Everyone has heard about how UTM has acquired Martin Place, but what is changing? Why do students want to live there? There are relatively few changes occurring at Martin Place. One change is that in the past Martin Place did not have a policy on people of opposite sex sharing a suite, and some residents did this.

However, UTM is not allowing people of opposite sex to share a suite. Also, you won’t be able to renew your lease in August if you are not a student; only 9 or 10 people out of the currently residing 270 were not students as of March 1.

Most students’ determining factor for where they live is dependent on price, and the price at Martin Place is changing.

The current price for people wanting to live in Martin Place apartments ranges from $270 to $280 not including electricity, or telephone and Internet connections.

In the fall of 2003 the price to live at Martin Place will increase from $315 to $365 depending on your type of lease, with all utilities included except phone.

Many students have chosen to live off campus because of the privacy it provides that the dorms cannot.

In Martin Place, every suite has four private rooms and four private bathrooms, and in addition to not having any kind of visitation policy, Martin Place is off campus and alcohol is allowed on the premises since the University of Tennessee Foundation bought Martin Place, not UTM.

Moreover, Martin Place does not have Resident Assistants, and they do not plan on using them in the future.

Martin Place does have community mediators though. These people do things such as help students that get locked out, planning activities and addressing noise problems.

Martin Place has already been using these community mediators, and currently their job is more focused on marketing for Martin Place rather than monitoring the students.

The most important thing students should know about Martin Place is that there is a sense of urgency about when they turn in an application.

They do have rooms left for fall 2003, but they are expecting to fill up quick.