Almost two years after an explosion tore through a fourth-floor utility room at 14565 E. Alameda Ave. in Aurora, Colorado, then known as Parkside Collective, over 100 former residents of the property have filed a lawsuit in Adams County District Court against its manager and contractors.
In the Aug. 30 filing, plaintiffs allege that negligence in the property’s construction and renovation work led to the explosion and the residents’ displacement, according to The Denver Post.
Defendants include the property’s third-party managers, Holland Partner Group and Holland Residential, both based in Vancouver, Washington, as well as several contractors that have worked on the property: Arvada, Colorado-based Milender White; Englewood, Colorado-based Elite Surface Infrastructure; Lakewood, Colorado-based Front Range Electrical Engineering and Denver-based Courtesy Electric. The property’s owner was not identified in the lawsuit.
The contractors did not respond to Multifamily Dive’s request for comment on the lawsuit. Holland Partner Group declined to comment on pending litigation.
The explosion occurred on the morning of Sept. 10, 2022, shortly after residents vacated the building during a fire alarm. Some residents suffered injuries from flying debris.
The property was closed for eight months for repairs, then reopened under the name Stella on the Park in May 2023, according to ABC 9 News. It is still under management by Holland Residential, according to the property’s website.
Residents were displaced from their homes in the interim. One tenant claims they were provided compensation of $1,000, a couple of nights in a hotel room and a partial rent refund, according to ABC 9 News. When former residents were allowed back in for their belongings, some allegedly found their homes had been burglarized, according to court documents.
Another lawsuit was filed by a former resident acting independently on Sept. 9 in Colorado’s Arapahoe County District Court. This lawsuit is against the same plaintiffs, but also includes the property's owner, Denver-based Parkside Aurora, LLC. It makes similar claims to the one filed in Adams County, according to court documents.
Construction issues
Fire investigators were able to trace the explosion back to an electrical conduit on the west side of the building, which had been broken during its initial construction and damaged by water over time, according to The Denver Post. The smoke that initially triggered the fire alarm was caused by an electrical arc that started a fire under the sidewalk, according to ABC 9 News. This led to burning PVC pipes releasing hydrogen gas into the electrical room, which then exploded.
The lawsuit claims that the electrical conduit had been improperly covered, and that PVC components had been used in places where the initial building plan called for more resilient metal components.
The complaint also alleges that Holland Residential did not properly respond to tenant complaints about electrical issues leading up to the explosion, including flickering lights and faulty circuit breakers, then failed to secure the building, leading to the thefts, according to The Denver Post.
Correction: This story has been updated to state that the owner was not named in the lawsuit in Adams County, and that some plaintiffs were injured during the explosion. The owner was named in the lawsuit in Arapahoe County.
