Senior tenants? Yes and no

One senior's bust is another senior's bonanza.

The comforts of downtown Naperville living that were being afforded to senior citizens have become the luxury of several North Central College seniors. And some juniors. And maybe a few sophomores.

"Honestly, I feel like I'm being spoiled living here," said Whitney Roberts, a North Central senior and resident assistant at Naper Place, "but it's nice to have the opportunity to live this way for once in college."

Instead of the communal dining rooms and sometimes even bathrooms that most college dormitories feature, Naper Place has many of the amenities inside a college president's residence.

"If I don't get in there next year, I'm going to be real mad," junior Matt Rogers said. "They've got air conditioning. I have some buddies on the basketball team who have a place there and I've been there every day this week. It's nice. You don't have to leave to do anything, that's the best part. Everything's in there."

The apartments at 119 S. Main St. originally opened in 2005 for senior citizens and all feature kitchen areas complete with stoves, microwaves, refrigerators and dishwashers. There are in-unit washers and dryers. And each unit comes with its own bathroom, sometimes two.

But only 10 of the units were ever sold to senior citizens.

So now, Naper Place will house 145 North Central students in rooms that fit two, three or four students.

"It's certainly more spacious and a lot more independent in a lot of respects," said Kimberly Sluis, the college's assistant dean for student life. "It was the first choice for most students living on campus; the only thing that competed were single dorm rooms. It was a building that filled quickly."

The decision to create a college dorm in downtown Naperville was not without controversy.

When Naper Place failed to attract the senior citizens it had been built for, developers sought other means to fill the 49-unit complex.

North Central and Moser Enterprises agreed on a two-year lease of the building after the city council narrowly approved the change. Parking and appropriateness were the chief concerns among the councilmen who dissented on the approval.

"This councilman will be keeping an eye on it," Councilman James Boyajian said. "I was not in favor of it to begin with and I'm still not. It was never built to dormitory standards and from an economic development standpoint it could be turned into apartments that younger workers could live in and shop downtown."

Plans to potentially sell the building to North Central were rejected by the council because it would take the building off the city's tax rolls.

The parking issue was resolved by giving the college 25 downtown parking tags, which combined with the 25 on-site spaces gave each unit a parking space.

A lottery was held to determine which unit got which type of parking space.

"So far, it's worked out fine," Sluis said. "We leave it up to the students how they want to work out the parking thing. If all the students in one unit have cars, we have spaces available on campus."

New residents of Naper Place are the envy of other campus dwellers.

"If I decide to live on campus next year, Naper Place is definitely my first choice," sophomore Katie Ritzwoller said. "Are you kidding? It looks amazing. Plus, it's downtown."

Residents of Naper Place were chosen based on seniority. The more credit hours amassed, the better chance a student had to get placed in the new dorm, college officials explained.

About 70 student athletes already have moved into the dorms, the rest arrive today.

Laurie Hamen, the college's vice president for enrollment management, athletics and student affairs, said there are just a few more rules about upkeep of the Naper Place dorms that separate life there from other campus dorms.

"I have a feeling it's going to go extraordinarily well," Hamen said. "The students know that it's a privilege to live in this building and I think they'll treat it as such."

Rogers said he has the same faith that when he gets to live there next year, it will be in as good as shape as it today.

"I'm sure it will be just as nice," he said. "The students are taking precautions. My friends, they got their own carpet laid down on top of the real carpet to keep the original spotless."