Imagine looking out your window and seeing a bustling green landscape unfold below you.

Ryan Charbonneau can see this every morning from his seventh floor penthouse apartment in Holden Hall.

The communication senior is a resident in one of Holden’s four seventh-floor apartments.

Although located in the residence halls, the apartments offer students options not found in the typical dorm rooms.

The most striking feature of the room is the roof-top patio, which is accessible through the living room. It provides a view of most of campus, including the Spartan Stadium.

Charbonneau said friends join him after tailgates during the fall to watch the game on television.

“We watched the football games on the patio, we could hea rand see the crowd,” he said. “We barbecue all the time.”

A kitchenette is located near the entrance of the room. It includes a stove and refrigerator so the residents can cook their own food. Unlike other residents, they are not required to sign up for a meal plan.

The apartment has a living room and one bedroom in addition to the bathroom.

Psychology senior Dave DeMercado also lives in the apartment.

“The convenience of being on campus but not living in a dorm room, actually having an apartment, is great,” he said.

The former Hubbard Hall resident assistant says he has the best of both worlds. DeMercado said he is close to classes but can still cook his own food and enjoy other features of an apartment.

DeMercado explains why most residents have never been on the seventh floor of the building.

“We have to walk up a flight of stairs. We can’t take the elevator all the way up,” he said.

DeMercado said the walk is the biggest downfall of the apartment.

Holden Hall Manager Marcia Evans said the apartments are awarded to applicants with the most seniority in Holden Hall.

“Many of the underclassmen are unaware the seventh floor apartments exist,” Evans said. “For the upperclassmen, they wait for that chance, and it is very exciting for them.”

Although they live in an apartment, residents can have an opportunity to take advantage of what Holden Hall offers to all residents.

“They have the (cafeteria) food if they want it, maintenance is right on hand and they still live in the residence halls,” Evans said.

The current cost for the apartment is $2,444 per semester and the maximum amount of occupants is two. All utilities are included, except long distance telephone service. The cost could increase next year, Evans said.

The apartment option was appealing to some current Holden residents.“I think it would be too complicated off campus and getting to class would be difficult,” landscape architecture sophomore Nicole Skubick said.

She is returning to Holden next year and a penthouse apartment could allow her to keep her current habits in the future.

“I like being on campus because I like to walk to class and how my car is near Holden,” Skubick said.

Cheaper costs, larger living area and more personal space are reasons biology freshman Joe Gaiefsky is considering moving off campus.

“Apartments could provide for some of these needs, but they were too expensive,” he said.

Despite being on campus, the Holden apartments would not meet Gaiefsky’s housing needs, he said.

Akers Hall offers a similar program, Akers Hall Manager Bob Asmann said. There are 20 apartments available there, two in each elevator lobby.

Asmann said students with seniority enjoy the option.

“It keeps them close to the classroom, close to other students and a lot of them are involved in hall government and groups like that,” he said.