Weyburn Terrace housing complex completed for fall
After numerous delays and nearly a year after the original expected date of completion, all seven buildings of Weyburn Terrace, a graduate student housing complex in Westwood, were finished in August in time for graduate students to move in.
Material and labor shortages, as well as other unspecified reasons, delayed completion of the project, which cost more than $100 million, caused the delay.
“This is a complex operation with lots of moving parts, and it’s not uncommon for scheduling fluxes,” said UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton.
“All major construction is completed. There are just some final details such as signage, landscaping and painting and stucco touch-up,” he said.
Of the seven buildings that make up Weyburn Terrace, Palm Court, Magnolia Court, Jacaranda Court and Olive Court were all completed between July and November of last year. The three remaining buildings, Cypress Court, Aloe Court and Sycamore Court, were not completed until this summer.
Hampton declined to comment on the reasons for the delays of the last three buildings.
The final building to be finished was Sycamore Court, whose main building and parking garage were ready July 29. Its townhouse units were ready Aug. 5.
Currently, 90 percent of the rooms in Weyburn Terrace have been leased out, and UCLA Housing expects to be at or near capacity by fall quarter, Hampton said.
Of those graduate students who have already moved in, most attend the law or medical school because their classes start the earliest, Hampton said.
Over the past year, many Weyburn Terrace residents complained of problems including bug infestations, flooding and loud noise from all the construction.
But now that “all major construction is completed,” fewer complaints are expected, Hampton said.
“We are not aware of any major problems (with the buildings), although it’s important to remember that it’s not uncommon for new residents to phone in concerns,” Hampton said. “If and when Housing receives those complaints, Housing and Capital Programs are prepared to work with the contractors to address those issues.”
First-year law student Garrett Grolemund said that although Weyburn Terrace is “very beautiful,” there are still a lot of empty rooms and the housing complex always seems “depopulated.”
Grolemund said he has also had some problems with his apartment.
“I have never had a day when both the gas and hot water worked,” he said.
But since Grolemund is from out of state and was guaranteed the housing from the university, he said choosing to live in Weyburn Terrace made it easier and more convenient than having to look for an apartment.
“I like the apartments a lot,” said Andrea Khosropour, a first-year medical student and resident of Cypress Court.
Khosropour said there have been a lot of little problems since she moved in, especially during her first week of residence.
She said that some of the problems included not being able to use her key to get into all of the doors in the building. Her key would only work in one of the doors. She also said that when alarms were triggered they would sound for a long time before being shut off.
Despite the problems she initially had, Khosropour said that she likes living in Weyburn Terrace because of its convenient location and the opportunity it provides to meet other graduate students.
Khosropour also said that since she is not from California, it would have been impossible for her to come early to look for another apartment, so this was the easiest and best choice for housing.
With all major construction work completed, final negotiations with the contractors have begun, Hampton said.
“As with any contract, there quite often are final negotiations to close out the contract. (Capital Programs) is still negotiating payments for services rendered,” Hampton said.
“As part of the final phase of the contract close out, there are good faith discussions going on with the three contractors including who is responsible for which expenses. This is common with construction projects and Weyburn Terrace is no different.”
Hampton said he would not speculate what the possible outcome may be of the negotiations.
He also would not comment on whether or not the university would seek legal action against the contractors for financial losses over the past year due to unnecessary delays by the contractors.

