Hundreds of San Jose State University freshman received disappointing news this week.
Expecting to move into the university’s newest residence hall — Campus Village building No. 2 or CV2 — students are instead heading for a dormitory downgrade.
Construction of the new 10-story building, located at 9th Street and Paseo de San Carlos, is behind schedule so students are being asked to bunk in dorms that are slated to be demolished. The older dormitories — Washburn, Royce and Hoover halls — date back to 1960 and have been dubbed “the bricks.”
"The bathrooms, they were pretty dirty," said SJSU student Christine Uhm. "You wouldn’t really want to shower there."
Uhm said she survived the "bricks" her freshman year, but admitted the rundown buildings are creepy.
"It's kind of scary," she said. "I hear some of these are haunted."
In a statement issued Thursday, SJSU officials said it could be between two and four weeks before the new residence hall is complete and ready for students to move in.
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Incoming freshman Leah Perrino expressed relief on Friday because she wasn't assigned to live in CV2.
"I would be kind of upset," she said. "I would be really inconvenient to go from one to another, and also get ready for school starting."
According to Stefanie Teller of Sundt Construction, Inc., a “change in regulatory procedures” affected the project’s schedule. She did not specify what the change was.
“The entire team, including the university, worked diligently to mitigate the impact, and together we successfully reduced the delay to just a couple of weeks,” Teller told NBC Bay Area. “Sundt’s crews worked double shifts, seven days a week for the past several months to achieve this outcome.
"We expect to receive a certificate of occupancy very soon and the university will schedule the student move-in sometime after that.”
Once finished, the structure is expected to house 850 beds, common study rooms, a multi-purpose lounge, recreation space, and more.
SJSU is charging students less for the temporary housing than they will shell out for CV2. As a thank you for the inconvenience, the university will also give each student $150 worth of campus credit, a free sweatshirt — and foot the moving bill later this fall.
“We will hire professional movers to help the students move in,” said SJSU spokesperson Pat Lopes Harris. “We are locating temporary storage space so students can store items like refrigerators.”
When asked if the contractor, who missed the deadline, will be forced to pay for the delay, university officials said those conversations wouldn’t even begin until the students are settled into the new high-rise.
