Construction of new downtown student residence complete, but McMaster is struggling to fill it
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...dd8350aac.html
More than half of a troubled downtown McMaster University residence is set to be vacant in September.
The 10 Bay St. S. residence is currently “on track for 40 per cent” occupancy in September, a number the university anticipates will grow as the semester begins, spokesperson Wade Hemsworth said in an email.
About a dozen floors of the partially built downtown residence, built in partnership with academic developer Knightstone Capital Management Inc., were opened in September of last year. Its approximately 200 tenants were plagued with water quality issues, privacy concerns and other construction-related problems, which at one point forced students to temporarily move out for about a week while the university flushed the building’s plumbing. Tenants were reimbursed a portion of rent as a result.
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For some, the building’s “price point might be difficult,” Hemsworth said.
Monthly rent for a furnished suite is between $1,416 for a room in a shared two-bedroom and $2,126 for a private one-bedroom, each around 500 square feet. Two-bedroom apartments for families of up to four people are upward of $2,600. The students union previously said these rates are “unaffordable.”
$2200 is a lot for a one bedroom. I wonder how much the water issues have lessened demand.