By Laura Clark

Move-in day came a little late for residents of the newly constructed Red Mile Village apartments.

The apartments, located on Red Mile Road, were unable to receive students on August 21, the original date scheduled for move-in, according to the residents’ lease.

Some students were relocated to the Crowne Plaza and the Hilton Hotel, and have moved into the Red Mile Village apartments within the past week. Others who have rooms in Buildings 3 and 4 are still displaced.

A spokeswoman from the Red Mile Village office said she was not authorized to give a statement from the local office.

Matt Clifford, an accounting senior, asked Red Mile if they had their certificate of occupancy.  When they had reassured him that they did, he was shocked when they called him the morning of his set move-in date to tell him he could not move in.

“I know things get delayed, but the one thing that really got me mad is that they kept lying,” Clifford said.

“They lied to us all the way up to when they told us … I wouldn’t have been as mad if they didn’t lie to me at least three or four times.”

Leasers said Red Mile Village provided prepaid rooms at the Crown Plaza on the corner of Broadway and Mason Headley, and the Hilton Hotel on Vine Street. Cody Ortt, a chemistry junior, stayed at the Crowne Plaza for four nights then moved into the Hilton to use their shuttle service for class.

Ortt said he kept in contact with Red Mile after they informed him he could not move in on August 21.

However, communication with Red Mile was not effective for others, he said.

“A lot of people (found) out through Facebook — they didn’t call some people,” Ortt said. “I mean, they called me, kept in contact with me, but I’m the type of person that called them. The miscommunication is probably the only thing that made me upset.”

Ortt said Red Mile officials told him there were numerous reasons his move-in was delayed.

“They told me there weren’t blinds, the Internet and cable wasn’t working, and the parking lot wasn’t striped,”  Ortt said.

Frank Blevins, a history sophomore, said Red Mile officials told him he could not move in because the apartments did not have purified water.

“They didn’t get the OK from the city, or whoever they had to report to,” Blevins said.

Blevins, who had been staying at the Hilton Hotel, moved into his Red Mile apartment on Saturday, as did Clifford. Ortt moved in Thursday.

Christina Moore, a business management sophomore at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, said Red Mile Village officials told her 60 students had stayed at the Crowne Plaza and about 100 stayed at the Hilton Hotel.

Moore said the past few weeks have been a nightmare.

“They told me August 20 that I couldn’t move in on August 21,” she said.

Moore said she had attempted to break her lease earlier, but they assured her the apartments would be ready.  Moore even wrote a letter to Red Mile Village’s corporate office negotiating another deal for her lease.

“I want to renegotiate because I had to hold up my end of the obligation, and they haven’t held up theirs,” Moore said.  “Their lease is void for every student.”

Katherine Schmittou, manager of 5TwentyFour Angliana apartments, said the students who did not check into the hotels came looking for a place to stay.

“Parents were panicking and concerned because their kids had nowhere to live,” Schmittou said.

Schmittou said a lot of students were attempting to call the Tenant Association of Lexington to figure out the leasing situation at Red Mile Village.

“I think that’s why everybody was so upset, that they weren’t getting any information,” Schmittou said.

When a Red Mile Village unit was ready for a student staying at 5TwentyFour Angliana, Schmittou said a five-day period was given so students could either move to Red Mile Village or break their leases and stay permanently at 5TwentyFour Angliana.

“About 45 students are in permanent leases (at 5TwentyFour Angliana) now,” Schmittou said.

Those students still staying at local hotels are expected to move into their Red Mile Village apartments in two weeks.

“People didn’t sign up to live in a hotel,” Moore said. “They signed up to live in a home.”