As any Stern girl can attest, the most coveted place to live on campus is the luxurious 35th street apartment building. Girls will try any means possible to ensure they become apartment residents, having their “connections” call in, or listing dietary and health issues for which they would need a kitchen.
While all the girls who were assigned housing in the building are extremely thankful and happy with their assignments, they also faced some disappointment when they arrived on move-in day.
Many girls walked into their apartments to find a sign on their refrigerator stating: “If your water filter is broken, we will not fix it.” Many girls were welcomed by broken, clogged, or leaking air conditioners. Light switches were not working and in some rooms light bulbs were missing. Windows would not fully close and some were missing shades.
The building has twenty-two apartments; some fit four residents, some six. There are two apartments which accommodate the “lucky number” of eight occupants, known as the penthouse apartments.
In one penthouse apartment, the bathroom window was missing a shade, rendering it useless at night since neighbors would be able to peer in. Other girls were not able to shower in their bathrooms for the entire first week, due to no water coming out of their showerheads.
The penthouse apartments’ staircases were dusty and in one of the apartments, the walls were completely scratched up. As one resident described, “it looks like a cat scratched the walls walking down the stairs.” In actuality, the marks are probably from moving furniture up and down the staircases.
The many residents that The Observer spoke with regarding the disappointing conditions all wished to remain anonymous. Overall they are all extremely happy with their living arrangements. However, as one student put it, “We are paying an extra $3,000 to live in these apartments. We think they are beautiful and that we are lucky to be living in such spectacular accommodations as students. However, we also expected them to be in shape for our arrival, considering the extra cost.”
One does not need to look far in order to realize the reason for the inadequate move-in conditions. Unlike Brookdale or the other Beren Campus dorm buildings, the 35th street apartments are occupied year-round. Since students live in the building during the summer up until move in for the regular semester, the maintenance crew may not have adequate time to ensure that everything is in perfect condition for the new batch of residents.
“Perhaps next year more care will be taken to ensure that the apartments are in move-in ready,” said one resident. “But, despite the imperfection, I’m really happy and think it’s a beautiful place. Cat-scratches and all.”