T-shirts promoting the new Ames apartment complex The Grove bear the slogan “Get a room.” But since late August, some students hoping to do just that have had to make other arrangements.

For weeks, construction delays have kept would-be tenants from moving into their apartments.

Representatives of Campus Crest Communities, Inc., the Charlotte, N.C.-based company that built, owns and manages The Grove, originally told leaseholders that all rooms would be ready Aug. 20.

But in a Sept. 1 email, Campus Crest Senior Account Executive Jason Chudoba wrote that 22 students were still awaiting completion of their rooms. The same email projected that the “new target date” for the completion of all rooms would be between Monday and Saturday of this week.

In an Aug. 31 phone interview, Chudoba said the company was waiting for City of Ames building inspectors to grant it occupancy permits for rooms in four Grove buildings.

“We’re down to the wire and we’re just waiting for those inspections to fall in place,” Chudoba said.

Last Saturday, a construction worker on site at The Grove, who asked not to be named in this article, said all inspections he was aware of had occurred on schedule.

He attributed the delays to “weather issues” including “massive amounts of rain” that hit Ames this past spring. He also said Buildings 7 through 10 in the complex were the only four on which construction still had to be finished. He said work on all the rooms would be complete this Saturday.

Sydni King, sophomore in pre-business, is one of the leaseholders still waiting to move into her room. She has been living with her boyfriend, one of The Grove tenants whose room was finished in August. She was forthright in her criticism of The Grove’s management.

“They appear unorganized to me, and I don’t like how they misinform their residents,” King said.

Currently displaced tenants like King aren’t the only ones disappointed with Campus Crest. Some who got to move in last month say the company’s work fell short of their expectations.

Carolyn Baumgartner, senior in early childhood education, said she and her roommates had to move in two days later than they’d planned.

“For me, it wasn’t as big of a deal,” she said of the delay. “But my roommates, they both had to stay in a hotel.”

She said Campus Crest had borne the cost of her roommates’ hotel stays and offered her and her roommates a $200 discount on this month’s rent.

This is consistent with statements in Chudoba’s email, which said Campus Crest offered either free hotel accommodations or prorated rent to tenants affected by the delays.

Baumgartner said that when she and her roommates finally moved into their apartment, they could tell by its condition that workers had rushed to finish it.

“There was just a lot more wrong with it than I assumed,” she said.

Among the flaws Baumgartner noted were scratches on a door, scraped-up bathtubs and a broken window blind.

Baumgartner was quick to stress that her experience at The Grove hadn’t been entirely unpleasant. She and other tenants bonded while complaining about delays.

“Everyone was kind of mad,” she said. “It brought us together, in a way.”