AUSTIN, Texas — Nearly three months after moving in, students at The Standard at Austin apartments are trying to put a rough experience behind them.
KVUE first reported on the issue in September, after students reported unfit conditions for living including rodents in apartments, hallways blocked with trash, electrical shorts and numerous safety issues.
While The Standard has addressed many of the residents complaints, the question still lingers: Why did the City of Austin give The Standard the green light to allow students to move in?
"None of the issues that our inspectors observed in the field were related to the compliance of the structure itself, nor did those issues compromise health or safety in the context of building standards," according to Beth Culver, assistant director and building official of the Development Services Department for the City of Austin.
Throughout the process of its completion, the building was inspected 76 times, Culver said. After passing all major fire, electrical, plumbing, building and mechanical systems inspections to make sure there were no risks with the occupation of the structure, the City was able to provide the temporary occupancy permit.
The building has completed mechanical, plumbing, electrical and sidewalk final inspections and is currently awaiting approval from Housing and Planning and the Austin Fire Department before receiving a permanent Certificate of Occupancy.
"The health and safety of residents at The Standard at Austin are top priorities for Landmark Properties. We would have postponed moving residents into The Standard without an approved certificate of occupancy from the city. We received this approval in early-August, prior to residents moving in, and have since complied," The Standard told KVUE in a statement.
While the building was stable, tenants did not consider it safe.
The City of Austin Codes Department received 18 complaints during the first two months the apartment complex opened, from fire code concerns to rodent issues. The codes department resolved each issue.
Susan McCollum is a parent of one of the tenants. Her daughter moved in and faced similar issues as other residents, but did not complain initially.
"Oddly, we weren't even involved in the complaints because we did tell our daughter there are issues when you move into a new place; the trash, even the rodents with new construction," McCollum said.
However, things then took a downward spiral for her daughter, who was constantly bothered by banging caused by the 24/7 gym above her apartment, and a growing mold problem.
"She was ill in total for about a month, month and a half," McCollum said.
McCollum moved out temporarily while they hired a professional to get rid of the mold. It cost them $1,500. They are still fighting to get reimbursed for the mold treatment and their daughter's medical bills.
The McCollum family is trying to hold The Standard and its parent company, Landmark Properties accountable so residents of their future properties do not go through what many tenants at their complex did this year.
After KVUE's story aired in September, The Standard issued residents a partial rent credit to apologize for the issues residents faced.
While a representative with Landmark Properties explained unexpected supply chain issues were to blame for their delayed timeline, they plan to learn from this experience.
The company's statement read:
As we develop future projects, we're building in more time into our construction timelines to deal with the supply chain availability. At the same time, we’ve hired more corporate staff to focus full-time on supply chain issues and possible solutions to make sure we're doing a good job of sourcing alternatives in the event that we have more supply and product delays in the future.
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