But for any LUX at Central Park residents who have been housed in hotels across Chapel Hill and relying on shuttles to get to campus for work and classes, waiting to hear when their luxury student apartments would finally be completed, 19 days can feel like a lifetime.
BY THE NUMBERS
160
Students moving into LUX at Central Park on Friday
200
Students moving into on-campus housing Friday
50
LUX leases terminated
13
Empty beds in LUX
On Friday, almost three weeks after students were supposed to move into the luxury complex located along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 160 residents will be able to walk into their apartments for the first time. About 200 students will be moved to campus, where they will be housed in any empty spots in on-campus housing.
“For the residents who we cannot accommodate by Sept. 5, we believe their move-in will be delayed three weeks at the most past Sept. 5,” said Alie Hrabe, the director of portfolio marketing for LUX’s corporate developer, Trinitas, in an email.
Students moved into hotels on Aug. 17, after being notified in June that LUX would not be ready on time because of various delays to the construction process. No concrete move-in date was provided to residents until emails were sent out on Aug. 28.
Madison Braswell, a junior history major at UNC, said she will have to move out of her hotel into a dorm on campus after Friday. She said she is annoyed she still doesn’t know what’s really going on, and she worries about the complications of moving all of her boxes.
“My car is completely full,” she said. “When I moved into the hotel, it was full, and I had my brother bring me more stuff because I thought I’d be moving in.”
‘Cautiously optimistic’
But unlike Braswell, other residents received another email this week tentatively confirming the Friday move-in date.
“We’re happy to share with you that our inspections thus far with the city of Chapel Hill have gone as planned, and we feel cautiously optimistic that they will continue as scheduled for the remainder of the week,” the email stated. “We are confident that your unit will be move-in ready on Sept. 5 and should that date change due to unforeseen circumstances we will let you know immediately.”
All residents will be provided with moving services — personal belongings and boxes will be moved to the residents’ dorms or apartments. Another email sent to residents Wednesday said they would need to check out of their hotel by noon Friday and would have to be present when their belongings were picked up.
Braswell said she doesn’t know how she will be able to keep her normal schedule and move everything into the dorm.
“It’s only at certain times, and I still have to go to class and stuff,” Braswell said. “It’s going to be hard to know when I’m going to move.”
Dorm, sweet dorm
For the students who will live in dorms instead of moving into their apartment, the email sent to students said they should only see a three-week delay. Most empty spaces on campus will be filled by LUX residents.
Maddy Kirby, a senior biology major who will also be moving into a dorm this week, said it’s been an inconvenient few weeks.
“It’ll just be living in a place that’s not your home, being shuffled around.”
But the dorm is the only option she and her roommates have, Kirby said.
“There’s no where else to go this late in the game,” she said.
Hrabe said because of concerns from parents and students, as well as the upcoming parents weekend, hotels were no longer an option for all displaced residents — but they worked with the University from the beginning to make sure there would be housing available, especially if the complex would not be done before Parents Weekend.
The future of LUX
Fewer than 50 residents have terminated their leases, Hrabe said, and only 13 beds will be empty in the portion of LUX that is currently being leased — excluding the third section of the complex that will not be completed until January.
“Right now our primary concern is getting our student residents into their apartments at LUX,” Hrabe said in an email. “Filling empty units is not a priority.”
Braswell said she doesn’t plan on living in LUX again after this year.
“I’d like to actually get into where I’m going to be now,” she said. “I’m pretty confident that I’ll be somewhere else.”
This online timeline was compiled by online editor Paige Ladisic.
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