Denver says a building near Union Station is neglected and derelict, but its owner disagrees.
“Itap not a neglected or derelict building, itap simply a vacant building is all,” said Bahman Shafa, CEO of Focus Property Group.
Last week, the city designated Focus’ vacant 7,900-square foot building at 1917 Chestnut Place as “neglected and derelict.” The formal designation is reserved for structures that city inspectors identify as “unsafe, nuisance, habitually in violation of city codes” or behind on property taxes.
A notice posted on the door said the building is a neighborhood nuisance that is unoccupied and has been in violation of city/state law on at least three occasions within a two-year period.
Shafa said he’s already spoken with the city and expects the building to be removed from the list shortly. He said that the property is available for lease for $13,000 per month, and that someone recently plastered posters over the front of it, hurting the building’s curb appeal.
“We removed them and painted over it,” Shafa said.
The 140-year-old building was formerly part of a larger self-storage structure before much of it was demolished between 2016 and 2017 to make way for the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn.
The remainder of the 2-story structure hasn’t been occupied in at least five years, Shafa said. It had previously been leased to a construction company that was working on nearby projects.
The building is a throwback to an earlier era, when the area behind Union Station largely featured empty lots. Today, itap surrounded by new apartments and across from a King Soopers.
The city requires owners of neglected and derelict property to submit a plan on how they will fix the building. Failure to do so will result in a $1,000 annual fine, and further fines of up to $15,000 can be levied against unresponsive owners.
Shafa acquired the property in 2005, according to a previous Denver Post report. Shafa bought the remainder of the block, stretching from 19th to 20th streets, in 2007 for $3.3 million, records show.
Shafa added that the building is part of a 1-acre development site entitled for 177 apartments. NAI Shames Makovsky brokers Dorit Fischer and Hayden Hirschfeld have the $11 million listing.
“I think the city maybe didn’t look into it and didn’t know it was for lease and for sale,” Shafa said. “Maybe just by looking at it from the outside they thought it was an abandoned and derelict building.”
Based in RiNo, Focus owns a variety of properties around town. It developed four self-storage facilities, including one in RiNo thatap visible from the Park Avenue bridge. It built a senior-living facility in the Hilltop neighborhood and owns two office buildings in RiNo, along with the real estate where Ratio Beerworks and Barcelona Wine Bar operate.
Read more from our partner, .
