Burnham 310 opens first six floors for tenants
CHAMPAIGN – Tuesday was Move-in Day: the Sequel, for University of Illinois sophomore Jessica Sturdy.
A tenant at the Burnham 310 development, Sturdy moved into her one-bedroom apartment after several months of temporary lodging at a Savoy apartment complex. She’s happy finally to be there, but “it’s kind of been a nightmare,” said her mother, Teresa Sturdy.
Initially scheduled to open in August, then Oct. 31, the 18-story Burnham high-rise opened its first six floors this week. The city recently approved a partial occupancy permit for those floors, said Garry Bowman, Champaign’s building safety supervisor.
A rainy construction season and moldy drywall that had to be replaced contributed to the delays, officials said.
Contractors began installing drywall on the lower levels last summer, before the roof was finished, and rains doused the drywall, Bowman said.
“They had a mess,” he said. “It was rolling the dice and taking their shot and hoping it wouldn’t rain. They got caught.”
Steve Baird, a concrete finisher in Local 143, finishes an approach Thursday on Stoughton Street, north of the Burnham 310 development. The first six floors of the building have been opened to renters, while work continues on the rest of the building. By John Dixon
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Contractors had to bring in mold-remediation specialists, clean up what drywall they could and replace the rest, Bowman said. “There were areas where clearly they had no choice but to tear it out and redo it.”
That delayed construction for a month, he said, adding that the mold problems have been eradicated.
It’s not clear when the rest of the building will open. Mary Herrold of Marquette Management, the building’s leasing company, declined to make a prediction. The building’s developer, Pickus Cos., did not return messages.
Bowman said inspectors were back on site this week, and he said floors 7-13 could be ready soon. All the rooms have been inspected, he said, and sprinkler and smoke-alarm systems are working throughout the building. But electrical work still remains in some upper-level hallways.
The first-floor fitness center, movie room and game room are open.
Outside, some sidewalks need to be poured, and the landscape is mostly mud. And the garage and parking deck aren’t quite finished, so tenants are parking in a nearby lot.
Pickus and Marquette notified students in July that the building wouldn’t be ready until Oct. 31. They offered to let tenants out of their leases, and for those who stayed they arranged short-term leases at upscale off-campus apartment complexes.
They offered to refund all rent paid for those temporary quarters once the students moved into the Burnham building. The money will be refunded through rebates on their monthly rent, and all rent was waived until Dec. 1, Herrold said.
“We’re trying to do whatever we can to mitigate something beyond our control and make it as positive as possible,” she said.
Sturdy said she was told in July she would get a month’s free rent for every month the building was delayed – a perk worth about $3,800 to her. That’s why she agreed to honor her lease, which she had just signed two weeks before.
But Sturdy didn’t have anything in writing, and when she picked up her keys this week she was told that wasn’t the case. She’ll still get a rebate close to $2,400, for the rent she paid in Savoy, but said she would have opted out of her lease had she known.
UI sophomore Reggie Wynne, who moved in Tuesday, said he was annoyed at first but feels he’s been compensated adequately.
But he and others also complained they had to drive to campus and rent a UI parking space, ranging from $110 to more than $400 – a cost they wouldn’t have incurred had Burnham 310 opened on time.
“Honestly, I feel they’re not compensating us at all for the inconvenience that they put upon us,” Sturdy said.
Both Sturdy and Wynne said they don’t blame the local leasing agents, who have had to bear the brunt of students’ frustration.
“It’s really not their fault. It’s the company who’s in charge of this in Chicago,” Sturdy said.
Wynne likes his furnished apartment but has a few complaints. As of Thursday he still had no hot water. And he and Sturdy were unhappy with the painted concrete walls, which have “a lot of big holes in them,” Wynne said. “They said that’s how it’s supposed to look. My father does this stuff for a living. It’s supposed to be smoother than this.”
Prices for the apartments range from $827 for a studio to $2,043 for a three-bedroom unit. Those prices will remain in effect for the 2009-2010 school year for anyone who signs a lease by Dec. 15, Herrold said.