Changes coming to Regency

Previously featured in the February 23, 2006 issue of YourHub, a Rocky Mountain News supplement.

Written by Jonathan Garcia.

In the next several months, the roughly 225,000 drivers that pass by
The Regency daily will start to notice changes to the student housing
community.

Just off Interstate 25, northwest of downtown Denver, the former hotel
reopened its doors as college dorms for the Auraria campus in September 2005.

Currently, students are only residing in the building’s main tower, but
according to Regency spokeswoman Carmen Mendoza, renovation of the
annex will be done by the end of June, a project dubbed “Phase Two”
which will allow more students to move in.

The initial phase involved renovation of the tower, including two
basketball courts, a fitness center and a student dining area, Mendoza
said. “Phase Two” covers the addition of around 250 rooms and outdoor
landscaping.

Before “Phase Two” is complete, a white tent similar to the ones found
at Denver International Airport will be erected above The Regency’s
outside rotunda as soon as this spring, said General Manager Michael
Francone. It will be built over where the gold dome used to be before
it was damaged in a fire during summer 2005.

Capable of holding nearly 300 students, The Regency’s 17-floored tower
was 50 percent occupied at the beginning of January. By early February
it grew closer to 80 percent, Mendoza said smiling as she received
several new applications from students wanting to move in.

The new wing will hold 400 more students and will be cheaper than
renting some of the higher-level rooms in the tower, Francone said.
The wing will also offer a new rooming option not currently available
in the tower: a two-bedroom unit priced from $650 to $690 per month,
per student. This includes cable television, high-speed internet
access, furniture such as a bed and desk and utilities such as heat and
water. Some single units in the tower can cost almost $900 a month.

But what the annex makes up for in cost, it loses in amenities.

“There won’t be a lot of common space,” Francone said. Student will
have to walk to the main tower to access the dining area, laundry
facilities or big-screen amphitheater.

By the time the annex is finished though, students living in the wing
will have closer access to the new pool, part of “Phase Two’s” outdoor
renovation.

Along with the pool, The Regency plans to add more sections of trees
and grass to its 14 acres.

One of the student residents, Kyrie Casey, 18, is looking forward to
the new changes, specifically the new pool and growing population of
occupants.

“Hopefully this community will be bigger and better when everything’s
done,” Casey said.

Casey moved in during The Regency’s opening day, September 1.
Construction hasn’t halted since, but Casey said it’s hard to notice.
“I never hear the construction,” she said. “It’s never been a problem.”

Construction will continue beyond “Phase Two” as The Regency’s
management decides what to do with the extra 50,000 square feet of
unused space in the main tower, including a 214-seat movie theater in
the basement.

Francone said discussions have been made and suggestions include
building classrooms for the Auraria Campus, which, according to
Francone, nearly has double the student population it was built for.
Building the space into art rooms or storage for the residents is also
under consideration.