It was supposed to be a haven for nine hundred college students in Boone. Appalcarts were plastered with advertisements, and neon cups (along with other giveaway prizes) revealing The Cottages of Boone logo were passed out to the multitudes. Soon enough, you wouldn’t go a day without seeing something cottage-related around town, and a freshly signed lease was the new accessory to have in the spring of 2013. Dara McEvoy, along with her 4 other roommates, signed a lease for a 5-bedroom duplex cottage in February. “The cottages offered everything I wanted to have for my house and I wanted to live somewhere nice and stress-free my senior year.” explained McEvoy when asked what made her want to sign a lease with the Cottages of Boone.
Even now, people are still talking about The Cottages, however, not in such a glamorous manner. Due to the significant rainfall that poured over Boone this summer, the construction has been severely delayed. This delay has forced over three hundred tenants to be holed up in two-bedroom hotel rooms until further notice, myself being one of those tenants. (That was my interesting fact during the name introductions on the first day of school.)
In all honesty, this is not how I pictured my senior year to start. I had it all planned out in my head. I would move into my perfect, new cottage on August 15th, and enjoy (what was left of) the summer by the perfect, new pool at the perfect, new clubhouse. Foolproof plan, right? Wrong. I received an email from The Cottages’ office about a day before I was supposed to move-in. It was a very polite and remorseful email, but of course the way I interpreted it was, “Due to the delays, you’re moving into a lackluster hotel until I don’t know when. Sorry about it.” My parents cancelled their plans to come up to Boone to help me with the big move, and instead I just lugged my suitcase into the hotel lobby for check-in on Sunday, August 18th.
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I began my senior year in room 225 of the Comfort Suites hotel, located on Highway 105 beside Troy’s Diner. The friends that I had sharing this inconvenient experience with me kept my spirits up as we tried to make the best out of the situation. “It’s like freshman year all over again.” Laughs senior Brooke Tetrault, as we talk about being permanent hotel guests, “Except instead of RA’s, we have the concierge…and fresh towels and breakfast daily.” While it’s easy to be frustrated with the entire situation, you realize that it could be worse. We have a roof over our heads and we are enjoying hotel amenities, the only downfall is that it’s hard to adjust to this chaotic lifestyle and form a normal routine with life and school. One of my roommates, senior Sarah Lynn Green, describes our [current] living situation perfectly by concluding that, “We are basically nomads.”
Dara McEvoy and her four other roommates have been placed far from their Boone comfort-zones as it seems that all hotels in Boone are too full for any more students to occupy them. Dara received the email from The Cottages’ office, explaining that they will be moved from their Comfort Suites hotel to the Echota Resort in Foscoe, North Carolina. Echota Condominiums run from $250 per night, so The Cottages of Boone Company is surely paying a high price for its tenants to have a place to stay. “It’s nice that they care about putting us in a place as great as Echota.” Says McEvoy. At the Echota Resort, guests enjoy two clubhouses with fitness rooms and pools as well as private condos that can comfortably sleep up to six people at least. Dara McEvoy says the only downfall is the distance from town, appalcart routes, and campus. “Driving to the cottages to catch the bus everyday is not only inconvenient but will cost us a lot of money in gas—especially since our roommates have class at different times and won’t be able to carpool.”
Despite all of the negative chatter, The Cottages of Boone employees have been trying hard to make us feel somewhat cared for. We have received gift baskets, catered dinners, and daily reimbursements for the rent we paid for the month of August. My roommates and I, as well as other tenants, who are bound to hotels right now, travel up to the property almost everyday to see the progress that has been made on the units. “I would say the most frustrating part has been getting so many answers from the workers on when our house will be ready.” Explains Hannah O’Neill, a senior at App currently residing at the Courtyard Marriot Hotel in Boone. That seems to be the common thought in everyone’s head right now. I am checking my email everyday just hoping to hear word from the cottages about our unit being finished. In the meantime, we are all praying for the day that we can turn the keys at our new cottages and finally have a place to call home.
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