Some residents of Chestnut Square, a Drexel-affiliated apartment building owned and operated by American Campus Communities, were told this week that they would be forced to relocate from their apartments.
On the morning of Thursday, Jan. 15, residents received an email informing them that they must relocate units on Monday, Jan. 20. In a copy of the email obtained by The Triangle, Chestnut Square management attributed the need for relocation to an issue with the floor’s heating system.
“We have learned that the compressor units that service the part of your building, where your unit is located, need to be replaced. Unfortunately, they cannot be repaired, and replacement is going to take several months. Additionally, the contractor will need to cut into walls in your unit to run HVAC lines,” management said through the email.
According to a resident and Drexel student who will be impacted by this upheaval, the heating system was not working periodically in their unit in the latter part of the Fall term. However, the resident indicated that the issue has since been resolved and that, along with their roommates, they “don’t really feel the need that we have to leave.”
According to the resident, “There’s other people on the floor who aren’t getting affected by this and who don’t have to move,” although they were informed by Chestnut Square management that this issue is impacting “over 100 students.”
In the email informing tenants of their upcoming relocation, Chestnut Square management outlined the conciliatory actions to mitigate the inconvenience of the abrupt move. Chestnut Square will hire a moving company to bring displaced residents’ belongings to their new units during a three-hour window. Additionally, tenants will be provided monetary compensation, including a one-month credit for their February rent and a $475 gift card for laundry, a sum large enough to cover three loads of laundry per week for the remainder of the lease term.
Many residents impacted by this relocation were occupants of the four bedroom, 2.5 bathroom townhouse model unit, which featured in-unit laundry. After the relocation, however, they will be moved to a four bedroom, two bathroom unit with no in-unit laundry.
While this relocation is inconvenient for residents who feel that there is no pressing need to move, tenants’ lease agreements allow for ACC to abruptly relocate them with little consideration for student comfort. In a copy of residents’ leases reviewed by The Triangle, there are clauses that allow for ACC to “within one (1) day after [providing] written notice to you, we have the right to relocate you from one (1) Bedroom in the Apartment to another or even to another Apartment in another Building within the Apartment Community.”
This agreement leaves tenants with little recourse for combating ACC’s impending relocation.
Amongst the ordinary inconveniences of moving are the facts that, in some cases, Chestnut Square is not able to relocate all four members of one existing unit into another. This means that some roommates who share common household items will not be moved into the same unit, complicating an already sudden move. Additionally, with students being given just a three-hour window on Monday to move their items, many students will be forced to miss class if their moving window conflicts with their academic schedule.
When reached by The Triangle, Chestnut Square management shared that “The safety, comfort, and wellbeing of our residents are always our top priority. Because of issues with heating units, we are taking the necessary step to relocate some Chestnut Square residents. Unfortunately, we must move ahead with a more involved replacement process, as soon as possible. We regret the inconvenience this has caused are working closely with those affected to manage the situation.”
This article has been updated to reflect comment from American Campus Communities’ Chestnut Square.