door and a window. Some of the bedrooms also violated code because they did not have smoke alarms or fire sprinklers.

‘Part of our herd’

According to BizWest, the apartment complex was sold to Crack Shot LLC in April 2015 for $22 million, but the Boulder County assessor’s website also lists White Fox LLC, Marletta Properties Two Holdings LLC and Sterling University Peaks LLC as owners.

The property is managed by Newcastle Properties in Centennial. Jessica Ramer, who was at the apartment complex Thursday and said she worked for Newcastle, said the owners were responsible for the issues.

“The units are livable; they’re brand-new units,” Ramer said. “It’s our goal right now just to get people in a livable situation before school starts. That’s what we can do at this point. It’s a brand-new building.”

According to the Sterling University Peaks website, the building was “completely renovated” in 2016. Cable and basic internet were provided to residents for a flat rate.

The complex boasts a swimming pool, hot tub, fitness center, indoor bike storage, study and conference rooms, and a business center.

“You’ll love it here at Sterling University Peaks. Be part of our herd!” the complex’s website says.

The website’s only floor plan shows a two-bedroom unit. On that interactive webpage, visitors can click “open bookshelves” or “close bookshelves” to see how the unit would look with four bedrooms or two bedrooms.

Current residents, however, say they were each assessed rent individually for occupying one of four bedrooms.

It’s unclear what was written into the lease agreements that residents signed. A woman working for the property management company who was at the complex on Thursday said she could not provide the Daily Camera with a copy.

Lopez, the attorney representing the building’s owners, also said he did not know what the lease agreements said.

“They were rented as two bedrooms, I believe,” Lopez said. “I don’t think they were rented as four bedrooms. I need to take a look at the documents, but that was my understanding.”

Complex promises to reimburse students

On Wednesday evening, residents were notified that the city had deemed the building uninhabitable. They were instructed to leave the apartment complex and move their belongings away from the bookcases in each room.

Later, they were notified that crews had attached one of the bookcases in each bedroom to the wall so that the room no longer could be subdivided. The other bookcase was left unattached, which means residents could push it up against the wall or swing it into the middle of the room as a partial divider.

















The residents received an email from the property manager saying that the current set-up is a “temporary configuration” and that the apartment complex would be working on a “more private solution” over the next few days.

“This is not a breach of your lease so we will not be terminating leases,” according to the email. “We are required to provide you housing that is compliant with the city and this is what the city has decided. We are doing what we can to get you back into your units quickly.”

The apartment complex said it will reimburse students for their hotel or lodging expenses while they were displaced.

Lopez said the owners will reimburse the tenants for two days of rent.

In an email to tenants, the property managers provided phone numbers for a handful of hotels, all of which were located outside of Boulder. The hotels suggested were located in Firestone, Longmont, Thornton and Arvada.

Elliot Minor, a CU sophomore, and his roommate Troy Billingsley spent the night at the Longmont Super 8. Brett Hildebrand, a second-year CU law student, said he slept in his car in the apartment parking lot.

Other students stayed with friends or at hotels with their parents, who had flown in from out of state to help them move in earlier this week.

Early stages of investigation

Though the units were deemed habitable by Thursday afternoon, residents and their parents still were upset. Around a dozen crowded into the building’s main common area and leasing office on Thursday.

Janet Waiblinger, whose son Kirk, a CU sophomore, moved into the apartment this week, said she believes the owners were motivated by greed and wanted to double their money by subdividing the rooms.

She said she wanted to see the property owners pay a fine for intentionally violating code. Kirk Waiblinger said he wanted the city to take away the owners’ rental license.

“If you try and defraud a whole building full of people, that’s the end of your renting career,” Kirk Waiblinger said.

When asked about potential repercussions, Huntley, the Boulder spokeswoman, said city officials were still trying to figure out what happened.

“We’re still working through that and in the very, very early stages of that part of the investigation,” Huntley said. “We will be trying to determine with more specificity exactly what happened between the time of the final inspection and the complaint. We will evaluate at that time any penalties that could occur. … Obviously something was amiss in this situation.”

Huntley said there are provisions that allow for rental licenses to be revoked or not renewed when appropriate.

She encouraged renters to contact the city if they see something in an apartment or a rental property that makes them uncomfortable and she thanked the CU parent for coming forward.

“Had the city known that this was the configuration the landlords were planning, we would’ve responded much earlier to the situation,” she said.

Sarah Kuta: 303-473-1106, kutas@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/sarahkuta