UNC addresses mold found in Granville Towers housing complex

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Rooms at Granville Towers will continue to be cleaned after mold was found in HVAC units earlier this month.

In early October, UNC freshman student Hailey Hudson was nearly halfway complete with her first semester and nursing a sinus infection, which allegedly came from her dorm's HVAC unit at Granville Towers East -- which is aresidence hall privately owned by Granville Towers, LLC, and managed and maintained by Greystar Management Services.

"I finished my medication and my suite had still been sick. I was still sick," Hudson said. "We were thinking maybe something was going on in our air conditioning unit."

Hudson got in contact with Greystar and alerted to them to the problem.

Mold was found in the building's HVAC unit.

"They were really good about coming in and cleaning it," Hudson said. "They were really concerned about our health."

An outside contractor was hired by management staff and identified Aspergillus/Penicillium, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Chaetomium, Stachybotrys, Trichoderma and Ulocladium mold species in the residential units.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, these are common molds found as a result of condensation issues.

In an Oct. 2nd email to all Granville Towers residents, Greystar notified students additional work was going to be done to fix the mold issue.

"I'm just glad they were speedy in addressing the situation and really making sure we were healthy and able to go to classes," said Hudson. "When they came in and looked in our rooms, that's when they realized...we need to address this on a larger issue."

In a statement to ABC11, UNC-Chapel Hill wrote in part:

"Carolina is committed to ensuring that all students have a safe and clean place to live. We apologize for any inconvenience and concern this causes our students and parents. We are confident that Granville Towers will fully remediate all affected areas."

UNC went on to say 20 percent of the rooms have been cleaned and are safe to return to. Work will continue until all rooms are deemed safe.

"This has been a kind of, just little bump in the road. But it's been good. I've had a great first semester here," Hudson said.