In recent years, new apartments have cropped up everywhere around LSU’s campus.
While the newer buildings closest to campus aren’t exactly cheap, they come with amenities that renters couldn’t have fathomed just a few years ago. Here’s a look at some of those unique amenities:
Where: 449 Ben Hur Road
Fall 2016 price for 1 bedroom: $1,070 per month*
Fall 2016 prices for 2 bedrooms: $730 per month
Tanning room
Renters here don’t have to leave the apartment complex to get ready for summer. Tanning salons are a thing of the past, as these apartments come with a personal tanning room for residents.
Pet-friendly—with a dog park
Gone are the days when you had to wait until you graduated and got your own place to adopt little Spike. Being pet-friendly seems standard for most new apartments around campus, and now they even come with parks for your pooch.
24-hour fitness center with spin room
Why go to the gym when the gym can come to you? This fitness center is complete with premium equipment, free weights and a spin room. This also makes saying, “I don’t have time to go to the gym,” a little less true.
Where: 740 W. Chimes St.
Fall 2016 prices for 1 bedroom: $1,070-$1,315 per month
Fall 2016 prices for 2 bedrooms: $899-$905 per month
Rooftop swimming pool with views of Tiger Stadium
Most college-age people can only afford a rooftop pool in a Sims game, and even then, cheat codes are probably involved. But students here can bask in a pool with a spectacular view of Death Valley, all in the comfort of their own apartment building steps away from campus.
Yoga studio
Who needs the UREC or the gym when you can do the Downward-facing Dog at home? University House has a yoga studio where residents can strike a pose and meditate within the confines of their complex.
Where: 4194 Burbank Drive
Fall 2016 prices for 1 bedroom: $1,299 per month
Fall 2016 prices for 2 bedrooms: $850 per month
Lazy river
Having a pool at all used to be considered a luxury. This one has taken college pool parties to a new level with the addition of a lazy river, complete with goals for water basketball.
Putting green
Plenty of apartments have game rooms full of ping pong and foosball tables, but a putting green is on another level. Now you don’t have to leave your apartment property to practice your short game.
“When I moved in to East Laville Hall at LSU in 2009, it was just before the renovation—meaning the worst shape anyone will see it in for probably another 25 years. Between the mysterious mold on the ceiling of my closet and the mysterious clanging in the pipe by my bed, I was fairly sure I was dealing with a poltergeist situation. Thankfully, the worst that ever happened was encountering a toe group on the walk back from the hall showers in my towel.“
–Kaci Yoder, staff writer
“I came to LSU with three high school friends and we all agreed we wanted to live off campus. Student-oriented apartment complexes with all of their fancy amenities were sort of a new thing then, and I’m ashamed to admit we picked our apartment based on the spring break-like scene we saw at that complex’s pool. We still joke today about how, even though we lived there for two years, we rarely hung out at the pool ourselves. I know for a fact none of us used the complimentary tanning bed.”
–Benjamin Leger, managing editor
“I shared my first dorm, which was probably about 500 square feet, with three other freshmen girls. That place was so old, so messy and so dirty. We were on the 12th floor, and anytime the elevator broke (at least once a week), we had to walk up the stairs. But it was still nicer than some of my friends’ dorms, which didn’t have AC.”
–Jennifer Tormo, editor
The language of apartment ads can turn a pool into a “tropical paradise.” Here’s what those fancy descriptions often really mean.
Cyber-cafe: What exactly is a cyber “cafe”? Are futuristic robots there to pour coffee? Will “Terminator” Arnold Schwarzenegger show up to connect you to the internet? Let’s just call it what it is: a place where you can hook up to a (probably slow) Wi-Fi connection.
Valet trash: A man in a spiffy uniform and gloves is not going to come to your apartment and personally take out your garbage. This is a nice concept, as long as you don’t have to wait too long for someone to pick up the garbage you’ve had sitting outside all night.
Amphitheater: No, your apartment complex probably won’t have expansive Greek-style seats surrounding a stage with great acoustics—more like a small seating area with a projector.
