East Edge Apartments is undergoing unit renovations during a busy time for student residents.
Some residents have expressed concerns to management and UA Housing. Student residents said they were confused and frustrated as to why these renovations are not taking place during the summer when most students will be gone.
Renovation timeline and confusion
According to emails sent from management to residents, renovations would begin on March 3 and residents would be contacted with their specific unit’s renovation dates at least seven days in advance.
In an email, Marta Kazmierczak, senior regional director for University Partners, said the apartment complex came under new management in August 2024 and scheduled 75 apartments to be renovated in the spring, finishing renovations that began under previous management.
“Due to the size of the project and residents occupying the apartments all year, this was determined to be the best timeline,” Kazmierczak said.
Sydney Clements, a senior majoring in chemistry, said she was informed that she would receive an email with her unit’s exact renovation dates two weeks prior to the start date, as well as a tentative project timeline for the five-day process.
She said bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms and kitchens were supposed to be renovated. These include adding new carpet, countertops, sinks and appliances.
Ellie Gardner, a sophomore majoring in biology and history, said her renovations were unexpectedly canceled 14 hours prior to their start time. She said East Edge only gave her unit a six-day notice and failed to provide them with the promised number of rolling boxes.
On April 2, Gardner received an email saying that her renovations would be postponed and she would receive more information the next day. On April 9, she received another email stating that her renovations would begin on April 15.
“Our apartment is just kind of all boxed up,” Gardner said. “We don’t have any idea when they’re going to actually start our renovations.”
Aliza Blackmon, a senior majoring in chemistry, said each unit was promised five extra-large rolling boxes to store items a week prior to the renovations. However, management told her they would not have any more until the day before her unit’s renovations.
Blackmon said that after she contacted Housing and Residential Communities, East Edge did give her one box and said she could move her stuff into the box depending on which room was being renovated.
“But they did not provide us information about which room would be renovated on which day,” she said. “They did eventually end up getting me a second box.”
Clements said she wishes East Edge would have waited until classes ended before renovating, especially since she and many other student residents are seniors who have to be moved out by May 3.
“It would’ve been easier for the contractors,” Clements said. “I honestly don’t really feel that students’ priorities were taken into consideration.”
Gardner said communication from the apartment complex needs to be improved.
“There hasn’t been a single time where we’ve gotten a message from them that we haven’t needed to go back to the office and ask [for] clarification,” Gardner said.
Blackmon said she resents not being given the option to opt out of the renovations during this busy time of the semester for students.
“I will be … strongly cautioning people against considering East Edge in the future, if they’re establishing this precedent for how they’re going to treat their residents during a very, very busy time of the year,” Blackmon said.
Disrupted schedules
Matthew Gentile, a senior majoring in chemistry, said management has been doing their best to make the process easy on residents. However, he said the process has disrupted his schedule.
“I’ve noticed my productivity has not been as good,” Gentile said.
Kazmierczak said East Edge and HRC are committed to providing resolutions for students and their parents.
Matthew Kerch, executive director of HRC, said in an email that East Edge has been working with HRC since the fall and claims management has been responsive to students’ concerns.
“The extensive project cannot be completed in the summer,” Kerch said. “The East Edge management team is the best contact for students with questions and concerns.”
Residents were told they could sign up for a block time to use an empty unit to sleep, cook or study in.
Management also requested that animals not be in the apartment during the renovations, so Blackmon and her roommates requested that they receive a two-week notice since one of her roommates has an emotional support animal. She said East Edge did apologize and was working to provide accommodations.
Management told residents they could either stay in one room during the renovations, so as to not get in contractors’ way, or leave.
Clements said she tried to go into the renovation process with “an optimistic attitude.” The contractors came to her unit and introduced themselves the day before the renovations started to see if she and her roommate had any questions.
She said one of the biggest problems was not being able to stay in her apartment during the day or have a working kitchen, making it hard during meal times. She has mostly been staying on campus and using Dining Dollars to buy her meals.
“I don’t really have access to my kitchen during the day when new countertops are being put in and my stove is being moved around,” Clements said. “No hotel was offered, no food compensation for not having access during the day. None of that was offered.”
Clements soon realized her fridge was not fully plugged in. She said she plugged it back in but was concerned about the “sloppy” way contractors were handling her appliances.
“I’m not on a meal plan, and if I would not have come back and caught it, I think it would have been unplugged for at least another two hours, if not more,” Clements said, adding she wishes the University would compensate her for the Dining Dollars she otherwise wouldn’t have spent if she could’ve cooked at home.
Blackmon said she wished that meal vouchers would be given as compensation or that rent for the week of renovations would be lowered since residents won’t have full access to their unit.
Privacy concerns
Blackmon said residents were informed units undergoing renovations would remain unlocked during the 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. renovation time frame.
Clements said her microwave was broken during the renovations. Management told her she could use the lobby’s microwave or use one of the empty units set aside for residents to use.
“All those are not the same as going to your own home and having all your stuff in one place,” she said.
Prior to flooring day, residents were instructed to pack up personal belongings; put them on their bed, couch or other surfaces; or remove them from the apartment.
Clements said she woke up early to make her bed and pack her belongings. She placed them off of the floor onto her bed and couch; however, when she came home, her bed was unmade.
“The promise that stuff put on our bed and personal items that we didn’t want to be touched was just not followed,” Clements said. “It just kind of gave me a bad feeling that a lot of stuff had been moved around.”
She also said her dresser had been moved, so she had to get a friend to help her move it back since the office was already closed, adding that it “started falling apart” when they moved it. Along with the broken furniture, she found her roommate’s personal items in her own bedroom, as well as her own craft supplies underneath her bathroom sink.
“Having a bunch of people that I don’t know come and touch personal family belongings just feels like a violation of privacy,” Clements said.
Blackmon said that last summer, East Edge entered her apartment without an entry notice while renovating one of her roommate’s bedrooms, which makes her anxious about the current renovations.
“They left my exterior door propped open [and] unlocked,” Blackmon said. “I came home after one day, and all of the furniture from that room was just in the living room and the bedframe was in the kitchen, so I couldn’t get to the fridge or the stove or the sink.”
Gentile said he also feels nervous about his home being open during these renovations.
“I don’t feel super safe about my stuff kind of being accessible all day,” he said. “I can’t be there watching my stuff all day, because they’re doing work.”
