Kenice Frank is a middler biochemistry major. Her freshman year she lived in Speare Hall and her sophomore year she lived in Willis Hall. She was assigned to move in this fall to 10 Coventry St. – a new living space on a street located perpendicular to Columbus Avenue.
“There is no light in my room, or anything. The water in the bathroom trickles in the shower,” Frank said.
Frank is one of half of the initially-assigned students who have been permitted to stay in the building. The other half have been reassigned and are trying to cope with potentially having a second moving day today.
Whether or not the displaced students will move back to Coventry depends on a hearing this morning at City Hall’s Boston Redevelopment Author-ity (BRA) Boardroom, said Vice President for Public Affairs Bob Gittens.
“We had every reason in the spring to think approvals were lined up. For a variety of complex reasons that did not occur,” said President Richard Freeland.
Currently, the building, as it was built by the developer, is now zoned for apartment use, Gittens said. The reason half of the student population was relocated was due to the apartment zoning license. If Northeastern receives the new zoning permit, students will have the option to reside in the building.
Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier said the initial vote was delayed, in turn delaying dozens of students’ move-in.
In order to include a newly-acquired property such as Coventry into Northeastern’s “master plan,” Gittens said, there are steps that need to take place. Those steps include amending the current master plan to include wording which will make the Coventry Street building a piece of university property.
“[Getting the master plan amended] required a presentation to the BRA board. They have recommended a change in our zoning to allow us to use Coventry Street as a residence hall,” Gittens said.
“If the zoning commission approves it, Northeastern would be able to get a license to get residence hall space based on that decision,” Gittens said. “I’m hopeful that the zoning commission will approve it and that will allow us to get the license.”
If the zoning commission doesn’t approve the license today, the students who have been relocated will stay in their current residence halls, and the students who live in Coventry now, will be able to stay.
“I haven’t really unpacked, I don’t know if I’m going to have to move,” said sophomore behavioral neuroscience major Roxanne Phillips. Phillips moved Saturday from Connecticut, and was relocated from her Coventry assignment to 60 The Fenway.
“It kind of limits how much stuff I can bring. My roommate is coming from Long Island, and she is still deciding what to do. With classes starting … we’re not too happy.”
Klotzbier said he prefers to be optimistic about today’s BRA meeting that he said a “host of Northeastern officials are attending.”
“We hope we’ll get the license that we’ll need to fully occupy the residence hall,” Klotzbier said. “Our hope is that once we’ll get the license we can go back to the students relocated and ask them – if they want – would they rather go into their [originally] assigned room [in Coventry].”
Despite Coventry being one of the newest additions to the university’s property list, some students who weren’t relocated, such as Frank, said they aren’t pleased with their accommodations.
“I’ve asked a lot of people [in Housing Services] when we’re getting things fixed. They installed the towel bars in two days. I don’t care about the damn towel bars – can I have a light?”
Another complaint from residents is lack of Internet.
“As far as furnishing and overall looks, I couldn’t be more happy, but there are spots on our walls where it has not been painted,” said David Wright, a sophomore psychology major. “They just put in a towel bar – no Internet, no cable, no phone. [My roommate and I] have to walk to the library or infocommons.”
Klotzbier said, “It’s like any other brand new construction as the punch list is being completed.” He said students should have services within a week to 10 days.
Wright said he was initially offered to live in West Village.
“My roommate and I felt that Coventry would be the better choice,” Wright said. “We were told it was new, but were not informed that the building and licensing were not in order.”
