ORONO, Maine — Local officials are again dealing with complaints about the condition of apartments in the largest off-campus student housing complex in town, Code Enforcement Officer William Murphy said Friday.
The code inspector and the fire marshal have inspected four units at The Grove in the last week after tenants complained, he said.
“It was just disgusting,” said Karen Klatt of Brunswick, who along with her husband, Randy, moved their son into an apartment with three other students at The Grove a week ago. “It had not been cleaned at all.”
The apartment was not painted, as promised, and the carpets were stained in several places, she said Friday, emailing photos reportedly showing the conditions. Two windows on the first floor were broken, three window screens were missing, one bathroom had a missing light fixture and a broken towel rack, and there was a broken baseboard near the kitchen that had what appeared to be mold, she said.
Smoke detectors were missing, and one of the four mattresses, which Klatt described as filthy, “has numerous burn holes probably from a cigarette, and the room has the disgusting smell of cigarette smoke.”
While the conditions were not good, she said the four students moved their belongings into the apartment. Klatt said she has since been dealing with The Grove management trying to get the problems fixed. She also contacted University of Maine officials and called Orono code enforcement on Friday.
“A clerical error resulted in 25 students being moved into apartments that were not ready for occupancy,” Jason Chudoba, vice president of Integrated Corporate Relations Inc., which handles public relations for Campus Crest, said Friday in an email. “As soon as the issue was brought to our attention, we took immediate steps to rectify the situation including moving affected residents in alternative accommodations. We truly apologize for the inconvenience and frustration this has caused our valued residents and their families.”
The Grove, a complex with a 620-tenant capacity that houses mainly University of Maine students, has had problems with heating, electrical outages and mold and mildew since it opened Sept. 1, 2012. The $25.3 million complex, owned and built by North Carolina-based Campus Crest Communities Inc., features 12 apartment buildings and eight townhouses. The Orono complex is among about 40 properties Campus Crest owns nationwide.
“They have to do a better job,” Murphy said. “They have an obligation to make sure the apartments are livable.”
The dirty conditions of the apartments and the grounds are the basis of the recent complaints, the code officer said.
“It’s up to the maintenance staff to clean the unit,” Murphy said. “I’m going to be writing them — their corporate office — a letter saying I can’t continue going to their property with the fire marshal when the complaint is about a cleanup.”
Murphy said last year that the complex met required building codes. The Grove buildings are up to code, he said Friday, except for the entrance, because Campus Crest has yet to install a right turn lane into the facility, a requirement of the Maine Department of Transportation.
The Orono complex also has been the site of raucous parties, including one near riot that drew more than 300 people in the fall of 2012, according to Orono police. Increased police presence on the private property has reduced the number of underage drinking parties, local police have said.
In addition to contacting The Grove maintenance department and the town, Klatt also sent a message to Robert Dana, UMaine vice president for student affairs.
“Thank you for sharing this with me,” Dana responded to Klatt in an email she shared with the BDN. “Student safety and well-being is an essential part of college life, and I do hope this situation has been resolved for you. If we can advise or support your son and his roommates, please feel encouraged to give him (them) my contact information.”
Dana said Friday afternoon that the university’s role is “to offer support and guidance to the students” and that over the last two years since The Grove opened, UMaine has played a role in assisting students.
“We have weighed in to The Grove encouraging responsiveness and advocating for student needs to be met,” he said.
“[Students] can come to us for how to problem-solve lease issues, we can help them with other referrals to other living situations, we can refer them to the town for intervention from code officers, and we can refer them to the attorney on campus who handles landlord/tenant issues for students,” Dana said.
Since Klatt’s son and his three roommates have moved in, the students have experienced two water problems, a leaking air conditioner that flooded the kitchen and a leaking second-story bathtub that is soaking the kitchen ceiling, she said.
The leaking air conditioner was fixed, and the water was vacuumed up. Maintenance staff started work Friday afternoon to address the leaking bathtub.
“I’d like to let you know that we at the Grove would like to apologize for the mishaps of the unit in which you have encountered so far with your sons stay here,” Raja Jennings, general manager, said in a Sept. 2 email to Klatt that she provided to the BDN. “Sunday and Monday were extremely busy days, and we weren’t able to get to all of the calls that came threw (sic) and we apologize for that inconvenience.”
The Grove management has worked with the town to address all the problems brought to its attention regarding the apartments, the code enforcement officer said. When the BDN spoke to Murphy on Friday morning, he had not yet spoken to Klatt about her son’s apartment.
“I have inspected all the units and the issues have been or are being corrected,” Murphy said. “It’s mainly cleanliness. Two units had no working fire detectors, and these have been corrected. One was missing a switch plate cover, and the place had not yet been cleaned.
“There was one complaint of mold on the carpet, but that was corrected by the maintenance department,” the code officer said. “Mold is something we take seriously. When they first opened in 2012, [The Grove] had quite a few mold issues, but all of last year, I didn’t have one mold complaint.”
There is no excuse for the unclean conditions found by arriving students, Klatt said.
“We are paying $535 [per month] for my son to live there in conditions that I feel are unacceptable,” she said. “With the three other roommates paying that same amount, the leasing company of The Grove is receiving at least $2,140 just for that one apartment. I do not understand why [there are] such poor conditions when the students are paying that much for housing.”