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Mobile Home Park Residents Told To Get Out
Tenants Left In Lurch As Capri Village Begins Shutting Down
POSTED: 6:57 pm MST January 3, 2012
UPDATED: 10:42 pm MST January 3, 2012
AURORA, Colo. -- Residents of the Capri Village Mobile Home Park in Aurora have been told to clear out.“We received eviction notices in December,” said Joseph Mackey. “I have to be out by February 22.”Capri Village sits on Colfax Avenue across the street from the bustling medical complex at Fitzsimons.
Residents told 7NEWS the mobile home park is being sold and may be converted into a parking lot.“They’re not giving us any concessions in regards to rent,” Mackey said. “I just paid my rent this morning. If I move out the day after tomorrow, none of that is refundable.”Mackey said he was misled when he moved into the mobile home park in November 2009.He said he didn’t want to have to move out shortly after moving in, so he asked the park manager what effect construction at Fitzsimons would have on Capri Village.“Her response, ‘Oh no, we’re part of the restoration process. This park is considered historic value.’ That’s what I was told a year and two months ago,” Mackey said.Records show the property is owned and managed by Sanford, Barbara and David Metzel of SKM Management Co.7NEWS tried to ask SKM about the property and about the evictions, but a woman answering the phone tersely responded, “No comment.”Mackey said it’s ridiculous that the park still has a “lots for lease” sign in front, a few feet away from the for sale sign.He said it appears that management is trying to milk every last dime from tenants before they shut down.“The management company is looking like thugs to me,” he said. “That might sound kind of harsh, but put yourself in my position and you might look at it the same way yourself.”Mackey gets no argument from Jeremy Bunyan.Bunyan has lived at Capri Village for nearly six years.“It makes me feel like I wasted a lot of time here,” Bunyan said. “We bought our home and spent about $3,000 upgrading it to make it livable. We spent another $3,000 to maintain it.”Since Bunyan owns his home, he’s been given until June 22 to get out.He worries that he won’t be able to move his mobile home because of its age and said that he and his wife may have to walk away with nothing.“We would not be living here in the first place if we could afford to live someplace else,” Bunyan said.When asked if he had any inkling that the mobile home park would eventually be redeveloped, like much of the surrounding property has been, Bunyan said, “I didn’t think it was going to happen for about 20 years.”7NEWS contacted the city of Aurora and the Regional Transportation District to ask if they were involved in any eminent domain proceedings. Both said they were not.7NEWS also contacted University of Colorado Hospital and The Children’s Hospital to see if either of them had projects planned for the Capri Village property. University Hospital said they were not involved.7NEWS is still waiting to hear back from Children’s.
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