Go Grove or go home? Choosing between the two options have been pretty easy to some students as they moved into their brand new homes at The Grove this past weekend. Students have been anticipating moving into the newly-built apartments that come equipped with a full length basketball court, a swimming pool, sand volleyball court, fitness center and a Harvard-style library.
Many could imagine that moving thousands of students into a building in one day could result in chaos, but according to Jason Chuboda, president of media relations for The Grove, the move-ins went smoothly and quickly.
“We are very pleased with how move-ins went this past weekend. Our goal was to ensure a seamless process for our residents and we feel we accomplished that,” Chuboda said. “We look forward to continuing to do everything we can to make our residents’ stay as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. How we ultimately measure success is our ability to keep our residents happy over the course of the year. This is our top priority.”
Prior to moving into The Grove, students were only able to gradually see pictures of the weekly improvements, but many students still had their expectations set high for a top notch move-in experience.
Some expectations were met, while others were not.
Among many who had their expectations set high was junior exercise science major, Taylor Dixon, 20. She expressed how she expected to drive into a beautiful apartment complex, but for her, that wasn’t the case.
“I definitely thought move-in was disappointing. When I actually moved in, I thought I was going to see something like the model they showed us and it was completely different,” Dixon said. “When I first walked into my apartment, it looked like someone has been living here for three years. The whole outside of the apartment looked nice, but inside was just a huge disappointment.”
According to Dixon, there were ripped carpets, holes in the walls, and many appliances did not work.
“My AC unit wasn’t working. For as hot as it was that day, there is not excuse for why our AC wasn’t working,” Dixon said.
Dixon wasn’t the only one who thought The Grove didn’t meet expectations.
Sophomore biochemistry major, Tara Schardong, 19, also thought that the move-in process was disappointing.
“Move-in was pretty unorganized. Apparently my move-in time changed from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., but I didn’t get a phone call or an email about that, so I was here at 8 a.m. Nobody was here when I got here,” she said.
Other than the move-in process, Schardong explained that the priorities upon building the apartments weren’t set straight.
“The Grove advertised their apartments as a fully loaded college experience, but the apartments are the problem”, she said.
“Everything outside is awesome and nicely built. The pool, basketball and volleyball court is amazing and it gets people to socialize a lot. The events were even cool,” Schardong said. “The only problem is that our apartments aren’t meeting up to the standards of the pool, basketball court, or volleyball court,”she said. “We can’t live in a pool or on a basketball court, so the apartments should have been the top priority.
Schardong mentioned that The Grove should have made their top priority to get the apartments nicely done first, then the pool and everything else outside,” Schardong said. “I think most residents would have been more understanding if their apartments were done instead of the pool.”
Both Dixon and Schardong feel that The Grove should have compensated their residents for their opinion of a poorly-built apartment complex.
“I would have been fine with being put into a hotel for a couple of days if that meant my apartment would look up to the standards that The Grove set,” Dixon said.
Schardong expressed that even a decrease in her monthly rent would make up for all the problems that her apartment has been having.
“Our rent should definitely be decreased. I don’t think a year was enough time to have these apartments done,” Schardong said. “
Dixon and Schardong stated that despite all of the problems, they still have high hopes for The Grove.
“Overall, The Grove had some problems, but with some hard work, I know it can be fixed. It’s just going to take some hard work,” Dixon said. “I just hope that from here on out, The Grove does their best to make these apartments what they said they were going to be, a fully loaded college experience.”
