Athens student apartment building repeatedly delays opening, leaving hundreds displaced

Hundreds of University of Georgia students are supposed to be living in an off-campus apartment building that at the moment is still an active construction zone.

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Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin was in Athens, where students said the builders have missed the deadline to finish for months. Students hoping to call The William home said management is not talking, and they want to know if they will be able to move in on Saturday as promised.

“We’re still not sure when we’re going to move in,” Ethan Weissman said.

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Weissman stopped by the construction zone near the UGA campus on Tuesday, hoping for a sign that the building will be ready to open this weekend. Weissman is one of close to 340 other UGA students who paid deposits and rent to move into the new construction community ahead of the fall semester.

But the grand opening didn’t happen. Weissman and several other students told Channel 2 Action News that they were given a new move-in more than once, with the latest one set for Oct. 15.

“It seems their lower floors aren’t finished at all,” Weissman said. " They need appliances and floors still and stuff like that. So I highly doubt that they have a certificate of occupancy, which they’ve been saying they need.”

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Griffin stopped by the management office to ask when the building will be ready to open and was told “no comment at this time.”

With Oct. 15 just days away, students and parents are concerned it just might not happen.

“It’s frustrating enough that they’re in the situation that they’re in, but when you add on top of that complete non-communication, it makes it more stressful, because we don’t know what the next step is,” UGA parent Keith Westphal said.

Griffin reached out to the city/county permitting office Tuesday and was told a final inspection has not been ordered yet and that the entire inside and exterior must pass the final inspection before the building can open to residents.

“I feel lied to,” Weissman said. “I feel also, like, very confused and anxious about what’s going to happen next.”