News

Students make Regency their own

By Boyd Fletcher
fletchar@mscd.edu

Scott Aller is enjoying his new digs.

But even more than the 12th story view of downtown Denver, the dual micro-fridges, matching faux-suede recliner and couch (not to mention the matching coffee table and cabinet), big-screen TV with surround sound, Buick-sized Lovesac in the corner, and the empty Corona box on the window ledge, he is enjoying the company of his newfound friends.

The Regency opened three weeks ago, and despite final construction and the start of the new semester, students created a growing community that is beginning to take advantage of the different amenities the new student-housing project has to offer.

Standing in his dorm-room in front of a huge, slightly crooked Tupac Shakur poster hung with pushpins, the sophomore music business major is surrounded by two people he did not know three weeks earlier, but the way they are getting along you wouldn't know unless they told you.

"I would have considered not being here (at UCD) if it wasn't for this place," Aller said. "Everybody there (on campus) is on a mission to go to school and there is no social life for the most part. Or it's spread out so far around Denver you have to drive 45 minutes to hang out with someone from class."

This sense of community is something The Regency hoped they would create by converting the old hotel into student housing.

"It's exciting to see," said Carmen Lerma Mendoza, spokesperson for The Regency. Mendoza said she expects The Regency to fill its vacancies for the first phase by the time the second phase opens in January.

Metro student James Endres is living at the Regency as well. Like Aller, Endres did not know anyone when he moved in, but now he feels at home among newfound friends.

"I know almost everybody in here I think, unless they just moved in, but I'll get to know them," Endres said. "Socially, everybody in this complex gets together perfectly."

And, unlike many freshmen before him, Endres won't have to deal with commuting to, and parking on campus thanks to the shuttle-bus that runs a loop between campus and The Regency every half hour, with the first shuttle leaving from the dorm at 6:45 a.m., and the final bus leaving campus at 6:45 p.m.

"I use it every day," Endres said. "Everybody here uses it. I don't know one person that drives to school, except the few people who have late-night classes.

Endres lives on the 16th floor facing downtown, a view that costs a bit more than rooms below him, but for now he is living in his double-suite with only one other person, which means that both of them get their own room with a shared living room.

Students are taking advantage of the projection-screen television, watching football games on the weekends, as well as playing poker in the student lounge area. The gym and two basketball courts are also in constant use.

The weight room, complete with a wide-screen monitor, workout machines, a row of treadmills and free-weights, plus a side room for training that a few students have been using to practice martial arts, is in constant use, Endres said.

"I'm in here a lot, actually; and there's usually like 10 to 12 people in here," Endres said

The kitchen is also in full swing. Students are served a full range of foods, ranging from vegetarian cuisine to steak, and are offered meal plans ranging from pay-as-you-go to three meals per day. But at a cost of $7 to $10 per meal on the pay-as-you-go plan, students who plan on eating at the dorm a lot have gone with bigger meal plans.

"It's much better to get the meal plan," said Aaryn Minich, who is a freshman music major at UCD, as well as Aller's roommate.

"The food is healthy, and I actually prefer that to going out sometimes, because there's more variety," Endres said. Smiling from ear to ear, he added, "And, it's all-you-can-eat."

The outdoor patio that faces I-25 and the rail yard on the second floor has been established as the student smoking area, so students do not have to go outside the building to light up. The area used to be next to the outdoor pool, and is hidden by the lime-green fa‡ade of the front entrance of the building.

The d‚cor of the lobby and common areas of The Regency are done in bright colors and throughout the place there are little nooks and places for people to study, eat, or hang out. The computer lab, painted in the same shade of lime-green as the front entrance, is up and running, sans printer.

Final cosmetic construction work, such as hanging waffled-metal ceiling tiles in the lobby and a lack of printing capabilities are lingering reminders of how much work has gone on to get the students moved in.

"I can forgive them on things like that, though they put a lot of stuff in already," Aller said. "That first week they were patching holes and stuff like that down in the lobby, but I was fine with them not having everything done yet, as long as we could move in here."

Endres said the staff has been very accommodating to students' needs and make them feel at home in their new surroundings.

"They talk to us as if we were on the same level," Endres said. "They help us out whenever we need it. They got the bus schedule moved up when we asked, and they got the cafeteria to change hours to accommodate students."

Lola Salazar, director and owner of The Regency, has already held an auction for Dave Matthews Band tickets, and plans on auctioning off Nuggets tickets throughout the season, Endres said. The Regency is also having a drawing for a new Volkswagen Jetta; all students who sign a lease before Dec. 1 are eligible to win it.

Students have been taking initiative in organizing groups around the community. There is discussion of starting clubs for snowboarding, basketball and even a sparring club for students involved in martial arts. Aller and Endres have been bouncing ideas around about organizing a range of student trips, from playing putt-putt to ski trips in the winter.

All these activities revolve around the new friendships that are being made.

"Everybody knows everybody, especially because it started out so small," Aller said. "We kind of made our own community before kids started moving in, even after the first day, so it's just building upward like that and making it easier to meet people."

Standing over the Lovesac, which is cradling a Nike Swoosh light that fell off the wall earlier, Aller smiles while talking about the good times he has already had in the three weeks since he has lived there. During a party when he and Minich crammed the room like a phone booth in the '60s, the Community Assistants, along with a couple of Denver Police officers, came up to quiet things down.

"This is kind of the party room," Aller said.

The poster behind Aller sums it up; it is John Belushi's mug, the picture from the classic college-party movie, "Animal House."

It seems the party is just beginning.