It was an ambitious timeline from the beginning. The Grove, a $40 million, 250-unit affiliated housing development is largely completed, but large portions remain unfinished. Much of the furniture intended for student rooms remains unplaced and wrapped in shipping plastic. Large piles of construction debris are visible through windows. Some portions of the floor remain uncarpeted, and construction workers were working on securing the window frames well into the night.
And yet students are supposed to start moving in tomorrow. Multiple attempts to reach anyone at Campus Crest, The Grove’s parent company, for comment were unanswered.
These photos were taken at 11 p.m. on Aug 22, the night before the promised move-in date. It is clear that there is much work to be done in student rooms before they will be ready for occupants. The common areas and hallways at The Grove appear to be even less ready for tomorrow’s influx of students.
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- Some furniture is still wrapped up, and some doors are not attached to their hinges.
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- There is a lot of construction debris still laying around in student rooms.
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- This sink has not yet been placed in the bathroom.
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- There is a lot of construction material still around in this stairwell.
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- The floor is uncarpeted in this room, and construction debris is still all over the floors.
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- There is a lot of construction debris still laying around in student rooms.
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- This mattress is still wrapped up.
Though affiliated housing projects do not fall under her purview, U of L’s Director of Housing Shannon Staten told the Cardinal that construction will continue beyond tomorrow on many of the common areas in the complex, but that students’ rooms will be finished by the deadline.
Staten said that the housing department suggested that The Grove put students up in hotels if they thought it was a possibility that the building would not be completed in time for move-in.
“Our advice to them early on was that with the State Fair in town during this week and many hotel rooms booked it would be wise to determine early in the summer whether hotel rooms would be needed or not. They knew that alternative, but decided by July they would be able to be ready for residents,” she said.
Staten also said that her office has received no calls from parents worried about the progress of the construction.
“The Grove has been responsible for communicating updates to their residents and I assume that has happened throughout the summer,” she said.
Photos by Simon Isham
