For the second day in a row, soon-to-be residents of the HERE apartment complex waited in limbo after the site again failed to meet City of Lawrence safety codes required for an occupancy permit.

When lessees arrived Wednesday, the complex was cordoned off with yellow construction tape. On Thursday afternoon, crews continued to work on both the interior and exterior of the building, while others poured concrete for surrounding roadways.

Josh Zaff, a Kansas University junior from Boston, was one of the many residents who showed up ready to move in Wednesday. After driving all day, Zaff had nowhere to go but a hotel. The experience has been a nightmare, said Zaff, who added he was lucky to find lodging at a hotel in Lawrence.

“We drove halfway across the country,” Zaff said. “We were expecting to move in.”

Lessees were provided free meals at The Oread hotel Wednesday and Thursday, and were told by on-site staff for HERE to save their receipts so that they could be reimbursed for hotel and other expenses. When hotel rooms in Lawrence were filled up, HERE bused people to hotels in the Kansas City area.

For Mary McGill, who flew in from Chicago to help her daughter move into HERE, those expenses have also included having to reschedule her flight home. On Thursday, McGill sat in the lobby of The Oread, waiting on news. Despite the inconveniences, she said the staff at HERE have been helpful.

“I do have to say, in their defense, they made a bad situation very accommodating to us, very pleasant,” McGill said. “…They’re saying that they are going to reimburse us for all our expenses, so I don’t know what more they can do.”

The original move-in day provided to lessees was Aug. 7, and that date has since been pushed back multiple times. McGill said she has already received $500 of reimbursed rent from HERE due to those adjustments. Since arriving Wednesday, lessees belongings are being stored in The Oread’s ballroom, she said.

The City of Lawrence has done inspections at the site twice daily since Monday, and the HERE site has continually failed to meet the health and safety code required to allow the building to be opened. Some HERE lessees said that process wasn’t made clear. Dylan Wilken, KU sophomore from Chicago, said the first email he received that mentioned that the project was awaiting an occupancy permit was Wednesday.

“It’s been very aggravating, to say the least, because it seems they were very dishonest with us,” Wilken said. “It felt like they knew we wouldn’t be able to move in, but they were still trying and telling us everything (Wednesday).”

Despite the aggravation, Wilken, who has been staying at The Oread, said that the free food and promised hotel reimbursement “definitely made up for it.”

Tax incentives provided by the city are one element that have brought attention to the project. The previous City Commission provided the project an 85 percent property tax rebate after the Chicago development group touted the multistory, luxury apartment building as being a major boon for the city’s rental market.

The $75 million apartment project includes 624 bedrooms and 13,500 square feet of commercial space. The approximately 30 community amenities listed on the complex’s website include a pool, game room, outdoor theater, coffee lounge and fitness center.

Apartments themselves come furnished, and are said to have granite countertops, Smart TVs and stainless steel appliances. The complex has 23 floor plans that range from one to four bedrooms. When developers with the project were applying for tax incentives from the city, they said that a four-bedroom apartment would rent for more than $2,800 per month, while a one-bedroom would go for nearly $1,200 per month.

Another issue has been parking for the project, which is located at in the Oread Neighborhood at 11th and Mississippi streets. Originally, the development was to have a robotic valet parking garage. Then, earlier this year, the company responsible for producing that robotic system went bankrupt. Developers are now pursuing a plan to build a 68-space surface parking lot at 1029 Mississippi St. that would require a couple of houses to be bulldozed.

HERE scheduled a meeting with Oread neighborhood residents and community members to discuss the parking proposal on Thursday evening. That plan would need to be approved by the City Commission before going forward. The idea of leveling homes to build a parking lot is yet another element of the project that hasn’t gone over well with some neighbors, said Candice Davis, a member of the Oread Residents Association and chair of the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods. Davis said parking in the neighborhood has long been an issue.

“I’m guessing that there is not a whole lot anyone can do anymore about this,” Davis said. “The mistakes were made back with the other City Commission, and the idea of having that automated parking system.”

Davis added that she hoped, at least, that the added need for parking may prompt further discussion of an on-street permit system for residents.

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be tenants at HERE continue to be just that. After inspectors with the city Thursday morning again found the site to be wanting, an email sent by HERE informed lessees that they would not be able to move in until noon on Friday.

As of the end of the day on Thursday, an occupancy permit had yet to be granted. City inspectors were anticipating being able to issue the permit Thursday evening if a shortlist of items were complete, said city spokeswoman Megan Gilliland. Gilliland said items on the shortlist included pedestrian barriers in “fall zones” and mechanisms that would stop upper-story windows from opening all the way.