Residents of a new building just off-campus waited weeks to get in - and now some say the rooms still aren't ready for them.
Certain floors in the retail and residential building at 40th and Chestnut Streets were scheduled to open for residents two months ago, but construction was delayed due to shipping problems with materials. Over that time, students scheduled to move in have been living at the University City Sheraton instead.
The building finally opened two weeks ago, and move-in will continue for the next two to three weeks.
Even after the delay, some of the rooms were left unfinished, residents say. Mark Gottespheld, a first-year Drexel law student, said his apartment was dirty when he arrived from the Sheraton.
"I spent like an hour cleaning the floors and shower when I first got here," Gotteshpeld said. "I had to scrub everything."
Pointing to the ceilings and floors, Gottespheld's neighbor, third-year Penn Dental student Suphattra Lertruchikun, said the fixtures in her apartment resemble those in the hallways and seem unfinished.
"The floor's so cold and bare that I'm going to have to buy carpets," she said.
But she said the delay was the most inconvenient aspect of moving in.
"They should have finished earlier," she said. "It's been a lot of work to change my plans at the last minute."
But Robert Hoe, who supervised the development of the site said that everyone worked hard to finish as quickly as possible.
"Builders were there up until and even after midnight the day before students moved in, just getting everything ready," Hoe said.
He added that the lobby, stairwell and the other floors still need some construction, but the bare ceilings and exposed fixtures are part of a design with that Hoe calls a "modern, minimalist feel."
And Wharton junior Sam Pierce says he loves living at the Hub. "It's quiet, and I have my own space," said Pierce, who lives in a studio apartment.
But with the first three floors of the Hub designated for retail space, and a Jean Madeline hair salon scheduled to move there in January, the building is viewed as a potential source of economic growth for the area.
Penn Facilities and Real Estate spokesman Tony Sorrentino said that the University is "hoping that it will be a critical mass of architecture and that we can get everyone in smoothly now. We want the Hub to do its job in bringing students to 40th street."
