High-End Disappointment: UC students feel new building not living up to promises

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - It is supposed to be the University of Cincinnati's newest, most luxurious living situation -- an apartment-style complex complete with a pool, dog park, theater and more.

The students who live inside said everyone on campus wanted a spot in the building. Now, they said a lot of those tenants are looking for a way out. Ben Lewton said on Saturday he woke up to a scary situation inside his apartment at The Deacon.

"My roommates and I were home, so the door was unlocked because we were home. We were both in bed with the flu and eight to 10 guys with black hoodies came in and stole around $3,000 worth of stuff. They were unarmed, but, I mean, I had to get in their face and chase them out," said Lewton.

Alayna Odom said Lewton is not the only tenant who doesn't feel safe.

"We all have kind of like a magnetized key so that's how we get into those doors, but, again, people stand by waiting for someone to let them in," said Odom.

Trinitas Ventures, an Indiana-based developer owns and maintains the building. Local 12 reached out to them for comment about the break-ins. They responded:

"The Deacon is outfitted with secure electronic access control therefore limiting building access to only residents and staff. The property has an on-site courtesy patrol person as well as supplemental patrol services and has held monthly events with our patrol team for our residents to discuss safety and best practices while living at The Deacon. An initial theft occurred when a resident’s guest took items from their apartment. The following incident occurred when a resident’s apartment door was left unlocked. We continue to stress with our residents the importance of ensuring building doors are not left propped open for guests or deliveries, apartment doors are locked when entering and exiting, and never allowing people they do not know into the building."

Students are also concerned about the fire alarms.

"There's been so many -- at least 50 this whole year. Since there's so many, it's hard to take them seriously. Like our RA has to be like, 'No, this is a real fire alarm. You guys have to get out," said Odom.

Trinitas had this to say about the constant alarms:

"Issues with the fire alarms have been due to a combination of circumstances – Upon resident move-in, initial equipment failure was reported and defective items were immediately replaced when discovered. From there, ongoing issues have been the unfortunate result of residents and/or guests pulling alarms without reason (such as smoke or fire) and tampering with the detector valves which create an error alert in the system, resulting in an alarm. The most recent incident occurred when a resident threw an on-fire oven mitt down the trash chute in which case we alerted our residents over our internal intercom of the seriousness of the alarm. Our management team closely monitors the fire systems to ensure faults are discovered before issue and have had continued communication with our residents to reinforce fire safety, stressing that all alarms should be taken seriously."

Lewton said he will be moving to get away from the issues. Odom said she hopes something changes.

"We renewed our contract because we have hopes that things will get better. I'm hoping that during the summer the construction will come in and make it a little more secure," said Odom.

Even though it is off-campus but has resident advisors, UC said the responsibility for the building itself lies with Trinitas. Students are paying up to $1,000 a month for rent and some said it seems like a lot for the frustration.

But, the building is still very popular. Trinitas Ventures said the rooms are all leased for the 2020-2021 school year and there's even a waiting list.