Stockton Students Getting Taste Of Hotel Living
STOCKTON (CBS13) -- A high-rise with water views is now offering co-ed comfort.
Imagine studying in your college dorm room and calling room service or housekeeping. Hundreds of college students are about to major in luxury living.
They're turning three-star hotel rooms into high-class dorms in Stockton. University Lofts, formerly known as Lexington Hotel, is following a new type of business plan, counting on University of Pacific students to help fill up the hotel.
"I don't think there's any other campus to have something like this," said junior Preet Kaur, who will be one of the first to move in early next year.
She's already hitting the books at her new home.
"It's quiet, you're not locked in the library, not getting distracted by students walking by," she told CBS13.
University Lofts has a business center right next to the hotel lounge -- and the bar will serve a couple of college favorites: booze and Starbucks.
Kaur admits room service may come in handy.
"When it gets hectic and I don't want to cook for myself, yeah, I'll definitely be picking up that phone more often," she said.
The top three floors are for students. And the upscale condo style room is at the head of the class. It features a flat-screen TV, is newly furnished and offers stellar views of the waterfront area.
"It's got a great view from every angle," Kaur said.
The seven-year-old hotel went through foreclosure, but Patrick Willis Development bought it last year.
"It's a way to bring more people into downtown, more life, more activity," said University Lofts vice president Brian Cooley.
Kaur admits she's never spent much time in Stockton outside of campus.
"We tend to stick to campus during the weekdays and weekends we usually find ways to escape," she said.
At $700 to $1,000 a month, the hotel dorms are pretty comparably priced to ones on campus. Kaur was one of hundreds on a waiting list to get a key.
