DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Almost one month into the 2023 fall semester, and some students at the University of Dayton still have not moved into the newest student apartment building off campus.
The Flight at Dayton was supposed to be completed by the start of the semester in August. Construction is still going on, and students are getting frustrated with the way the situation is being handled.
Garrett Hoeft is a senior at UD, but it was not his studies that caused him stress starting off the new school year.
“We left for the summer. We didn’t really get any construction updates, so we all came to school thinking it would be ready,” Hoeft said.
Hoeft said he signed a lease for the 2023-24 school year with The Flight back in Sept. of 2022; however, two weeks before he was supposed to move in and start classes, he received an email saying construction was delayed and he would not be able to move in on time.
“At that point I decided not to terminate my lease because I believed that it would only be two weeks. They said two weeks, you’ll be in a hotel, and I thought, okay, that’s fine, I can do that. But after getting to school and seeing the progress, it didn’t really look much different from when I left for summer break. I realized that it wasn’t going to be done in two weeks,” Hoeft explained.
Hoeft is one of dozens of students impacted by construction delays at The Flight. The property did put students up in hotels while they wait for their units to be finished, but some are staying in places 20 minutes away from campus. Others tried to terminate their leases and find another place to live, but that process proved difficult for some. Hoeft said he had to notify the property he intended to terminate his lease within a certain number of days from receiving an email regarding the construction delay. Some students are even getting lawyers involved after not being able to terminate their leases.
The building is not owned by the University of Dayton, but campus administrators are aware of these issues. UD Housing and Residence Life has been helping students find alternative housing for the last few weeks. UD officials said “the University made offers of housing to all students who contacted UD Housing and Residence Life to discuss their situation and explore potential on campus options.” They also said the University will continue to help students with this matter, including students “currently in properties that may no longer have availability in the coming weeks.”
Hoeft took advantage of the University’s services and he was able to terminate his lease. Although he is thankful he found another place to live, he said this housing headache could have been handled better by the property owners.
“I was just constantly thinking about it, how I wish I wouldn’t have signed that lease on a building that wasn’t even done,” Hoeft said.
2 News stopped by The Flight’s leasing office Monday to get an update on the construction timeline. Employees in the office referred us to the corporate office. 2 News then reached out to Costal Ridge Real Estate, which manages the building, but we have not heard back. 2 News also stopped by the New Village Communities construction office on site to get an update, but the construction managers could not comment.
