Developers say occupancy expected this week for frustrated Sage II tenants

A YouTube video went viral last week that showed a physical altercation between a condo manager and a disgruntled tenant, who was fed-up after over a month of delays for the scheduled opening of Waterloo’s Sage II condo-building.

The Domus Housing Inc. employee involved in the incident lost his job after the altercation, but the root of the issue is still not resolved as tenants are still unable to fully move into the building on Spruce Street.

President of IN8 Developments Darryl Firsten was on The Eric Drozd Show today to talk about the construction situation, and why there have been delays for tenants.

“The expected occupancy was September 1st 2015, we had a lot of construction challenges as we went. We’ve done the best we can to speed up the construction schedule, and are now expecting occupancy within the next couple of days.”

Firsten said they cannot give a concrete move-in date to residents as they are still waiting for the final building inspection from the City. He says they do know that it is close and that there are few outstanding items remaining.

“Although we don’t have a date yet, we are trying to stay in touch with the tenants to keep open communication and let them know that we’re available if they have any questions.”

Firsten said they hired Domus as subcontractors for the Sage II project, and that they have never had issues with Domus or IN8 employees before.

“Personally at IN8, we hire employees who have proper communication training, and we’ve never had an issue like this with one of our employees. We’ve worked with Domus quite a few times through the years too, and as far as we’re aware this is the first instance like this with one of their employees.”

Ho Tek is a partner at Domus Student Housing Inc. He released the following statement addressing the issue.

“We are deeply disturbed and embarrassed by the events of Wednesday September 30th at the properties on Hickory Street. We take this matter very seriously and in conjunction with a third party, have launched a full investigation into the matter.
We do not condone this or any other such behaviour against any person at any time, and have a very clear policy outlining procedures for dealing with difficult situations.
We have a reputation for, and in fact pride ourselves in, treating all persons with respect at all times. This is an isolated incident and one that should never be repeated. This employee is no longer working with us.
Our apologies to all students who were either involved in or a witness to, this unfortunate event.”