Luxury Apartment Buildings For Students Sprouting Up In Oakland
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It isn't the three-to-a-room, thumping stereo, shower-down-the-hall dorm of your past. The big and beautiful SkyVue Apartment house in Oakland offers today's college student an early acceptance into the high life.
There's a 24-hour fitness center and sprawling, open-air decks with chaise lounges, fire pits and grilling stations, as well as indoor lounges with kitchens and pool tables. So much to do, it's a wonder they ever find time to hit the books.
"It's up to them. We just offer the amenities," said Denissa Petrescu-Visconti, of SkyVue Apartments.
KDKA's Andy Sheehan: "There's a lot of amenities to take up all your time."
It's the new trend in student housing. While SkyVue accommodates both students and work-a-day people, two new buildings going up nearby will be for students alone. The Bridge On Forbes, and the mammoth 17-story, 328-unit building called the One On Center, which almost ready.
"Our substantial completion date is July 1, and students will be moving in on Aug. 15 of this year," said Jim Kephart, of Massaro Construction.
Like SkyVue, these privately-owned apartment houses will offer a different kind of college experience and are tapping a ready-market of students from families with means.
Students like Kayla Davies, a junior psychology major at Pitt, has already moved in. She says she didn't much care for life in the dorm.
"Obviously, students aren't going to be quiet at all times. They're not going to keep their business to themselves. They're going to be loud at all times, and it's completely different here," she says.
At her apartment, Davies has a kitchen, private bath, dining area and bedroom, as well as showers for her dog, Maya. It all costs about $1,500 a month. It's definitely more expensive than the dorms, but she says reasonably so.
Davies: "It's not that much more expensive, and it's a lot bigger and nicer."
Sheehan: "It is a lot nicer. It's a lot nicer than the dorms I used to know."
And it's being replicated near college campuses across the country. While it's not making dorm-life a relic of the past, it is offering an upscale alternative to those whose families can afford it.
