WATERLOO — Doug Bruce helped his daughter Heather, a University of Waterloo post-grad optometry student, move into her newly-built luxury apartment on Sunday at 228 Albert St.

The builder, Bruce said, welcomed the Bowmanville girl as the first tenant to move into the 12-storey building across from Wilfrid Laurier University.

She was so excited to move in. But her mom and dad were floored by what they found as they entered the $1,400-a-month apartment to be shared with a roommate.

"We show up there and it's like a war zone," Bruce said when reached by phone in the Oshawa area Thursday.

The hallways and stairwells were jammed with packing boxes. The family gave up on waiting for a busy elevator and climbed five flights of stairs on a hot, muggy day. They arrived in town at 11 a.m. but had to wait till 5 until Heather's room was ready.

They got to the apartment, which they found to be reasonably clean, and noticed it wasn't even close to being fully furnished by Accommod8u, the property management firm and rental company with a main office on University Avenue.

No kitchen table. No couch. No stove. No curtains or blinds. The fridge was too big for the cabinetry it was supposed to fit under. The air conditioning wasn't working.

"What we saw when we showed up just kind of blew my mind," Bruce said.

That's how the week began as Accommod8u opened three new 12-story luxury apartment buildings for students and young professionals — 255 Sunview Street, 222 Albert Street and 228 Albert Street — in the heart of Waterloo's university district.

The three "sold out" buildings, with 293 total suites, still resembled construction zones on the outside on Wednesday as tenant check-ins continued with university lectures looming for students. Some other tenants have had similar gripes for Accommod8u to address this week.

"The majority of things that need to be completed, as of right now, are mostly cosmetic," Accommod8u spokesperson Danita Jaipersaud told The Record on Thursday morning.

Painters and cleaners are on site and working around-the-clock to correct all issues, Jaipersaud indicated in a follow-up email.

"We have also pulled all of the resources we can find to address any additional concerns that our tenants may have," Jaipersaud said. "The majority of our tenants are moved-in and we expect our remaining tenants to join them shortly."

Bruce says his daughter's couch and dining room table have since arrived. The air conditioning started working on Tuesday. His daughter has lived in her new apartment since Sunday. Her mom stayed with her on Sunday and Monday.

Some tenants were put up in hotels by the company while work was completed.

"Earlier this week we found and paid for alternative accommodations for 15 of our tenants due to final cleanup and furniture assembly," Jaipersaud said in an email that indicated 200 tenants have moved into suites across all three buildings.

"Those 15 tenants have now moved into their suites and all 200 are being personally checked up on by our staff."

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Hotels and refunds were handled on a case-by-case basis, the company said in a public statement issued on Tuesday.

Last Friday, the City of Waterloo granted "occupancy of an unfinished building" permits for all three Accommod8u buildings, meaning inspectors deemed minimum life-safety standards were met with a limited amount of work remaining to be done.

Rooftop amenity areas and commercial suites for all three buildings were excluded from the permit, said Ralph Kaminski, Waterloo's chief building official.

Shamir Mehta, Waterloo's acting director of municipal enforcement services, said he planned on asking his bylaw officers Thursday to do some "pro-active" in-site inspections. He said his staff can educate tenants on how they can be of assistance from a bylaw enforcement perspective, now that the building is lived in.

"But a lot of it, it sounds like, is just delayed," Mehta said. "The construction process was delayed and they (Accommod8u) are working through it, which is ultimately our first course of action anyway, even if violations are noticed."

Reasonable opportunity to be in compliance must be provided, he added.

Some tenants indicated they had few or no issues with their new Accommod8u suites as they moved in this week. The Tuesday statement from Accommod8u said the majority of tenants were moved in and satisfied.

Laurier communications student Justin Rasmussen said Wednesday he was only missing a couch and an ottoman from his new 222 Albert Street apartment.

"Everything is clean so far," Rasmussen said. "I'm pleased with it."

Bruce said Thursday that a few things at his daughter's apartment, including the over-sized fridge, still needed to be corrected by Accommod8u, who set up a secondary office this week to deal with "suite imperfections".

"I will give them credit for jamming away at it and continuing to work at it," Bruce said. "They seemed helpful and apologetic and all of that. It doesn't remove the fact we've paid a deposit. We're paying for a finished unit and it isn't there."