City forces closure of apartment building that was formerly Boulder’s historic Marpa House

BOULDER — Little more than a year after Boulder’s historic Marpa House was turned into rental housing for University of Colorado students, city officials have decided to indefinitely shutter the apartment building now known as Ash House.

The decision to close the privately owned, off-campus student housing building at 891 12th St. was made “after discovering that the property owner created additional bedrooms per unit without city approval,” the city said Monday in a news release. “The result is that the units do not meet code and life-safety requirements.”

Ash House was originally built in 1923 to serve as the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house and was taken over in 1973 and converted into the Marpa House, which provided housing for members of the Shambhala community. 

“The notice of closure will result in the temporary displacement of approximately 60 student renters, at least 13 of whom will need to find new permanent housing,” the city said. CU’s Off-Campus Housing & Neighborhood Relations Office and Student Legal Services are available to assist Ash House residents. 

“This is an incredibly unfortunate situation, and we truly regret the inconvenience and disruption for renters,” said Brad Mueller, director of Planning & Development Services, which includes the Code Compliance division. “However, safety is always first, and the conditions discovered represent an immediate risk. The building code exists to ensure minimum safety, health and quality of life standards exist for all rental housing. The city determined swift action was needed given the egregious nature of the violations.”

Developer John Kirkland, along with a group of investors who purchased the Marpa House in 2019 for $5 million, won approval from Boulder City Council in May 2021 to transform the property into apartments for CU students despite vocal opposition from neighborhood residents. The redevelopment project finished during last school year.

Neighbors were concerned about noise and disruptive behavior from student residents. As a result, Boulder officials included a series of conditions to their 2021 approval that included strict quiet hours, limits to the number of cars renters are permitted, 24-7 onsite management, occupancy limits of one person per bedroom and a good-neighbor agreement with surrounding property owners. Violations could have resulted in the city revoking Ash House’s rental license.

“We’re extremely empathetic and receptive to the range of very emotional pleas from neighbors who have shared their views on this from the beginning,” project consultant Rob O’Dea said during a 2021 hearing on the redevelopment proposal, adding that the developer “get[s] where they’re coming from.” 

However, he said, “It will be hands down the nicest, highest-quality and best-managed property in this area.”

Ultimately, it wasn’t the CU students who got the building shut down, but its owners with 891 12th St LLC, according to the city’s explanation of the move to issue a notice of closure for Ash House, representatives of which did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening.
The plans Boulder officials approved three years ago allow for 48 residents spread across 16 three-bedroom units to live at the property at any one time. But when code officers with Boulder’s Planning & Development Service Department, responding to a tenant complaint, inspected Ash House last week, they discovered that units had been illegally subdivided to create new bedrooms and cram in additional renters, the city claims. 

“Specifically, 15 new bedrooms were constructed without building permits, land use approval or life-safety inspections, evidently in the days immediately after city building inspectors had conducted inspections on the previously allowed and permitted construction,” Boulder officials said in a new release. “Thirteen of those 15 bedrooms were occupied.”

The release continued: “There is no scenario, based on the size of the units, under which the city could have approved a fourth bedroom for the units under current code or zoning. In addition, the owners did not have permits for the electrical work that was conducted when the new bedrooms were added.”

Ash House residences must remain vacant until all of the allegedly illegal additions are removed and the property meets the specifications spelled out by the previously approved conditions, the city said. 

“We anticipate there will be significant de-construction disturbance within a confined space to remedy the situation. There was also unpermitted work that causes immediate safety concerns,” Mueller said in the release. “We recognize the upheaval this causes and will be working with the owner to address the dangerous situation as expeditiously as possible.”

Boulder officials said “the city will also be reviewing other legal remedies it can pursue to hold the property owners accountable for the apparent violations.”