Quinsey Sablan/Nevada Sagebrush
A construction worker fixes a balcony outside the Sterling Summit student living apartments on Aug. 30. Residents are upset that conditions have not improved months after they moved in.
Sterling Summit apartments are still having problems after opening in August while the complex was still considered an open construction zone. Residents feel the company rushed construction, which has led to broken appliances, unfinished apartments and a lower quality of living than they were promised.
Anthony Carini, a sophomore and resident of Sterling Summit, felt the building construction was rushed and may have led to mistakes with the finished apartment complex.
“There were a lot of very visible cosmetic mistakes that we noticed from the day we moved in,” Carini said. “The floorboards were awkwardly angled inward toward the doors, there were scuffs in the paint on most of the walls and my bathroom floor had paint marks dried onto it. We were also promised a cutting board when we toured the apartment, but our kitchen didn’t come with it and about a month into living there, our dishwasher would not work sometimes.”
When residents began looking at Sterling Summit as a housing option, the apartment complex made several promises that were not followed through, such as providing cutting boards and snacks. After Carini voiced some of his complaints to management, painters came in for minor fixes. Management of Sterling Summit attempts to maintain direct contact with residents.
“We strive to be the best property in Reno, and the only way to do this is through an open line of communication with our residents,” said Sherman Modeste, community manager at The Dinerstein Companies.
The Dinerstein Companies have constructed the Highlands and Republic apartments. Former resident of the Highlands apartments, UNR senior Julius Funches II, explains one of the factors that led him to move out was rent increases, but overall he had a good experience living there.
A shortage of housing has led to the rapid rent increase Reno is experiencing. The market is right for new apartment complexes, like Sterling Summit to pop up but they do not come at a bargain price, with rents ranging from $600 to $700 per resident.
According to a report by Johnson Perkins Griffin Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants, the average housing rent increased 11 percent from 2015 to the beginning of 2016, with an average rent price at $1,029. UNR sits in the northeast region of Reno, where average rent rates are $895 per month. The Reno Gazette-Journal found that on average renting in this area requires a job that pays $16.40 per hour and working 176 hours in a month, with 30 percent of income going toward rent.
As demand for off-campus student housing becomes more apparent, construction projects line Virginia Street, attempting to jump into the competitive student housing market. Building on the new housing complexes is hastened by the demand, but only time will show if the new buildings will deliver what they promise.
“They threw up those buildings so fast, so you had to expect something was going to go wrong,” Carini said. “It looks like the pictures they advertised though, so I’ll give them that.”
