Find your niche in Bloomington

How would you describe yourself? Attracted to the dazzling city life? Eager to pop a top while looking out at Memorial Stadium from your front step? Longing to stroll down the brick-covered streets of central campus?

Just like its students, Bloomington housing offers an abundance of personalities, each fitting for certain types of students. Here are a few avenues to consider when searching for that ideal neighborhood.

NORTHWEST
Almost every other Saturday in autumn, you are exposed to the madness of tailgating, the immensity of Big Ten football and those classic Washington Street parties heard from several blocks away. Also found in the area are the notorious Varsity Villas, an energetic community comprising mostly sophomores and juniors, that are “not expensive, but livable,” former Varsity Villas resident John Rosenberger said. He added the area’s residences are diverse, which made for a “quality party atmosphere.”

DOWNTOWN
Within crawling distance from the bars, restaurants, shops and art studios that give Bloomington its entertainment reputation, apartments and lofts around the city square provide an “urban, contemporary feel,” said Nikki Jenkins, property manager of Olympus Properties. Larger complexes, like Smallwood Plaza and the Olympus-owned Mercury Building, can offer the sentiment of “living in New York,” Jenkins said. Furthermore, many smaller apartments are pure diamonds in the rough – historically rich and unique.

COMMUTER NEIGHBORHOODS
The geographic expansion of student housing has taken off in recent years, with properties such as The Village at Muller Park, Colonial Crest Townhomes and Apartments, Jackson Heights and Bradford Place being constructed at considerable distances from campus. However, amenities such as swimming pools, fitness centers, athletic courts and even tanning booths at The Village make these locations feel like one’s “own vacation spot, but in a college town,” Vince Forchetti, a former resident of The Village, said.

Its residents are mostly fitness-minded, with several football players living there as well, Forchetti said.

SOUTHWEST
Embraced by a notably upperclassman and graduate student population, the neighborhood’s edge consists of the expanding Burnham Rentals apartments and moves south to a variety of apartments, like Campus Walk Plantation South’s townhouses and houses. Within a couple blocks of both Kirkwood Avenue and the Maurer School of Law, this residential quarter is “close to everything,” Burnham Rentals’ John Burnham said.

Not quite as boisterous as other parts of campus, the area is ideal for “more or less, the serious student,” Burnham said.

CENTRAL
It is the quintessential college neighborhood – “experienced” houses situated in a shaded backdrop.

The heart of this historic district, the brick streets of Park and Fess avenues, is just about as central to campus as student housing can be.

“It is amazing,” former Park Avenue resident Bryan Bailey said. “You can literally get anywhere from here.”

Bailey said the neighborhood is difficult to personify, but he considers most residents to be upperclassmen who have “realized the benefits to being close to campus.”