Monroe Street Market Opens Up New Everton Apartments

Image Courtesy of Maurice Walters|Architect

By Angela Hickey

 With the new semester in full swing, many students opted in favor of living in off-campus housing, rather than housing on campus or staying home. And with this influx of tenants, Monroe St. Market was able to prepare Everton, their newest building, for leasing just before the new semester, helping to accommodate many students moving into off-campus housing. 

Everton welcomed the students among their first set of occupants. As mentioned in a Tower article from the near-end of the construction process, the building was completed in fall 2020 and contains 158 units, with 70% of the building’s tenants being college students. 

The building was completed and began accepting leasing applications in December 2020, just in time for students who wished to live off-campus for the spring semester to secure tenancy. 

A majority of students moved in on January 15 in order to quarantine before the beginning of the semester. Many of these students have found the transition painless and found the experience rather enjoyable.

“The building itself is beautiful and moving in was super easy,” said sophomore secondary education major Elizabeth Solferino. “It’s definitely a big change after being at home for so long and is very different from living in a dorm, but the transition was pretty easy.”

After moving in, tenants were required to stay indoors in quarantine for two weeks, complying with travel guidelines and city regulations. With COVID-19 still a concern in the city, building management has been enforcing mask regulations in and around the building, requiring tenants to wear them in the gym, lobby, elevators, and halls.  

Even though the building is prepared for tenants, there remain minor renovations going on as workers prepare the finishing touches. There are rumors that there will be a grocery store in the area, but due to its size, the space failed to secure a major grocery retailer. Many hope for a low-cost retailer such as Trader Joe’s will be installed in the building, but there hasn’t been much news about whether or not this is true. The most recent update is that retail brokers are still searching for a tenant to fill some empty properties they have. 

 Available is just 12,000 square feet of space left empty for a possible grocery store. The size of the space rules out larger grocery stores, such as Giant or Safeway, leading to the speculation that it would either be a Trader Joe’s or an Aldi, but there hasn’t been any confirmation so far. Either way, having a grocery store in the area creates an opportunity for groceries to be much more accessible to all students living in the area, not only those living in off-campus housing. 

There are many other retailers, such as Orange Theory Fitness, who are confirmed to be moving into the area.The building is still accepting leasing applications on its official website and is available for online and in-person tours of the building and surrounding area.