A resident’s photo of a party on the X Denver rooftop, alongside an image of the pool two weeks ago. (BusinessDen photo illustration)
Katie Fay was thrilled to find somewhere to live in the Mile High City that would also be her workplace, gym and the hub of her social life.
In February, the 31-year-old moved into X Denver, an apartment building at 3100 Inca St. in Union Station North.
“I was sold on the place, one, because it was economical for two people with my roommate, and it was all of the amenities we wanted to start our own business. So it was perfect for us to have all those coworking spaces,” Fay said.
The 12-story, 455-unit complex opened in 2021 with the promise that its extras would be so desirable that even non-residents would pay for “X Club” memberships to access the building.
“It was essentially a social club – and that’s what they were advertising it as,” said Mark Smith, who moved into X Denver that October.
There was the rooftop bar and restaurant, right next to the pool and hot tub. There were two coworking spaces, a gym and a separate studio where you could sign up for barre or yoga.
“You used to get coffee in the morning. You used to be able to come up here and have breakfast food, and then they switch to lunch and dinner,” Smith said. “At nights or during the week, they would have different events, like trivia. And there was actual fitness classes that people would actually partake in.”
But that era has ended.
When a BusinessDen reporter visited X Denver two weeks ago, at 10 a.m. on a weekday, the heated pool and hot tub, both billed as year-round, were closed. The rooftop dog park — closed “indefinitely” at the end of July, per an email to residents — was bolted shut. The rooftop bar and restaurant, which are two different spaces, were both vacant.
The smaller coworking space on the 12th floor was locked, as was the larger space on the 11th floor, which multiple residents said has been closed for months due to flood damage. The automatic door that lets vehicles into the parking garage, which residents pay extra to use, was stuck open, allowing anyone to access it.
“I was promised there’s gonna be a restaurant here. The pool’s gonna be open year-round. There’s crazy cool parties … now it’s gotten to the point where, after eight o’clock, they won’t even allow us up there (on the roof),” said Traevena Ward, who moved to X Denver in July.
And resident concerns go beyond the duller nightlife.
“What got me here was a month and a half of free rent … that was the only thing that got me here, and that has not been fulfilled,” Jeiden Baker, who arrived in early 2024, said in a September interview.
X Denver in the Union Station North neighborhood as seen on Feb. 25, 2021. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Building’s developer says it’s no longer involved
X Denver was developed by a Chicago-based firm called The X Co., which simultaneously developed other X-branded complexes in other major cities. In 2021, X Co. CEO Noah Gottlieb, told BusinessDen that his buildings do “a few things completely different than the average apartment complex.”
He was largely alluding to the company’s “co-living” model, which allows residents to pay by the bed rather than the unit, a more affordable option. About 40 percent of X Denver was arranged that way. Rent for a bed in a co-living unit starts at $1,069 a month, per the leasing website.
“80 percent of our interest is in the co-living,” Gottlieb said in 2021.
A second local project, X Denver 2 — a 22-story, 351-unit project at 2100 Arapahoe St. — was completed last year. New York City private equity firm Raven Capital Management secured funding for both developments.
But problems with The X Co. and its projects began to surface publicly a little over a year ago, when construction was halted on X buildings in Houston, Tampa and Phoenix. In December, X Club members in Denver were told the program had been suspended. X Denver’s rooftop bar and restaurant closed in connection with the announcement.
“I think the big dip in quality was probably between, like December and March-ish,” Smith said. “You know, you would come up here and there was no toilet paper in any of the bathrooms. They wouldn’t refill the soap dispensers … They weren’t refilling the sanitation wipes in the gym.”
Inside the large 11th-floor coworking space in mid-September. It was in a similar condition two weeks ago. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen
By January, firms that had worked on X Denver 2, including general contractor Milender White, had filed more than $20 million in liens against the property. They’re currently in arbitration. In April, a half-acre parking lot where X Denver 3 had been planned sold at a steep loss. In May, when a BusinessDen reporter visited X Co.’s headquarters in Chicago, the space had been abandoned.
In August, Denver residents were told in an email that access between the two X buildings was being discontinued. Last month, ownership of X Denver 2 was transferred from Raven Capital to CIM Group, a Los Angeles-based firm that had loaned money to build it.
Reached by BusinessDen last week, Gottlieb said in an email that X Co. is no longer affiliated with X Denver.
“X Company was the original developer of the project known as X Denver, but we have not been involved with the building or its management for quite some time,” Gottlieb wrote.
No one from X Denver’s property management company, Houston-based Asset Living, responded to multiple requests for comment, including one left with a staff member at the property’s front desk.
A company called Hub & Balance says on its website it now “operates all X Denver & Phoenix locations.” For $175 a month, it claims, people can get access to both building’s amenity spaces, much like the original X Club model. Hub & Balance is run by Ben Wood, a former X Co. executive, per his LinkedIn. He did not respond to a request for comment.
A shuttered bar on X Denver’s rooftop. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
‘You would hear that music bumping, and you really don’t anymore’
For Fay, the disappointment with X Denver started the February day she moved in, when she realized her unit was “a God-awful mess.”
“Our apartment was filthy,” she said. “They hadn’t finished cleaning everything up. They turned it from a showroom into a regular apartment. The dishwasher wasn’t working. The refrigerator wasn’t working.”
Katie Fay
A little over a month into her stay, the building flooded (see video). She said she was told by maintenance staff that a pipe to the rooftop pool had burst. The top floors, including one of the coworking spaces, were most affected.
“People were down at the front desk crying … they were sobbing, freaking out,” Fay said. “They were getting no help from anyone, no answers, and if they were getting an answer, it was completely different from what they were getting before.”
It took two weeks, Fay said, for arrangements to be made for people to move out of apartments damaged by the flood. Her own unit was waterlogged, but management said her room wasn’t impacted enough to warrant her leaving it, she said.
A similar situation happened over at X Denver 2 a few months ago, according to Nick VanBrunt, an x-Denver resident who said he worked as the lead maintenance technician at X Denver 2 between August and October this year. One unit had a leak that spread to the neighboring ones. Maintenance staff ripped out the hardwood flooring and put up fans. It would be months before new flooring was installed.
“People ended up with cuts on their feet and injuries and s*** and walking on cold concrete for that long,” VanBrunt said. “That’s unacceptable.”
VanBrunt said his employer was “so broke” that he rarely had the materials he needed while working maintenance.
“We were out of gloves a lot, paint brushes,” VanBrunt said.
Fay responded to the flooding by organizing. She launched a Facebook group and put up flyers with QR codes around the building.
“That’s when people started telling me about the power that went off, they had no heat for months, no contact (from management). They were getting charged outrageous amounts from the utilities,” Fay said.
In early October, construction began on the flooded units above Fay. She was told her apartment would be repaired as well, so she’d have to move. At first, she said, management was helpful, arranging tours of various units for her to see.
“Every single one of these rooms were ripped up, destroyed,” Fay said. “Something was wrong with all of them.”
Management promised two months of free rent and to honor her existing monthly rate of $2,015, which they said in an email would “provide you with a substantial savings to current market rates.” She asked for free parking, given the wide-open garage door situation, which residents say has led to stolen vehicles and slashed tires.
Fay said that management stopped communicating when she asked the concessions be written into her lease. She ultimately moved later that month to California for a job, and received a check for $2,300 from her former landlord a couple weeks ago.
“They just take advantage of people and mess with people’s lives,” Fay said. “Like, the mental stability that I have once I left that place is crazy.”
Nick VanBrunt (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
VanBrunt, too, is leaving X Denver and heading out of state. He said he couldn’t find another job that would let him afford the $1,500 monthly base rent for his studio.
VanBrunt moved in during spring 2023. The place was great then, he said. The leasing agent bought him a drink at the rooftop bar during his tour. He and his 5-year-old son would watch football games together in the lounge.
But VanBrunt said his car was stolen out of the garage the night the Denver Nuggets won the NBA Finals two seasons ago, his WiFi hasn’t worked for a year and he’s seen amenities disappear one by one.
“There were rooftop pool parties, I mean, almost every weekend. Friday, Saturday, Sunday you would hear that music bumping, and you really don’t anymore,” he said.
