Once again, you can count on Bwog to deliver your annual housing reviews. Here’s the beginning of our series, so you aren’t such a lost puppy when choosing where you’re going to live. 

Location: 2900 Broadway (actual entrance on 114th, shared with Hogan)

  • Nearby dorms: Hogan, Ruggles, Carman, not far from McBain and Watt. Broadway shares an entrance with Hogan.
  • Stores and restaurants: Close to Lerner and Butler, across the street from Amir’s, Havana, and importantly International. Morton’s is only a block away across Broadway. Generally one of the most prized locations—it’s close to campus and still provides easy access to the many food and shopping locations on Broadway.

Cost:

  • $6,718 (same as Furnald, McBain, Schapiro, Wien)

Amenities:

  • Bathrooms: Corridor-style, so shared M/F bathrooms… but there are two of each per floor!
  • AC/Heating: AC and heat.
  • Kitchen/Lounge: Each floor has a decently-sized kitchen/lounge combo that has two separate stoves, a dishwasher, a microwave, and a large flatscreen TV. The kitchens are getting new countertops and cabinets this year. Broadway’s skylounge is easily the best around. There’s also a large first-floor lounge with ample space for group studying.
  • Laundry: In basement.
  • Computers/Printers: Computer lab with printer on the third floor. Printer prone to be fussy.
  • Gym: No gym.
  • Intra-transportation: Three blazing-fast elevators. They have a tendency to malfunction at odd hours of the day… but still, there’s three elevators.
  • Hardwood/Carpet: Hardwood/laminate.

Room variety:

  • Most floors have three doubles, one of which is pretty spacious (200 sq. ft.)
  • Rest of the rooms are singles: exterior (more desirable) and interior (shaft, less desirable). Sizes range from a cozier 95 sq. ft. to an extravagant 120 sq. ft.

Numbers:

  • Seniors can get the large singles, with juniors snagging up the less desirable ones.
  • Doubles generally go to sophomores.

Bwog recommendation:

If you’re a senior and in General Selection, Broadway pretty much guarantees you decent housing. Juniors in General Selection should look at Broadway before Schapiro or Wien, given the amenities, room sizes, and proximity to campus and shops/restaurants. For sophomores, large doubles in Broadway are a good alternative to Furnald or McBain.

Resident opinions:

  • “Pretty straightforward singles- no weird plastic floors or creepy sink stories but nothing fancy about them either. A little shoe-boxy but certainly personalizable and they’re also decently sized.”
  • “Hardly any parties despite extremely laid-back RAs that you see maybe twice a week.”
  • “The shaft is definitely a shaft, though it’s nowhere near as dark as McBain (especially if you manage to be on a higher floor and further in the direction of 113th street).”
  • “The lounges in Broadway are decently sized a regularly used, either for watching TV or getting work done (or just…lounging). This probably has a lot to do with the fact that lounge furniture is more comfortable than anything you will have in your room and that the lounges have much better natural light than ‘interior’ rooms.”
  • “Floor-bonding is virtually non-existent for first couple of months but eventually picks up a little. Still, the social life is academically-geared and lounges are strictly for studying on weekdays.”
  • “The stairs/elevators/moving between floors is extremely annoying. Elevators move up and down the bottom of the “U,” while there is a staircase far down either side. This makes moving between floors a hassle, especially when trying to find an unoccupied lounge–nobody likes it when you stop the elevator on every floor.”
  • “Overall Broadway is mostly criticized for its lack of any character and unbalanced personality dynamics. Sometimes its blandness will make it feel like living in your generic college residence hall. Redeeming qualities are ease of living, location, and spacious lounges.”

Gallery:

 

 

 

Photos by Elyse DeWitt