Mint Urban Infinity Has New Management, but Still Catching Heat From Tenants

Snow is falling, and a Denver apartment complex already notorious for ignoring maintenance requests didn't have heat working in many of its buildings before the temperature dropped.

Mint Urban Infinity, located at 1251 South Bellaire Street, became the focus of a class-action lawsuit filed by tenants last fall against Cardinal Group Management, which oversaw the property until recently. The ongoing legal action claims that Cardinal Group didn’t uphold its end of the lease agreement.

Cortland, the new management company that took over in September, has been making improvements, according to Lares Feliciano, who has lived at Mint Urban for several years. But she and other residents say that the big issue remains: a lack of action by management, leading to danger for residents. Five of Mint Urban’s eleven buildings didn’t have working heat until November 4.

The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment had issued the property's management multiple Notices of Violation on October 31, requiring it to make necessary repairs in order to meet the city's Rules and Regulations Governing Residential Health. Those regulations require dwellings to have heating systems that can maintain a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Feliciano lives in one of the buildings that was without heat, and received an email from Cortland instructing residents to use their renter’s insurance to purchase space heaters while repairs were completed.

“But they haven't done anything to communicate to tenants about space-heater safety, which is something that really stresses me out,” she says. “That's something that we've heard about happening in apartment complexes on the East Coast, where people are using space heaters and don't fully understand how you're supposed to monitor them, and if they're really old, buildings go up in flames.”

“We are aware of the recent heat-related issue, and we are pleased to report that all resident service requests have been completed, and the heat is working in all buildings,” Cortland’s community team says in a statement. “At Mint Urban Infinity, our new team will always prioritize our residents first, and we are working tirelessly to improve and correct long-standing issues.”

Among those longstanding issues is a lack of security. When Feliciano reached out to DDPHE on October 30, an inspector was already scheduled to examine exterior doors that lacked locking systems.

The complex is also repaving its parking lots, a move that Feliciano says was desperately needed. But communication about when and where repaving is taking place hasn’t always been clear, she adds, and residents have had their cars towed. Hers was towed after she parked in a spot that she thought was acceptable, only later learning that it was reserved for security parking.

“The security thing is laughable, too, because security, all they're doing is getting people towed,” she says. “Our doors are wide open. There's no security truly in the buildings. We just have these rent-a-cops driving around calling the towing company.”

Feliciano eventually negotiated a $100 credit on her rent because of the lack of heat. But after expressing her frustration about towing, air conditioning, security and heating to management, she received a notice that her lease would not be renewed in December. She and her husband had already been considering whether they wanted to stay; though conditions weren’t good at Infinity, they didn’t know if they could afford a different place. But now they have no choice.

“Every time I see a moving truck pull up to move in, I’m just like, ‘You don't want to do this,’” she says.

At least Feliciano will spend her last six weeks at Mint Urban Infinity in relative comfort: Her heat came back on November 4.