If you’ve ever shared an apartment with a roommate, you’re well aware of the downside risk of such an arrangement. In addition to the inevitable scheduling of shower time in the morning, there can be debates over who cleans the tub, the noise level of guests, and the level of the TV or stereo volume.
Sometimes, the friction is enough to end a friendship.
How to prevent the split-up of roommates? One increasingly popular answer is to split them up-with an apartment layout known as the “roommate split.” Chiefly a phenomenon of apartment buildings or communities constructed since the early 1980s, roommate splits are two-bedroom apartments in which the bedrooms are situated on opposite sides of the apartment and adjoined by a full bathroom.
The result, say apartment experts and leasing managers, is more privacy and independence for both roommates.
John D’Ambrogio, a spokesman for The Apartment People, a Chicago apartment locating service, believes such layouts provide roommates with the best of both worlds.
“You have the typical advantages in roommate situations of sharing the rent and utilities,” he says. “But if you’re on opposite sides of the apartment and aren’t sharing a bathroom, you have more independence. It maximizes the advantages and minimizes the inconveniences of a shared apartment.”
No shared walls
For roommates with very different sleeping schedules, the benefits of isolated bedrooms are considerable. “What’s nice is you don’t share a wall,” says Debbie Maue, managing broker with Chicago’s Visual Properties apartment locating service. “The division allows roommates as much privacy as possible in a limited amount of space.” Of course, roommate splits-which are often termed “two-bedroom splits”-aren’t just for roommates. The advantages of separation also have made them popular with couples who want to designate one bedroom as a home office suitable for late night work.
Couples who rent and have teenage children are also prime candidates for splits. “I’ve had families take these units because the parents didn’t want to listen to the kid’s music late at night,” says Andrea Carnes, property manager at Clover Creek Apartments in Lombard, which has 124 of what she calls two-bedroom roommate splits.
“I’ve even had two couples move into this type of apartment in cases where they couldn’t each afford an apartment of their own.”
About the only disadvantage of splits is in situations in which a couple uses the other bedroom as a baby’s room. Though they’re farther from their newborn, the problem can be remedied by installation of an audio monitoring system.
Splits tend to be about the same approximate size as more traditional two-bedroom apartments, with many falling within the 975- to 1,100-square-foot range.
And though renters might expect to pay more for the separation a split provides, in some cases splits rent for the same or even lower prices than traditional two-bedroom, two-bath units in the same apartment complexes or communities.
Clover Creek, which opened to its first tenants in 1986 and was completed in 1988, has, in addition to the 124 splits, three other two-bedroom layouts, all of the traditional design. Not surprisingly, the split is the most popular two-bedroom.
The 1,050-square-foot apartments, which rent for $915 a month, go beyond most splits to eliminate even the debate over who gets the bigger bedroom. Both bedrooms are the same size (10 1/2 by 14 feet), have identical walk-in closets and identical bathrooms. “With this floor plan, you’re both equal,” Carnes says. “One roommate doesn’t have to give up anything to the other. Even the windows are the same size. It’s very democratic.”
Worlds apart
John McCarthy and Mike Babb, who share an apartment at Clover Creek, were among those who eagerly snapped up a split last year.
“We looked at tons of apartments before settling on this one,” says McCarthy, 28, a computer software salesman for a company in nearby Oakbrook Terrace. “What sold us on this was the split. You have your own bathroom, your own closets, and you can lead separate lives. It’s like having a roommate and yet not having one.”
Babb, 25, who works at the same company, enjoys the notion of occasionally putting space between himself and his roommate-especially when his fiancee is over. “If he’s in his room with the door closed and I’m in mine, neither one of us can hear the other one,” he notes.
Another suburban rental community offering roommate splits is The Pointe in Arlington Heights. Some two-thirds of the two-bedroom units at the community are classic roommate splits, with living room, dining room and kitchen separating the two bedrooms, each of which has its own adjoining bathroom.
The remaining one-third of the units are more traditional two-bedroom units, although even these do not share a wall. The bedrooms in this floor plan are separated by a hallway with closet space.
“The split is much more popular than the other two-bedroom unit,” says Brian Paulsen, property manager of The Pointe. “The privacy it offers is really appealing to roommates. They have their own space, where they can watch late-night TV or play music without disturbing their roommate.”
The Pointe, which opened in 1990, rents splits for $950 to $960, depending on the floor and the view. The price is actually lower than for the traditional units, which are a bit larger. All the splits range in size from 975 to 1,017 square feet.
At the 34-story Gold Coast Galleria, a 4-year-old apartment building in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, half of the 108 two-bedroom units are roommate splits, according to services coordinator Vicki Hill.
Separated by a large living room, the two bedrooms in the approximately 1,100-square-foot units are very similar, but not identical, in size. The splits are the same price as the traditional two-bedroom apartments, ranging in price from $1,331 to $1,450, depending on the floor and the view.
Far from boxy
Perhaps the most unusual split is to be found at Asbury Plaza on North Dearborn Street in Chicago, where units are not rectangular but an elongated polygon design. The bedrooms are situated as far apart as possible on the extreme outer corners of the apartments, separated by bathrooms, kitchen and living/dining areas.
The 32 splits in the 33-story, 14-year-old high-rise start at $1,300 and go up nominally with each ascending floor, says Barbara Stumfoll, Asbury Plaza property manager.
Splits are termed “deluxe two-bedroom apartments” at Evanston Place, a nine-story building on Chicago Avenue in Evanston. That lofty designation has much to do with the fact that the splits are all on the east side of the building-and have views of Lake Michigan. The traditional two-bedroom units, on the other hand, are on the west side overlooking the city.
Waiting list
According to Karen Long, Evanston Place leasing director, the building offers 18 traditional two-bedroom units and only eight of the deluxe splits.
There’s a waiting list for the latter, with several spots on the list made up of those already renting the traditional two-bedroom units.
Evanston Place currently rents the 1,050-square-foot deluxe units for $1,800, as compared to $1,500 for the other two-bedroom apartments. Set at opposite corners of the corner apartments, the bedrooms are separated by the living room, kitchen, dining room and balcony.
Evidently, the roommate split is a concept whose time has come. And those renters who like their own space yet need a roommate are glad it has.
As Clover Creek resident Babb jokes: “If John and I ever did get sick of one another, we really wouldn’t have to see each other.”
