NU Announces Delay in Student Apartment Opening

Niagara University, N.Y. (July 9, 2002) - The Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., Niagara University's executive vice president, announced today that the university's new $11 million apartment complex for student housing will not open in late August as originally scheduled. While construction on the six-unit complex is underway and nearing completion, the opening of the complex will be temporarily delayed because mold has been discovered in the crawlspaces of each of the six apartment buildings.

Father Holtschneider said, "We were very lucky, indeed, to discover this problem in its early stages, while it was still confined to the crawlspace beneath the building, and before it affected the living areas."

The university has hired Jonathan Solomon, a structural mycologist from Building Science Investigations Inc., to identify the mold and its causes and to propose solutions. He and his firm conducted a variety of testing on July 4.

According to Solomon, "Samples were collected from the first floor, the second floor, and the crawlspace of each dormitory." Solomon added, "The results indicate that the relative concentration of spores in the occupied areas of the dormitories are less than the outdoor air samples. The types of spores in these areas are generally consistent with the outdoor flora. These results would indicate that there is no significant migration of spores from the crawlspaces into the occupied areas of the dormitories."

Each of the six apartment houses contain eight apartments, with four students to an apartment. The entire complex will accommodate 192 of NU's juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Since the fall semester begins on August 27, the university is in the process of making temporary housing arrangements on and off campus for these students until the problem is resolved. Students who are registered to live in the apartments can also request that their deposits be refunded if they wish to live elsewhere during the upcoming academic year.

The university is sending letters with pertinent information to all the students who have applied to live in the apartment complex, as well as to their parents.

Father Holtschneider said, "We are taking this issue very seriously and want to make our students and their families, as well as the community, aware of the situation at the apartment complex, the measures now being undertaken to address the problem, and what temporary housing alternatives will be made available to the students. We will do all we can to provide a comfortable, convenient alternative to the apartments until the situation is resolved."

Last October, work began on the student apartment complex, which is located on the southeast portion of university property adjacent to the Dwyer Arena. The project was designed by Kideney Architects. Ferraina Construction Co. serves as the construction manager of the project. While Niagara University has several large and small residence halls on its campus where over 1,000 students reside, the new student apartments will provide a contemporary housing option to upper classmen, enabling them to live on campus and stay involved in everything Niagara has to offer.