In a legal dispute that is nearly identical to a case playing out in LoDo, a local landlord is accusing 7-Eleven of allowing one of its most prominent Boulder stores to become a homeless hangout, drug market and crime scene, harming the landlord’s leasing efforts.
Urban Frontier, a Denver firm, owns the former Flatirons Theatre at 1091 13th St., near the University of Colorado. The building is now a 9,300-square-foot retail space.
It is also “a magnet for homeless people,” according to a lawsuit that Urban Frontier filed against 7-Eleven’s corporate office on Jan. 15. The landlord blames 7-Eleven’s altruism.
“Defendant incentivizes and allows homeless people to congregate on and near the property by providing free or price-reduced items, including food and water,” its lawsuit states. “Defendant provides homeless people with special information reducing the cost of goods” and “has provided homeless people with free rubber gloves and disinfectant,” Urban Frontier says.
“Defendant’s employees have personal relationships with homeless people,” it complains.
As a result, transients urinate and defecate on the building, sleep outside, trespass inside, graffiti its walls, drink alcohol there and do drugs, according to Urban Frontier, which says it has spent $20,000 on security. The landlord accuses 7-Eleven of siding with the homeless.
“When the plaintiff calls law enforcement to remove encampments, the defendant allows the homeless people to store personal items on the property (behind the counter) while the police are onsite — only to allow the homeless people to retrieve their items and set up camp once again after the police depart,” according to the lawsuit, filed in Boulder District Court.
Other tenants at 1091 13th St. now feel unsafe and several prospective tenants have declined to sign a lease as a result of the transient population there, according to its landlord.
Urban Frontier is asking a Boulder judge to issue an injunction “preventing 7-Eleven from incentivizing homeless people to congregate, loiter, camp and otherwise wreak havoc on and near the property.” The landlord also seeks an undetermined amount of money.
7-Eleven spokespeople have declined an offer to comment on Urban Frontier’s lawsuit.
The case mirrors one involving 1755 Blake St. in Denver. There, the landlord Unico is squabbling with 7-Eleven over whether that store draws homeless people to the corner of 18th and Blake, or whether 7-Eleven is being scapegoated for downtown’s homelessness problem. A week-long trial was initially scheduled for May but recently canceled.
Full story via BusinessDen
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