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Students frustrated with on going construction of new dorm

<p>The University of Memphis’ new $53 million dorm still has contractors working both in and outside of it. Contractors were still molding bricks and filling holes outside on Thursday. Inside Centennial Place, some students complained about maintenance issues as well.</p>
The University of Memphis’ new $53 million dorm still has contractors working both in and outside of it. Contractors were still molding bricks and filling holes outside on Thursday. Inside Centennial Place, some students complained about maintenance issues as well.
Workers at the Centennial Place

The University of Memphis’ new $53 million dorm still has contractors working both in and outside of it. Contractors were still molding bricks and filling holes outside on Thursday. Inside Centennial Place, some students complained about maintenance issues as well.

The University of Memphis’ new $53 million dorm still has contractors working both in and outside of it.

Contractors were still molding bricks and filling holes outside on Thursday. Inside Centennial Place, some students complained about maintenance issues as well.

“The ongoing issues are being dealt with by maintenance staff and the Physical Plant,†said Aretha Milligan, the interim associate dean of Residence Life and Dining Services.

“As with any new building, there are kinks and maintenance issues that need to be ironed out when it becomes occupied,†she said. “As these issues are brought to our attention, we are addressing them.â€

At the Centennial Place some students were still complaining about facilities not working correctly after they moved in.

New Dorm Centennial Place

The University of Memphis's $53 million Centennial Place is the lastest addition to the school master plan. It has 24 six-bedroom apartments, 300 single and doubleoccupancy rooms that are expected to house about 800 students. Each room is fully furnished and has two shared bathrooms and a kitchen, furnished with basic appliances.

Naaman Norment, an 18-year-old business management freshman who lives in the building, said his lights in him bedroom do not work correctly.

“Sometimes when I turn my lights off, they come back on in the middle of the night when (I’m) sleeping,†he said.

Matthew Kamph, an 18-year-old sport and leisure management freshmen from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, said he has similar problems with the lights in his room.

“The two lights in the room turn off together, even though there are two different switches and they’re in different areas of the room,†Kamph said.

“Also, maintenance has little pieces of tape scattered around the building saying all of the things they need to fix.†Sarah Marlatt, a freshman from Madison, Wisconsin, never knows when to expect a maintenance worker at her door.

“They will come at ten in the morning to work on the shower or the air conditioning,†Marlatt, 19, said. “We just recently got hot water, and our shower ceiling leaks.â€

Maintenance and contractors have solved many of the issues already. Washers on the third floor are working and the elevators have been fixed. Students said some outlets were not working during the first few days, but it is unclear if that is still an issue.

The Tennessee Board of Regent withheld the final payment to dorm builder Rentenbach Constructors Inc. The contract they signed with the state could have Rentenbach paying up to $1,000 each day that Centennial is not completed past the building deadline.

Breaking ground

The Tennessee Board of Regents is withholding the final pay- ment to the contractors who built the University of Memphis’ $53 million dorm, which was more than six months late. U of M officials and Rentenbach Constructors Incorporated broke ground on the dorm in 2013, expecting it to be finished fall 2015.

Correction: In the print version of this story Naaman Norment was misidentified as a woman.


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