top 10 reasons why uf students should choose luxury residence halls vs. traditional housing
welcome to the good life
1. 60% larger living space
Transitioning from living at home into a dorm room is not always the easiest to make. All of a sudden, you are thrown into having one or two roommates living just a couple feet away. Even worse, the size of the rooms in traditional on-campus dorms doesn’t leave much to the imagination. But at Ivy House and Windsor Hall, the rooms are much more spacious. Not everything needs to be stuffed under your bed because your closet has much more room. There is no more worrying about bumping (literally) into your roommate while getting ready for class. Trimark’s luxury residence halls definitely provide a much better and more comfortable living environment as compared to traditional University of Florida housing.
2. More convenient location
Some dorms on campus are close in proximity to classes, but a lot of on-campus dorms require a bus or other form of transportation to get to class, dining halls or libraries. Windsor Hall and Ivy House are extremely convenient for freshmen attending University of Florida. They are just minutes away from campus and steps away from sorority row. Being late for class because you were waiting on a bus or because you had to park far away will never be an issue when living at one of the luxury dorms. Whether it’s to class, the dining halls or the library, walking will always be a convenient option. During the night hours, SNAP, a free, nightly transportation service around campus, makes stops directly in front of Ivy house.
3. Say goodbye to communal bathrooms
With over 40 residents sharing a communal dorm bathroom, living in a traditional dorm like Broward Hall, Jennings Hall or Murphee Hall is not the most luxurious situation. The luxury dorms do away with this “communal dorm bathroom” situation. In Windsor, there is a luxury bathroom inside each room, complete with a private shower and bathtub. Ivy House residents share spa-like bathrooms with neighboring rooms, but each room has its own sink and mirror. With these options available, there is no reason to have to share a bathroom down the hall with 40 other students.
4. Lower price
It may be hard to believe, but with all of these amenities and benefits included, Windsor Hall and Ivy House are still lower in price than normal campus dorms. A comparison between University of Florida dorms such as Hume Hall, Infinity Hall, Beaty Towers, Lakeside Complex, etc. and luxury dorms such as Ivy house and Windsor Hall show that University of Florida freshmen actually end up spending less on housing than their friends in older, traditional University of Florida dorms. Residents are actually saving money to live in a much more luxurious space.
5. Much newer buildings
Many of the traditional dorms owned by the University of Florida, such as Broward Hall and Jennings Hall, were actually built in the 1950’s and 60’s. Though they have been renovated, the original room sizes, structure and many of the features are still the same. In contrast, the luxury dorms are newly built, with modern amenities. Everything provided for residents in the rooms is extremely up-to-date and ready for use. Trimark’s maintenance staff is available round the clock to serve its residents' needs. They literally offer 24 hour emergency maintenance and lock out services.
6. Roommate matching services
Roommate horror stories are common when it comes to traditional dorm living. If incoming freshmen do not have anybody specific who they would like to live with, the University of Florida will pair them to live with a random person of the same gender. This does not always work out so well. Students in the traditional dorms are not guaranteed to be placed with requested roommates either. At Ivy House and Windsor Hall, Trimark provides a professional roommate matching service. Based on a personality profile, residents will be matched with another person who has similar lifestyle habits, cleanliness habits, sleeping habits, and ideas about social activities in the dorm room. Living with another person in the same double dorm room can be tough, but roommate matching makes it much easier.
7. The ease of parking
Parking on the University of Florida campus is a daunting task. With just under 50,000 students at UF, getting a parking spot anywhere close to on-campus dorms is nearly impossible. Walking or taking the bus to a car that is parked in a lot three blocks away is not an ideal situation for incoming freshmen. Ivy House and Windsor Hall offer upgraded assigned parking spots for their residents.
8. A luxury kitchenette
On-campus dorms provide a kitchen on each floor, but with 50 other residents using the same one and dishes piling up, it doesn’t stay sanitary for very long. At Windsor Hall, each room has its own private kitchenette, including a fridge and microwave. In Ivy House, there is a large, gourmet kitchen on the 2nd floor that gets cleaned daily by the maid service. The residents never have to worry about being hungry.
9. No more stairs
You may be one of the lucky few incoming freshman who gets a dorm room on the ground floor of your building. But, you also may be unlucky and have a room on the third or fourth floor. After a long day at school, nobody wants to lug up that many flights of stairs with a heavy backpack. The only other option provided is the service elevator that can only be used on move-in days. These problems can be completely ignored at Windsor Hall, which has a resident elevator in both buildings.
10. A luxurious on-site pool
Located smack in the middle of sunny Florida, Gainesville is an extremely humid city with blistering heat almost year round. Air conditioning can only do so much when it comes to living in a place like this. What everyone needs during those miserable days is a pool to cool off in. There are a couple of pools located around campus, but they have varying hours and can be pretty far from your dorm building. Windsor provides residents with an on-site private pool. If school is overwhelming and you need a couple hours to relax, or if you want to escape the miserable heat, the pool is there for you. Best of all, it’s a great place to meet other University of Florida students.
