The owner of a stately home in Denver’s Congress Park neighborhood is suing neighbors for harassment after they turned her property into a target for their pet excrement.
Flavia Montecinos, an attorney and investment executive, has owned 2725 E. Seventh Ave. since 2015, when she paid $1.1 million for the century-old, 2,300-square-foot house. Her plans for a rear addition in 2019 and early 2020 were brought to a halt by the pandemic.
“Work stopped, leaving a large opening at the rear of the house, broken windows and other visible issues,” said Alexandra Foster with Denver Community Planning and Development. “Neighbors repeatedly reported concerns, prompting multiple inspections.
“In 2024, the city escalated enforcement, placing the property on the neglected and derelict buildings list and citing it for a violation of minimum maintenance,” Foster added.
Neighbors escalated as well — in unsanitary ways. Their “poop protest,” as they came to call it, involves hurling bright bags of dog feces over the construction fence that lines the property and onto its porch. The city subsequently has received complaints about the property’s stench and appearance.
Meanwhile, John Crays of Crays Real Estate Investments, a local firm that works with historic properties, acquired the right to sue Montecinos on behalf of neighbors at 2735 and 2750 E. Seventh, what is known as an assignment of claims. Crays sued in early October.
“Squatters and homeless individuals have on various occasions taken up residence in the property and its yard,” his lawsuit says. “They have made semi-permanent encampments, started fires, leaving large volumes of garbage; they defecate and urinate in the yard; they use the property as a drug den and engage in such activities at all times of day and night.”
Last week, Montecinos fired back. She countersued Crays, as representative for the neighbors, over their “harassing calls, derogatory signs on the property and for posting the defendant’s personal information.” Montecinos says she has received countless angry calls.
“The plaintiff has actively engaged in the disposal of garbage, dog waste and other refuse on the property while simultaneously calling to complain to the City of Denver (about) the condition of the property they created,” she wrote. “The neighborhood owners are responsible.”
Montecinos notes that work on the home has begun again following a lengthy city permitting process. Because it is part of the East 7th Avenue Historic District, all exterior work must be approved by the city’s landmark preservation team, according to Foster.
“City staff and the property owner have been working toward a solution,” Foster said.
Crays, meanwhile, is hampering progress at her house, Montecinos claims.
“The plaintiff is an opportunist and has purchased claims belonging to ‘neighborhood owners,’” she wrote in her Nov. 4 countersuit, “and seeks to delay and impair the construction.”
Montecinos says the home “is regularly maintained” and “at no point in time have (neighbors’) use and enjoyment of their properties been denied or impacted” by her property.
“Plaintiff has filed (his lawsuit) in bad faith … as it has no basis in law or fact,” she alleges.
Through his lawyer, Chris Conant at Hatch Ray Olsen Conant, Crays declined to comment.
Montecinos, who is representing herself in the case, is seeking an undetermined amount of compensation for her cleanup efforts and for harm caused to the property, as well as punitive damages for emotional distress. She declined to discuss that further this week.
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