Students, parents steamed over move-in dates at The Standard

TaMaryn Waters
Tallahassee Democrat
The Standard at Tallahassee, located at the corner of Macomb and Virginia streets, is one of the new student housing complexes expected to open before students arrive for the fall semester.

CORRECTION and CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Landmark Properties did not return calls or emails to the Tallahassee Democrat. The company provided a statement but the online story was inadvertently published before the statement was added to the story. Also, a company representative said the move-in date was not delayed since leases only guaranteed an Aug. 24 move-in time.

An originally estimated and advertised move-in date at The Standard has come and gone and caused housing troubles for residents.

Vexed parents and students are blasting the property for not making units available by Aug. 1. They said they were assured units would be available, but the apartment's management said that was only a possible option — not a guarantee since leases specify an Aug. 24 move-in date. 

The Aug. 1 move-in date was offered to residents at no cost. A spokesperson for the management company, Landmark Properties, told the Tallahassee Democrat the early move-in dates was a potential option to sign up, "not a guaranteed opening date or a housing contract start date." 

Harrison Broer said he received a July 15 email referencing the later move-in date for the first time. His attempts to gain answers were met with passivity, he said.

Broer, who thought he would be moving in this week, said he was told his lease indicates an Aug. 24 start date, despite multiple conversations and marketing pushes to attract tenants with an Aug. 1 hook. 

"They are not helping with anything. They said they are not responsible,” said Broer, a recent Florida State graduate who's returning to his alma mater for law school. "It's just been a really big headache."

The Standard, a 254-unit building in Frenchtown's West Virginia Street, is the largest of five new apartment buildings slated to be complete in time for thousands of new and returning college students to descend on the capital city. The new properties are primarily student housing and represent 600 units with 2,200 beds.

More:5 projects, 600 units, 2,200 beds: New student apartments to open before crush of students

The Standard's letter to tenants indicated conditional assurance on when units would be ready and pointed to "construction progress on the building" as the reason it couldn't accommodate a move-in date earlier than Aug. 24. 

"While we are confident that your unit will be ready for occupancy by the start date, there will be ongoing construction on the phase II residential units as well as the roof-top amenity spaces which will be finalized as soon after move-in as possible," the letter said. "Again, we apologize for changing the originally estimated early move-in date. We look forward to seeing you soon at The Standard."

The city's Growth Management Department said there are no issues with outstanding permits or certificates of occupancy that would delay an Aug. 1 move-in date.

"I don’t have any insight on their construction timeline," said Karen Jumonville, who manages Growth Management. "We complete inspections as the contractors finalize their work and are ready when they are."

At this point, Hyacinth Price is worried about whether The Standard will open by Aug. 24. She signed a lease for her daughter, Shaylee Stout, a freshman attending FSU.

Price booked international travel plans based on the Aug. 1 date she was verbally told, adding she was instructed to not to worry about the Aug. 24 lease date since units would be ready before then. 

"They advertised this stuff to get them to sign the lease," Price said. "I never would have signed knowing she wouldn’t have been able to get in early."

Students and parents are blasting The Standard on its Facebook page with similar concerns and frustrations. Some are posting screenshots of the apartment listings at The Standard with an Aug. 1 availability date. 

In one Facebook post, The Standard apologized for "any inconvenience due to the changing of our originally estimated early move in. At this time, we are not able to provide accommodations."

A Landmark Properties spokesman said construction work was ahead of schedule and management "believed we would be able to accommodate early move-in requests," adding the company is confident leaseholders will be able to move in on time in accordance with their housing contracts. 

In the meantime, residents like Broer are footing a steep bill.

He'll have to stay in a hotel until his unit is ready and be responsible for his $850 per month rent for a two bedroom/two bathroom apartment he's sharing with a roommate, who's also paying $850 per month. 

"While this is a poor first impression, I am willing to give The Standard a second chance at a first impression," Broer said. "I do genuinely hope my time at The Standard to be nice, and I believe it will be."

Contact TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com or follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter.