This was my final "Enterprise story" for my JMC201 class course.
Roosevelt Point, a Downtown Phoenix apartment complex, brings more independence to students at ASU through apartment-style housing than the Taylor Place dorms.
Roosevelt Point presents upper-class students with both benefits and drawbacks to this type of student living arrangement, demonstrated through layout, pricing, and experience.
Adriana Avalos, 20, majors in Justice Studies and is a second-year student attending ASU. Avalos moved into Roosevelt Point in August 2020 and is scheduled to move out in July. She is leasing directly with Roosevelt Point, rather than through ASU Housing.
“I leased on my own, basically because I was forced to,” Avalos said. “When I was trying to get into the ASU Housing [Portal], the second it opened, the rooms at Roosevelt Point somehow all got taken and it was this big mess. ASU Housing was no help, so we had no choice but to lease on our own.”
Roosevelt Point, located at 888 N. Fourth St., offers seven different layouts. Avalos has the two bedroom-two bathroom layout with her roommate.
Avalos explained that there are two towers at Roosevelt Point. One tower is for ASU Housing and the other is for people who lease directly with Roosevelt Point. Avalos complained that the directly leased tower is not as well-kept.
“It’s crazy because we pay more than they (residents placed by ASU) do and our building is terrible,” Avalos said. “The tower with ASU is the picture-perfect side, but they don’t seem to take care of anything in my tower. There’s a huge difference and issue with that.”
Regarding pricing, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at Roosevelt Point costs on average $990 per month, per person, and a one bedroom-one bathroom layout costs $1,320 per month, according to the Roosevelt Point website.
At Taylor Place, a private room with a shared bathroom costs $10,390 for the whole school year and a shared room with a shared bathroom costs $9,630. Thus, if Taylor Place charged monthly, a private room would cost $1,154 and a shared room would cost $1,070.
Avalos believes that, in comparison to Roosevelt Point, Taylor Place is “a luxury” for students because Taylor Place has people there to help residents, while Roosevelt Point is an independent living situation.
Second-year Journalism and Mass Communications student Maja Pierce is a resident at Roosevelt Point and lives in a four-bedroom, four-bathroom layout. Late making a housing choice, she leased directly with Roosevelt Point and couldn’t pick her roommates.
Each pays on average $860 per month, which includes an allotted amount of water and electricity.
“If you go over this allotted amount...you have to pay extra so I end up paying around $950 a month,” Pierce said.
Pierce heard about Roosevelt Point from older students who lived there during her first year. She enjoys the apartment, but wishes that she would have known about budgeting water and electricity usage and the trash situation before moving in.
“They have trash rooms and, for people who live on higher-up floors, it’s better because it’s a trash chute and it just goes down,” Pierce said. “But I live on the first floor, so I get all of that trash piled up and I live right by the trash room. There’s also no trash chute in our trash room so it can get pretty gross.”
Second-year Community Health student Alaya Alshemari currently resides at Roosevelt Point. Alshemari lives in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment and pays $7,470 per semester, not including utilities.
“I love Roosevelt Point because it feels like my own place, even though it’s still through ASU Housing,” Alshemari said. “Getting to have guests over, an easy-access parking spot, and the pool are some of the highlights.”
A common drawback about Roosevelt Point is the difficult process applying through the ASU Housing Portal to live there.
“Prior to getting my own spot, the Housing Portal itself is hard to make a group and make sure I had roommates, because I initially wanted to have roommates,” Alshemari said. “ASU wanted me to live at Tempe because Roosevelt filled up so fast, but when it came down to it, roommates sometimes didn’t show up...It should have been communicated that there were still spots available.”
“Taylor Place is more of a community in the sense that there are things going on, and here, I live in my own bubble,” Alshemari said. “It can be a pro or con, depending on the way you see it, but it’s more independent. I don’t have to check in with anybody.”
A potential drawback about Roosevelt Point is that Community Assistants do not interact with the students living there, according to Alshemari. The duties of Community Assistants at Roosevelt Point differ from those at Taylor Place. However, ASU Housing staff and Roosevelt Point Community Assistants declined to comment due to media policies.
“In the beginning of the semester, we had one Zoom meeting that we all had to attend, but beside that, I haven’t heard anything from them,” Alshemari said. “As far as events go, that happen each month, it’s more by the staff downstairs. I don’t actively see Community Assistants doing anything.”
Living at Roosevelt Point has its benefits and drawbacks, but overall, it is a safe and relaxing living environment for students transitioning from Taylor Place.
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