Monroe Street Market Apartments Partner With CUA to Discipline Students

By Duane Paul Murphey

The general manager of Brookland’s Monroe Street Market apartments, Lalitha Suresh, has commenced a new system of reporting disturbances or violations, caused by current Catholic University students who reside in the local apartment complexes, to the Catholic University of America.

In a recent e-mail sent to the occupants of the Monroe Street Market apartment homes, Suresh wrote in part, “The Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development at CUA has partnered with us and we will be forwarding along reports of any instances we deem warrant such action. We are enforcing the 3 strike policy at Monroe Street Market. After the third strike we will be taking the necessary legal action towards eviction and would consider such parties to be in breach of their lease.”

Although some students may agree or disagree with the new policy, many students who reside in these off-campus residential spaces do voice certain concerns of apartment disturbances, complaints, or violations.

“As a resident of Monroe Street Market, I think it is so great that CUA has a new, growing complex that offer students living, commerce, shopping, and community building opportunities,” said Stephen Morris, a junior Politics major. “I also empathize with the concerns of those complaining about college students, but the fact is they are naturally going to be rowdy, energetic, and be up late. Monroe is built on CUA land and both the apartments and businesses in the complex depend greatly on CUA students. I think they should be realistic and respectful about their expectations and treatment of us.”

Natalia Jaramillo Sfeir, a senior Politics major who resides in one of the neighborhood’s apartment complexes, said in regards to noise and other general complaints, “The walls are paper thin. It is really difficult to ask someone to only have five people in the apartment when there’s three or four people already living in an apartment.”

This new policy could have some significant impact on potential residents in the near or far future, especially for current undergraduates who live on campus.

Maria Beatrice “Bea” Zanotti, a freshman Nursing major, is considering the option to live in one of the Monroe Street Market apartment complexes within about two years or more.

“I think that the Monroe Street apartments are sticking their nose in a place where they should not be; CUA takes care of us when we are on campus and what happens off campus is our problem and not theirs,” Zanotti said.

The Monroe Street Market apartments are owned by the The Bozzuto Group. Commonly referred to as Bozzuto, a private real estate development and construction company based in Greenbelt, Maryland that has created more than 38,000 residencies for people in major urban metropolitan areas across the Eastern United States including Washington, D.C., New York City, Baltimore, Annapolis, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Atlanta. The company is named after its co-founder and current chairman, Thomas “Tom” Bozzuto, whose only son, Toby S. Bozzuto, is the current president and chief executive officer or C.E.O. of the company.