MINNEAPOLIS — Move-in day is an exciting time for college students. But the feelings are mixed at the brand new Identity Dinkytown apartments as the move-in day comes more than a month late.
"Coming from a senior year, having COVID my senior year of high school to now having this be an issue my senior year of college, it's just not fun. And it's stressful," said senior Haylee Wheeler, who had to commute from her parent's home in Edina for the first month of school
"Yeah, we were guaranteed it was going to be finished on time and then, not," said sophomore Savannah Gilmore, who commuted from New Brighton.
Construction was not complete as promised by August 27, and some students like Audrey Batesky had already paid rent.
"Yeah, first month and second -- August and September," she said.
The apartment owners paid for Batesky to stay at a hotel and gave other students gift cards - $150 a day - to cover their commute.
"We were definitely upset and it just got to be a lot, driving every day. I work down here too, so driving 6-7 days a week," said Morgan O’Hearn, who drove from Centerville.
"Just makes you feel disconnected from campus," said Gilmore.
The building's owner would not answer many questions over the last two months as some students sued to break their leases, others testified in front of lawmakers, and the building failed an inspection.
But today in a statement, a spokesperson for CA Management Services said in part -- "We apologize for the inconvenience the delay has caused students and we continue to work diligently to finalize this building. By tomorrow we anticipate most residents will have moved-in."
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