PSU to vacate Blackstone first-floor

Students living in the Blackstone will soon feel the effects of the aging building as first floor residents have been told to vacate their apartments on or before June 14 because it has been deemed unlivable for the summer by PSU.

University Housing will be closing the first floor of the student housing building, built in 1931, because of recent discoveries of leaking pipes that have “a great deal of flooding and water waste,” according to a message sent to Blackstone residents.

The building’s more than 70-year-old boiler will need to be replaced along with pipes under the first floor. The renovation will require knocking through walls on floor one in order to replace the pipes. Repair work is expected to begin June 16 and last until Sept. 10, according to Housing Services Manager, Mary Cloos.

To accommodate the inconvenience for residents of the first floor, University Housing will give them top priority when being assigned new apartments for the 2008-2009 school year. Residents of other floors in the building have been given notice that the project is taking place and that it will likely produce noise disturbances between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, for the duration of the project.

John Eckman, interim executive director for Housing and Transportation Services, said he expects the noise will not be as bad as some work done recently on campus like in the Ondine building, but he said, “I know there will be dust and noise.”

Eckman said he believes the front entrance should be available for most of the project, but access to the building may need to be altered if the renovations require it.

Darby Zweifel, a student living on the first floor of Blackstone, has had her own concerns with leaky pipes. About a month ago, she said, her shower leaked enough to drench the carpet in her apartment. She said it took approximately five days to have the carpets professionally dried. The incident left her concerned about possible mold issues, which she said may be harmful to her health.

“They didn’t take care of business as well as they should have,” Zweifel said.

Zweifel and some of her neighbors say they are now contemplating whether it would be better to move into the cheaper Montgomery building or a building that would cost more than the Blackstone.

Auxiliary Services Maintenance Manager Wayne Wilcox, said the renovations were not a result of mold concerns, but a response to an aged and outdated system.

Ashley Morrison currently lives in a two-bedroom apartment on the third floor and echoes many residents’ comments that suggested the building’s age was beginning to become a problem. Morrison said, at one point, she had water leaking from the ceiling into her bathroom.

The project is still in one of its earliest stages. The designers of the project are working to figure out what will replace the current boiler system. Once the designers are finished, the school will look for a contractor.