COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Dozens of residents gathered outside Aviator Apartment Homes Nov. 16 to announce their tenant union. The group — holding signs that said “THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH!” — chanted “tenant power” in unison.
Residents from 66 of the apartment complex’s roughly 120 occupied units formed the “Aviator Tenant Union” in an effort to make the property owners address what tenants described as unsafe and uninhabitable conditions.
The tenant union provided a list demanding 21 improvements to the apartment complex. Among the demands are repairs to heating, plumbing and mold remediation, along with improvements in common areas, including fully functioning laundry machines and regularly cleaned hallways.
The Aviator Apartments in East Colorado Springs is a five-building complex owned by out-of-state landlords Whitney Sewell and Sam Rust, who live in Virginia and Idaho, respectively. Sewell is the founder of Life Bridge Capital, the real estate investment firm that acquired the complex, and Rust serves as its managing partner…