Aspen Heights residents finally moving in

Five hundred students have been waiting 16 days to move into their apartments.

“Everything else has just been a normal move-in process,” said Derek Wimmer, an Aspen Heights new resident.

It’s just in time because school starts at Mizzou on Monday.

“I’m here now. I’m done with all of it and I think that I’m done before school, is really the important part,” Wimmer said.

Aspen Heights says a wet winter and spring slowed construction on the complex in south Columbia.

Then there were issues with contractors — a controversy over unpaid workers.

The company says this delay is a first.

“Throughout the winter and the spring we saw some heavy snowfall as well as a large amount of rainfall. We also had some different labor and construction material issues that continually pushed back the project,” said Stuart Watkins, spokesman for Aspen Heights.

We’ve been asking what Aspen Heights is doing to make sure students in other towns don’t have to wait like this.

“The organization has developed a task force to really break down what happened and why — why the construction delayed and they will be assessing that for the next several weeks and months to ensure that this type of event doesn’t happen again at any future properties,” Watkins said.

Students are working quickly to get their stuff moved in and settled.

“Moving is moving, I’m going to get settled either way,” Wimmer said.

While waiting for construction to finish, students chose to live in a hotel or push back their move-in date.

But there are a few dozen Aspen Heights who are still waiting to move in.

“We still have a phase four, we hope to see those individuals within the next couple of weeks,” said Watkins.The 80 residents who are still waiting to move in have been set up with temporary housing until their apartments are finished.