MINNEAPOLIS — We are just over a month away from the start of a new school year at the University of Minnesota.
But as many students prepare to move in to their new digs, some are finding themselves on a last-minute hunt for housing. That's because they just found out that the new apartment complex they were supposed to move into, called Identity Dinkytown, isn't going to be done on time.
Construction started last year on the building where the longtime McDonald's was located in the heart of Dinkytown. The several story, multi-use building would serve mostly U of M students — many of whom would only express their concerns if they could remain anonymous.
One junior said she was afraid she would lose her lease for speaking out.
"When we first came in to sign our lease, we asked them that question," she said. "Are you sure it will be done and they said, yes, it will be, and almost a guarantee we'd be able to move in on this date."
In an email to its residents, Identity Dinkytown wrote, "We are writing, regrettably, to inform you that we will not make our originally scheduled move-in date of August 27, 2023. We know you are probably disappointed, and we are, too. We want your experience with Identity Dinkytown to be perfect, and this isn’t how we wanted to start our exciting journey as a community."
Neither the owner, BKV Group and the builder, CA Ventures, responded to requests for comment. KARE 11 did get an email from CA Management Services for Identity Dinkytown. It wouldn't answer any direct questions, only writing that its partners "ran into unforeseen and unavoidable delays during the construction process which have impacted the delivery schedule of the building. Our team is working with both the development group and the general contractor to provide regular updates as we receive them to residents via email."
What's worse, says some students, is that the residents were required to pay rent this month, being informed a day later of the delay. In another email, the apartment said it's now offering daily gift cards of $150 or accommodations at a nearby hotel — a decision they have to make by Monday.
"There's no talk about a refund, no talk about when you're getting your money back," said the junior. "And now it's just this dread, this unknown feeling of when it's going to finally happen."
Some local students say at least they can consider living at home, but that it's not ideal.
"People need to be on campus early and have commitments they have to be here for that make commuting very difficult but also expensive to do every single day," said another student, who's a junior.
The rest of the statement from CA Management Services says, "The construction team is working tirelessly and are doing everything they can to complete the remainder of the building as soon as possible. In the meantime, our singular goal is to communicate to our residents to the best of our ability and provide the support we can to each of them."
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