BU dorm offers a study in luxury

The Boston Globe reports:

From the 26th floor of Boston’s newest high-rise, residents are treated to a sweeping view encompassing the historic Bunker Hill monument, the gilded dome of the State House, the majestic Harbor Islands, and the jets alighting and ascending from the distant airport. Just below, sailboats and rowing shells silently glide along the Charles River.

Despite the million-dollar vista, this is not the penthouse suite of a four-star hotel or a luxury condominium in the Back Bay. It’s the common room of a Boston University dorm, perhaps the most opulent residence hall to ever grace the local college landscape. Name tags taped to students’ doors say it all: “Skyview from the Center of the BUniverse.’’

“Sometimes I miss the elevator because I’m too busy looking out the window,’’ said Rina Beyda, a junior from Los Angeles and one of just 14 students lucky enough to land a room on the 25th floor, the highest residential level.

The view is not the only amenity. So luxurious is the 960-bed dorm that parents’ jaws dropped in disbelief when they helped their children move in last week. The suites of singles and doubles, with elegantly furnished common rooms, large private baths, walk-in closets, and floor-length mirrors, resemble nothing like what older generations remember of their college housing - sterile cinder-block boxes with institutional bunk beds and a communal bathroom down the hall.

Where would BU luxury dorms be without federal tax dollars?