Daily Trojan USC.edu

Conquest buy raises rent, irks tenants

Housing company's purchase of Shrine complex more than doubled rent.

Ashley Archibald

Media Credit: Joshua Sy | Daily Trojan Rent on the rise | Students Heather Bitar and Carin Gilfry stand in the entryway of the Shrine Place apartment building where they live. They decided not to renew their leases under Conquest Student Housing.

Conquest Student Housing's buyout of an independently owned apartment building on Shrine Place has resulted in an almost 200 percent rent hike.

Students currently living at 3029 Shrine Place pay, on average, $1,450 in rent per month. Under the new management, rent per two bedroom apartment will more than double to $3,160 per month, Conquest property manager Gina Koenig told one current tenant, contrary to what is listed on its website.

Many of the residents said they can no longer afford living in the building, which is now called "Verona."

"I can't afford to stay here anymore," said Marina Hall, a senior majoring in music education. "I'm trying to find another place to live."

Students were informed of the change in management from a notice posted on their doors on Feb. 19. They were given four days to contact Conquest and arrange to keep their apartments, although residents were offered places in other Conquest buildings, Koenig said.

Hall said she previously moved out of Conquest's Chez Ronnee, across the street from Verona, because she couldn't stand living under Conquest management.

"They don't do anything for their buildings," Hall said. "They put down new carpet and repainted and totally botched everything."

Hall moved to 3029 Shrine St. on the recommendation of a friend. The building isn't the best, she said, but the rent was cheap and the management friendly.

Now, waiting for a response from grad school, Hall doesn't even know if she needs an apartment in the area. If she does, she said, it won't be with Conquest.

"I'm looking downtown because I want to get away from Conquest," Hall said.

Sabrina MacGregor, a senior majoring in psychology, said she has heard nightmares about Conquest and received little response from Koenig concerning repairs that the building needed.

"I called Gina and asked her if Conquest was going to take care of the problems," MacGregor said. "She just said it wasn't her responsibility."

Koenig wrote in an e-mail that the building would be upgraded at the end of the current leases, but she did not specify what renovations would be made.

According to its website, Conquest plans to put on a new facade, install new appliances in the bathrooms and kitchens, and install high-speed Internet access and Dish Network TV.

"They're not going to do anything to legitimize the 100 percent increase in rent," MacGregor said. "They would need to gut this building."

Conquest tenants have said that the properties need renovations: Hanging items from walls produces large holes, hot water is all connected to a single heater, and mold has appeared in many of the apartments.

MacGregor and Hall said the saving grace was the low rent.

After her experience with Conquest, however, Hall doesn't want to come back even if the rent hadn't been a problem.

"Even if they kept the rent the same, I'd still question it," Hall said.

Not all Conquest residents share a negative outlook on the management company. Eric Nietubicz, a sophomore majoring in acting, lives in Tuscany. When his keys were stolen, the building attendants assisted him quickly, he said.

"They went back into the tapes, and they found out that someone had taken my keys. They changed my locks for free (and) gave all my roommates fresh keys," Nietubicz said. "They are going to retrieve my keys as soon as possible."

The Conquest buyout raises concerns among the current residents that they'll be able to find alternative housing outside of the Conquest system. It seems as though Conquest owns almost all student housing in the USC area, MacGregor said.

A monopoly on housing close to campus could lead to a decline in service quality, said John Doces, an economics and international relations professor at USC.

Monopolies produce too little at too high a price, Doces said.

"Competition make companies more responsive to consumer needs," he said.

Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3

Post a Comment

• Name: (required)
• Email: (required)
• NOTE: Email address will not be published
• Website:

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Email notify will not work because you are not currently logged in.
Click here to quickly login or create a free account.

Type your comment below (html not allowed)

  I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Custom T-Shirts
Home Services Guides | USC Self Storage Discounts

Comments and Forum Posting Policy

Thank you for your interest and participation in the Daily Trojan comments and online forum system. To safeguard USC's Principles of Community while fostering a healthy campus dialogue, we require users to follow these basic posting guidelines:

Right to Delete Posts
Any postings that the Daily Trojan deems incongruent with its policies - including messages that are defamatory, obscene, abusive or in violation of copyright or trademark laws - are subject to editing or deletion. Although the Daily Trojan cannot reasonably expect to review every forum posting and is not responsible for any posted content, it reserves the right to monitor forums and remove posting privileges of users who violate these terms. All messages must be written in English.

Posting Rules
Comments, interactive areas, discussion boards, and the Daily Trojan Forums are intended to encourage public debate. We expect participants to differ ? judgment and opinion are subjective, and we encourage freedom of speech and a marketplace of ideas. But by using these areas of our website, you are participating in a community that is intended for all our users. Therefore, we reserve the right to remove any content posted on our site at any time for any reason.

Decisions as to whether content violates any Posting Rule will be made by the Daily Trojan at its sole discretion, after having received actual notice of such posting. Without limiting our right to remove content, we have attempted to provide guidelines to those posting content on our site. When using our website, please do not post material that:

• contains vulgar, profane, abusive or hateful language, epithets or slurs, text or illustrations in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature, or expressions of bigotry, racism, discrimination or hate.
• is defamatory, threatening, disparaging, grossly inflammatory, false, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, inaccurate, unfair, contains gross exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims, violates the privacy rights of any third party, is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual or community, contains any actionable statement, or tends to mislead or reflect unfairly on any other person, business or entity.
• violates any right of the Daily Trojan or any third party.
• discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation or disability, or refers to such matters in any manner prohibited by law.
• violates any municipal, state or federal law, rule, regulation or ordinance, or attempts to encourage such an evasion or violation.
• unfairly interferes with any third party?s uninterrupted use of the Daily Trojan.
• advertises, promotes or offers to trade any goods or services, except in areas specifically designated for such purpose.
• uploads copyrighted or other proprietary material of any kind on our website without the express permission of the owner of that material.
• uses or attempts to use another?s account, password, service or system except as expressly permitted by the Terms of Service.
• includes images, photos, or articles or other content that constitutes, promotes or encourages illegal acts, violation of any right of any individual or entity, violation of any local, state, national or international law, rule, guideline or regulation, or otherwise creates liability.
• uploads or transmits viruses or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files.
• disrupts, interferes with, or otherwise harms or violates the security of our website, or any services, system resources, accounts, passwords, servers or networks connected to or accessible through our website or affiliated or linked sites.
• "flames" any individual or entity (e.g., sends repeated messages related to another user and/or makes derogatory or offensive comments about another individual), or repeats prior posting of the same message under multiple threads or subjects.

(Adapted from the Los Angeles Times Forums Policies with permission.)

Advertisements