When Katie Leigh first opened the door to her temporary apartment Wednesday, she noticed mud tracks from construction workers, leftover supplies in a closet and an unfinished kitchen cabinet.
Leigh, a 21-year-old UF health science junior, was one of many Grove residents who moved into a temporary apartment this week while permanent apartments were being finished. The temporary apartments are located within the new Grove complex at 3477 Hull Road.
"The furniture just looked like it had been thrown in there, and they shut the door," Leigh said.
This move came after residents were set up in hotels at the start of the semester.
Leigh lived in a hotel for 12 days as construction continued at her Grove apartment. Campus Crest, which owns the new Grove complex, told Leigh her permanent apartment will be ready in about two weeks.
"We are working around the clock to ensure we properly address all outstanding issues so we can get residents into their units as quickly as possible," wrote Campus Crest chief operating officer Rob Dann in an email.
Until then, Leigh is cleaning her temporary home. She said she found a nail on the floor of her room and paint stains in the bathtub.
"When they said, ‘Oh, you can move into your temporary apartment,’ I wasn’t expecting to move into a construction zone in my hallway," she said.
Christina Kelley, a 20-year-old UF psychology junior, said the Grove deducted $100 from her September rent. But she said she still shouldn’t have had to pay the full amount for her August rent.
She said she’s heard what sounds like people running up stairs, banging noises, drilling and vacuuming. She’s worried she’ll be in a temporary apartment for a month, she said.
"We just don’t feel settled," Kelley said. "Our stuff is all still in boxes because we don’t want to have to unpack it and then move it out again."
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 9/5/2014 under the headline "Grove residents moved from hotels to temporary apartments"]
