The View on High offers fully furnished one, two, three, four, and five person rooms. Credit: Andrea Oh | For The Lantern

If you were looking for a near-campus, high-end apartment complex on High Street to live in before 2015, you were out of luck.

Now, students looking for that luxury-apartment lifestyle have options. Along the east side of High Street, cranes tower over construction sites for new apartment buildings soon to come. For now, there are two options for students — The View on High and The Highline at Nine.

While both buildings offer amenities that you wouldn’t find at an off-campus house like the pool at Highline at Nine or the workout room overlooking campus at the View on High, students gave us their opinions on their favorite, and least favorite, parts of living in the modern apartments.

Highline at Nine:
Pros:

Brenda Vazquez, a third-year health sciences and resident at The Highline at Nine, said having everything she needs in a close vicinity is one of the best things about living at Highline at Nine.

“I really like the apartment complex in general, the fact that we have a pool, a courtyard and we have study rooms and stuff like that and a gym,” Vazquez said. “It’s not really necessary to leave the building to do much other than going to class.”

Meg Lyren, a first-year in pre-nursing and resident at The Highline at Nine, said the apartment building offers many amenities that she enjoys like the covered parking garage and pool, but her favorite part is the workout room that has both cardio machines and free weights.

“I am very big into working out and it’s very convenient I don’t have to walk in the freezing cold all the way to the RPAC or Jesse Owens South,” Lyren said.

Cons:

While the Highline at Nine offers something for each student, there are some cons to living in the newly constructed building.

Lyren said the location comes at the price of a good night’s sleep sometimes because of the noise that comes from High Street.

“Chumley’s is connected to our building so I can hear the music from Chumley’s,” Lyren said. “[When] there’s a football game going on I can hear them screaming. Basically, I always know who is winning.”

Vazquez also said the noise from High Street can be annoying because of car alarms, but also finds the walk to class can be inconvenient.

“It’s kind of far from classes,” Vazquez said. “Especially if you have classes on North Campus because it can be a hike to get there, like a twenty minute walk, so that is inconvenient.”

The View on High:
Pros:

For Jake Wilk, a third-year in finance and resident at The View on High, the best part of living at the complex is the amenities and services.

“The amenities, as far as the study spaces, the courtyard outsides, and having the security is nice,” Wilk said. “Having maintenance on-site, when something is wrong, you don’t have to wait for somebody to come out.”

Wilk also said he enjoys the social aspect of living at the apartments.

“It’s fun to live in a building where my friends live in and to pair that with the common space, everybody is always together,” Will said.

For Rachel Spector, a third-year in electrical engineering and resident at The View on High, the View was the ideal location because it cut down travel time to class, helping with her busy schedule.

“It’s super ideal for me because I literally live from the View, right across North Campus which is right where all my classes are,” Spector said.

Cons:

While Wilk enjoys living at The View on High, he said the pressure to renew his spot at an early time of the year is frustrating.

“They have you trapped with how fast you have to let them know whether or not you’re renewing or leasing here because this building is in such high demand,” Wilk said. “So, if you don’t sign it, you could lose your spot real quick.”

For Spector, she will not have to worry about a lease renewal because she decided to move down the street to The Wellington next year, which is currently under construction.

Spector said while the price is high to live at the apartments and was worth it for the amenities, the increase in rent influenced her to leave.

“Next year, they are raising their prices pretty considerably so that’s why my roommate and I decided to go to the Wellington because it’s actually cheaper for us,” Spector said.

More to come
The Highline at Nine and The View on High success seemed to start a trend for upscale apartment living as two more apartment buildings are coming to High Street in 2018.

The Wilson Place and The Wellington offer similar amenities as the current complexes.

On the corner of Lane Avenue and High Street, the Wilson Place will be above restaurants like Chipotle Mexican Grill, Starbucks, CoreLife Eatery and White Castle.

The Wellington is located on 17th Avenue and High Street and the first floor will feature a Chick-Fil-A, Target and more retail to come.