Englewood, CO

The Englewood library closed last week after tests found methamphetamine in parts of the building, officials said. The main library in Boulder closed after a similar problem last month.

A second library in Colorado has closed after city officials said it was contaminated with methamphetamine.

The public library in Englewood, about seven miles south of downtown Denver, was closed last week, shortly after test results showed that its bathrooms, as well as some other surfaces, were contaminated with the drug, city officials said.

Out of an “abundance of caution,” the city, which has a population of about 33,500, said it had decided to temporarily shutter the Englewood Public Library as well as a lobby and some restrooms in the nearby Englewood Civic Center, citing contamination.

Shawn Lewis, the city manager, said in a statement that the test results were “troubling.” He said the city would immediately begin work to remediate the affected areas of the library, with the goal of reopening as soon as possible.

“The health and safety of our staff, residents and patrons is of the utmost importance to all of us at the City of Englewood,” he said.

The city said that it tested the library on Jan 6., shortly after methamphetamine contamination led to the closure of a library in downtown Boulder, Colo., about 30 miles northwest of Englewood.

In Boulder, officials said that they had decided to test after receiving reports of people smoking meth in the library’s restrooms. Members of the library’s staff had also been “evaluated and cleared for potential meth exposure after feeling ill” on two separate occasions, the city said. Restroom exhaust vents were found to be contaminated with the drug, the city said.

The closure of a second library in the state in just a matter of weeks has highlighted a difficult balancing act for public libraries as they try to keep their doors open to all during a pandemic and a drug epidemic. As free indoor spaces, libraries face a particular challenge.

“Since Covid, the face of libraries have changed,” Marie Hotta, the chair of the Englewood Public Library board, said. “Libraries are not just a place to check out books and do research anymore.” The library, which is next to a light rail stop, has confronted numerous safety issues over the years, she said, placing staff in the difficult position of balancing the needs of everyone in the community.

“I am on the side of helping people,” Ms. Hotta said. “That said, families need to feel safe.” She said she was glad that the library’s staff and directors had taken the initiative to test the building.

The American Library Association said in a statement on Monday that, at this time, incidents involving methamphetamine contamination in library buildings appeared to be limited to Colorado. “We are unaware of this issue occurring anywhere else in the country, currently or in recent years,” it said.

The main library in Boulder reopened last week after extensive cleaning of the floors, walls and heating and ventilation systems, though the public restrooms were still being cleaned and remained unavailable. The library said that it had also removed some seating, public computers and laptops.

Deaths from drug overdoses rose to record-breaking levels in 2021, nearing 108,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A significant share of those deaths resulted from overdoses involving methamphetamine, a highly addictive synthetic stimulant, and fentanyl, a class of potent synthetic opioids that are sometimes mixed with other drugs.

The number of deaths associated with stimulants like meth, which has grown cheaper and more lethal, reached about 33,000 in 2021.

State and local governments have different standards for determining what level of meth contamination is safe for the public. But the thresholds for remediation set in Colorado are “some of the most conservative in the nation,” according to the city of Boulder.

City officials in Englewood said that reports of drug use in the library, while infrequent, had increased in recent months, and that it was hiring additional security staff members to conduct surveillance inside and outside the library.

Officials said the traces of the drug in the restrooms in the library and the civic center “exceeded state thresholds for methamphetamine contamination.” Other parts of the library building also tested positive for methamphetamine contamination but at lower levels, they said.

All of the affected areas will require “specialized cleaning,” the city said in its statement.

ENGLEWOOD, COLO. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Inverness Business Park at 35 Inverness Drive East in Englewood, a southeast suburb of Denver. Terms of the transaction were not released.

Teledyne Technologies, a manufacturer of air quality monitoring instrumentation and software, fully leases the 65,000-square-foot property, which it has occupied since 2004. Built in 1980, the multi-use building has a single-story warehouse and a two-story office space. The warehouse space includes a loading dock with five overhead rolling doors. The property also features a tenant cafeteria area and outdoor patio space.

Patrick Devereaux, James Brady and Campbell Davis of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the deal. The name of the buyer was not released.

PHOENIX — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of a single-tenant office building in Phoenix’s Camelback Corridor. McCarthy/MRL Properties Arizona sold the asset to a joint venture between Crowne Point Equity, Corsair Management and A-1 Legacy Properties for $14.5 million.

Located at 6225 N. 24th St., McCarthy Building Cos. fully occupies the three-story, 41,982-square-foot building. The property features a shaded garden-level patio with picnic tables; outdoor cooking and seating; multiple conference, break and recreation/game rooms; and a fully equipped kitchen.

Eric Wichterman and Mike Coover of Cushman & Wakefield’s private capital team, in collaboration with Mark Seale of Avison Young, represented the seller in the transaction.

THORNTON, COLO. — Greystone has provided a $30.4 million Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting & Servicing loan to refinance the 206-unit Parkview Terrace Apartments in Thornton. Dale Holzer of Greystone’s Newport Beach, Calif., office originated the financing for Milky Way Apartments LLC.

Constructed in 1972, Parkview Terrace offers 60 one-bedroom, 138 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom units.

The loan is a permanent exit from bridge acquisition financing that Greystone provided in July 2021. The non-recourse, fixed-rate financing carries a seven-year term with full-term interest-only payments.

TUCSON, ARIZ. — Sheiner Group/Living Well Homes has completed the disposition of Eastyn Park, an apartment property in Tucson. Greenwater Investments acquired the asset for $42.5 million, or $152,329 per unit.

Hamid Panahi, Clint Wadlund, Art Wadlund, Steve Gebing and Cliff David of Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller and procured the buyer in the deal. Brian Eisendrath and Cameron Chalfant of IPA Capital Markets arranged acquisition financing for the buyer.

Constructed in 1973, Eastyn Park features 279 apartments averaging 895 square feet per unit spread across 33 residential buildings. The community features a fitness center, two swimming pools, business center and picnic areas with barbecue grills. Apartments offer all-electric kitchens, wood-style plank flooring and oversized closets.

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ENGLEWOOD, Colorado -- For the second time in a month, a Colorado library has closed its doors to clean up methamphetamine contamination.

The video above is from a related story.

Officials in the Denver suburb of Englewood shut down the city library last week within a couple of hours of getting test results Wednesday showing that the contamination in the facility's restrooms exceeded state thresholds, city spokesman Chris Harguth said.

Other spaces such as countertops also tested positive for lower levels of the drug and will require specialized cleaning, he said. The larger-scale remediation work will include removing tainted surfaces, walls, ductwork and exhaust fan equipment.

The city of about 33,000 just south of Denver decided to test for the drug after officials in the nearby college town of Boulder closed its main library after finding meth contamination, Harguth said.

It is the latest example of the balancing act urban libraries have to navigate between making their facilities be welcoming to all while keeping them clean and safe. When a rash of overdoses in libraries were reported in the mid 2010s as the opioid crisis grew across the United States, some libraries were equipped with the antidote Naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan.

So far it seems library closures triggered by methamphetamine contamination are limited to Colorado, according to spokesman Raymond Garcia of the American Library Association, which is unaware of any happening elsewhere across the country in recent years. The group declined to comment on whether drug use has been increasing in libraries, citing a lack of up-to-date data.

Health officials say meth residue can be an irritant, causing symptoms like an itchy throat, a runny nose and bloodshot eyes. But secondary exposure isn't believed to cause long-term, chronic health concerns, Harguth said.

Drug use is not common in the Englewood library, but reports of it have increased in recent months as colder weather led more people to seek shelter there, with only a small number of them using, library director Christina Underhill said. More broadly, the library has attracted more homeless people since fully reopening after closing at the beginning of the pandemic.

SEE RELATED STORY: Growing opioid epidemic sparks increases in overdoses and deaths in Harris County

"We're very accommodating," Underhill said. But "there are some individuals who abuse this space and unfortunately put us in this position."

Brenda Folsom, who was picking up her grandchildren from school near Englewood's library on Thursday, said she has seen an increase in drug use in the area over the last two years, particularly at her local park. She is concerned her 3- and 8-year-old grandsons, who go to the library with their father, and other curious children might pick up needles and other drug paraphernalia in its bathrooms.

"I think if they would clean their restrooms a little more or paid attention to the restrooms and stuff or the people going in there, they wouldn't have this problem," Folsom said. In her view, the library should have better security and more frequent checks of the facilities.

Boulder officials suggested that their city's library closure last month was the result of strict state rules for cleaning up meth once testing reveals it. They also pointed out that standards for how much meth contamination is acceptable were developed with an eye toward homes, where frequent exposure is more likely than in public buildings.

Colorado's rules are "some of the most conservative in the nation, using an abundance of caution to protect infants and children from exposure," the city said in a Dec. 28 statement.

The Boulder library has since reopened, but its bathrooms remain closed as crews do decontamination work including replacing fans and vents, spokesperson Annie Elliott said. Once that is done, the bathrooms will remain locked and anyone needing to use them will have to ask a staff member or security guard for access.

The Englewood library has made some changes to help homeless people who go there. An outreach group comes each Monday to offer services like help getting identification, food vouchers and housing, according to Underhill.

However after some library users said they did not feel safe, the city hired security guards last year, she said. It also established a code of conduct with the aim of helping librarians be able to enforce rules.

Englewood also recently increased funding to add more staff in hopes of deterring drug use, according to the library's website.

"The use of the library has changed," Underhill said. "More people are coming to use it as a shelter area."

Signs along south Broadway read, "Eat, explore, enjoy downtown Englewood." But after early November, be sure you do not sit or lie on the sidewalks.

The city backs away from calling its new ordinance an attempt to deal with the homeless population.

Shawn Lewis, the city manager told CBS News Colorado, "Englewood is less concerned about who is blocking the sidewalks. Sometimes it's young adults camping out in front of the Gothic Theater to buy a movie ticket, sometimes it's people experiencing homelessness."

That is evident. At a small city park, a clean up was underway when a CBS News Colorado crew was in the area on Tuesday. Regulations prohibit sleeping overnight although mattresses, sleeping bags and shopping carts were strewn throughout the area, along with a syringe.

A man who calls himself Mr. Cross was outside Cafe 180, which provides meals in exchange for volunteer help around the restaurant.

"There's a lot of people out here really struggling and people don't understand that mental health is really serious," he said.

Lynsey Christianson was previously homeless and does not embrace the new law.

"I think there are better ways to go about protecting the community, like financing, to not only employ, but house homeless people which would be very beneficial," Christianson said.

Shawn Lewis, the city manager offered, "It's not about who is causing the problem, it's about making sure we are keeping our sidewalks passable, particularly for those that are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act."

He noted that Craig Hospital, which is well known for its spinal rehabilitation work, is in Englewood. Its patients are frequently in wheelchairs.

The penalty for violating the new ordinance will be up to a judge.

Rick Sallinger

Rick Sallinger is a reporter for CBS News Colorado. Read his latest reports or check out his bio and send him an email.

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