The four-story office building at 1245 E. Colfax Ave. is seen on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (BusinessDen file)
A developer has been ordered to pay $183,000 to an architecture firm for its design of an apartment building off East Colfax and renovations to an office building next door.
Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen told companies affiliated with developer Leon Cisneros to pay the money to Oz Architecture, a Denver firm, on March 20.
Oz sued Cisneros’ companies in September, accusing the developer of not paying $182,577 for Oz’s work at 1245 Colfax Ave. Oz said that it had designed a proposed apartment building and also created concepts for remodeling an existing four-story building there.
“It’s unfortunate that it came to this,” Cisneros told BusinessDen the day after the lawsuit was filed. “I thought that we were going to come to some sort of reconciliation.”
Cisneros said then that Oz owed him $186,270 “for errors and omissions” it made on another project and he denied owing Oz $182,577 for their work in City Park West.
Cisneros did not respond to the lawsuit. Instead, he reached a $150,000 settlement with Oz in January and promised to make payments to the architecture firm by Feb. 27.
“Leon, your payment is due tomorrow,” Oz attorney Max Stich emailed Cisneros on Feb. 26, according to a copy of their discussion that BusinessDen obtained in a records request.
“Has the wire gone through?” Stitch emailed two days later, after Cisneros’ deadline.
Cisneros responded Feb. 28 by offering to pay $30,000 monthly over five months. On March 1, Stich filed a motion stating that Cisneros “did not comply with the terms of the settlement agreement and did not provide any payments to Oz.” He asked Luxen to enter the court judgment for $182,577, which will allow Oz to garnish bank accounts if necessary.
Cisneros did not answer voicemails, emails or a text message about last week’s judgment.
Cisneros paid $9.3 million for 1245 E. Colfax Ave. — a corner lot that includes a four-story office building and surface parking — in 2022, with plans to construct a five-story apartment building where that parking lot is now and also to improve the office building.
Among Cisneros’ other development work is Art District Flats and Art District Lofts, two apartment buildings along Santa Fe Drive in Lincoln Park. Oz designed the latter.
Oz’s lawyers were Stich and Harrison Gowan with Tiemeier & Stich in Denver. No attorney for Cisneros’ companies entered an appearance in the case.
The four-story office building at 1245 E. Colfax Ave. is seen on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (BusinessDen file)
A developer has been ordered to pay $183,000 to an architecture firm for its design of an apartment building off East Colfax and renovations to an office building next door.
Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen told companies affiliated with developer Leon Cisneros to pay the money to Oz Architecture, a Denver firm, on March 20.
Oz sued Cisneros’ companies in September, accusing the developer of not paying $182,577 for Oz’s work at 1245 Colfax Ave. Oz said that it had designed a proposed apartment building and also created concepts for remodeling an existing four-story building there.
“It’s unfortunate that it came to this,” Cisneros told BusinessDen the day after the lawsuit was filed. “I thought that we were going to come to some sort of reconciliation.”
Cisneros said then that Oz owed him $186,270 “for errors and omissions” it made on another project and he denied owing Oz $182,577 for their work in City Park West.
Cisneros did not respond to the lawsuit. Instead, he reached a $150,000 settlement with Oz in January and promised to make payments to the architecture firm by Feb. 27.
“Leon, your payment is due tomorrow,” Oz attorney Max Stich emailed Cisneros on Feb. 26, according to a copy of their discussion that BusinessDen obtained in a records request.
“Has the wire gone through?” Stitch emailed two days later, after Cisneros’ deadline.
Cisneros responded Feb. 28 by offering to pay $30,000 monthly over five months. On March 1, Stich filed a motion stating that Cisneros “did not comply with the terms of the settlement agreement and did not provide any payments to Oz.” He asked Luxen to enter the court judgment for $182,577, which will allow Oz to garnish bank accounts if necessary.
Cisneros did not answer voicemails, emails or a text message about last week’s judgment.
Cisneros paid $9.3 million for 1245 E. Colfax Ave. — a corner lot that includes a four-story office building and surface parking — in 2022, with plans to construct a five-story apartment building where that parking lot is now and also to improve the office building.
Among Cisneros’ other development work is Art District Flats and Art District Lofts, two apartment buildings along Santa Fe Drive in Lincoln Park. Oz designed the latter.
Oz’s lawyers were Stich and Harrison Gowan with Tiemeier & Stich in Denver. No attorney for Cisneros’ companies entered an appearance in the case.
