The Rocky Mountain Ballet Academy is suing a national real estate company for failing to connect the facility to a main plumbing line at a south Denver shopping center, causing water and sewage to accumulate under the building for seven years, according to a lawsuit filed in Denver District Court this week.
The academy is seeking damages from real estate company AmCap for gross negligence, breach of contract, violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act and other claims, including millions of dollars in lost costumes, props and other materials.
According to the lawsuit filed by law firm Rice LLC, the ballet academy signed a lease at Tiffany Plaza in 2017 for a unit in the same building as a Whole Foods and 24 Hour Fitness near the intersection of East Hampden Avenue and South Tamarac Drive in Denver’s South Hampden neighborhood.
Academy owners Alexei Tyukov and Maria Tyukova noticed noxious odors and plumbing problems over the years, but AmCap either told them it was the ballet academy’s responsibility to maintain plumbing and sewage facilities or sent out plumbers who made temporary fixes.
The Tyukovs were trying to decide whether to renew their lease in June when AmCap sent yet another plumber, who did a more thorough inspection and found parts of the interior plumbing were never connected to the plumbing system for the larger structure, according to the lawsuit.
“For a period of seven years, all water on the premises, whether it be drinking water, cleaning solutions disposed of after use or sink and toilet waste, had been disposed of into the substructure directly beneath the premises,” an attorney for the academy wrote.
Tests showed the unit had “considerable exposure to mold spores” and that the academy’s handcrafted ballet costumes from Russia were also irreparably damaged because of mold.
Since that time, AmCap has largely ignored the Tyukovs, other than notifying them their security deposit was forfeit because they did not pay rent after finding out the facility was “unsuitable for human habitation,” the academy’s attorney wrote.
Despite AmCap’s silence, the real estate company continued to list the Rocky Mountain Ballet Academy as a tenant at Tiffany Plaza on its website.
The academy was still listed as a tenant as of Thursday night. AmCap officials did not respond to a request for comment from The Denver Post.
“As a result of the breaches, actions and inaction of AmCap, the business of Ballet Academy has been ruined, the health of Tyukovs (and others) has been threatened or otherwise compromised and millions of dollars in costumes, props and improvements made unusable,” the lawsuit states.
An “offspring” of the academy, Rocky Mountain Conservatory, is now operating at a different south Denver location, according to the company’s website.
The complaint asks a judge to declare AmCap responsible for all plumbing defects and resulting impacts to the ballet academy and to award the academy damages and retroactive rent.
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