Picture courtesy of Brian Pearl / The One
Writen by: Teresa Schuster / Staff Writer
Following early move-in at The One, some students complained about unfinished work and other issues in their apartments. Others said it’s understandable.
Emma Haynes Ocaña, an FIU student, noticed several problems with her apartment when she arrived. Among them: her door didn’t close and furniture was missing.
Ocaña never asked maintenance to fix the door, believing they wouldn’t be helpful.
“When I called and asked them about an issue concerning something else in my apartment, the lady I talked to gave me attitude and said she would get back to me about it, but never did,” Ocaña told PantherNOW.
Another student whose doors didn’t work, Melanie Serrano, said maintenance quickly fixed the problems once she asked.
Photo courtesy of @thetruth_behindtheone
“My bedroom door didn’t lock, I put in a maintenance request and [they] came in like 5 minutes,” said Serrano. “It was absolutely amazing. I filed a complaint about [my] laundry door…they came in a few minutes.”
Ocaña says there are multiple other issues at The One.
“My apartment looks different from what they showed online. Instead of white ceilings, which was what was [shown] on their website/social media, we have cement ceilings even with written numbers on it,” she said. “In addition, they promised a dining table and dining chairs in the kitchen area, which was also not provided, and when I called about it, I never heard back.”
Jay Jethani, another student, says his apartment was advertised as having a sink with a vanity. While the other apartments on his floor have one, he was told he wouldn’t be getting one when he asked and that everything was approved by the marketing team.
Photo courtesy of Jay Jethani
Brian Pearl, one of The One’s developers, said the design was intentional.
“We have world-class architects designing the building and it was done on purpose,” Pearl said, explaining that the design is of an “urban loft,” and incorporates concrete columns and ceilings.
Photo courtesy of Brian Pearl
“The ceilings are supposed to be like that…that’s a design choice,” he said. “Sometimes the contractors will write things with a grease pen. Before people came in, we did remove everything that we could find. And if somebody does have that of course we’ll fix it.”
Photo courtesy of @thetruth_behindtheone
Ocaña also says security at the building is lax, and that people don’t follow COVID-19 protocols.
“The worst part about The One is that they allow multiple people to be at the pool, despite COVID-19. They recently sent out a letter saying they would restrict it and only allow residents in the pool, but that was a lie. Just last night, multiple people were at the pool for hours on end.”
Photo courtesy of Brian Pearl
Ocaña is unhappy with the situation and wants to leave her apartment.
“The One has scammed its residents and lied to us many times. Many people, including me, want to break their lease.”
Another student, Jay Perez, feels similarly.
“Things promised [are] not being fulfilled,” said Perez. “Meanwhile we are still paying our very high price for a below satisfactory apartment.”
Perez, who shared his frustrations about his defective door on expose social media account @thetruth_behindtheone, also didn’t ask for it to be fixed.
“My apartment didn’t have many issues other than the ones mentioned above and since then nothing too major has happened,” he said.
Serrano thinks students had “unrealistic expectations” for the building’s opening.
“My dad is a contractor so I know [COVID-19 had] a big impact on the building. I came in knowing some things weren’t going to be finished,” Serrano said. “I did find the [wifi problems] a huge issue…I’m an officer in multiple organizations, I have Zoom meetings.”
Serrano says the building staff are helpful and she’s trying to be understanding.
“I understand it’s a really big building. The people in the office are so kind [and] the maintenance crew is so kind. There are so many maintenance requests and they’re trying to keep up…they do try.”
She is optimistic about the building, saying the repairs “might not be on [students’] schedule but [they] will happen.”
“It’s still a nice place to live,” she said.
The One emailed residents offering to transfer them to a different apartment if they wished.
They also posted an Instagram story offering students hotel rooms if they weren’t comfortable moving into The One or staying there. Serrano says her friend got one.
Pearl said they “spared no expense.” building The One, which features a swimming pool, gym, and $200,000 video screen in the lobby.
“[There are] over 800 units in the building,” said Pearl. “Of course there’s going to be some small percentage of people who have issues when they move in.”
Pearl said The One is working to fix these issues as soon as possible.
“We take every complaint seriously and we offer to meet with every single person that has a complaint,” he said. “Some people choose to complain anonymously and they don’t want to meet with us…there’s not much I can do about that other than offer to meet with them.”
The One’s target opening date was August 15, but they allowed students to move in early if they needed to.
“Some students came to our property manager and said that they really had an issue because they were being forced to move out of some of the other buildings at the end of July. We said okay, we can allow people to move in because we had approvals for that,” Pearl said. “But of course there’s still some minor things that need to be done, painting and adjusting doors and balancing the internet.”
About 400 residents moved in early, and The One is currently 77% leased for the fall semester, according to Pearl.
It is being developed through a $231 million bond issuance by University Bridge, LLC. Once the bond payments are concluded in 2058, FIU will own the building, which is across the street from it.
The building will also provide an estimated $50 million in scholarships over the next 40 years to FIU.
Pearl predicts the building’s occupancy rate will increase throughout the semester.
“We are trying to work out a deal with some students, especially some veterans, to maybe give them some housing scholarships and so [occupancy will] probably go higher,” he said.
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