575 Commonwealth Avenue

575 Commonwealth Avenue is a dormitory at Boston University. Until 2001 the building was a Howard Johnson hotel owned by the University. It is located in Kenmore Square next to the Rafik B. Hariri Building, which houses the Boston University School of Management.

Contents

Layout

The dorm is coeducational, and houses 456 residents on six residential floors. It lacks a dining facility; residents must eat at one of the six on-campus dining locations (the nearest being Towers). However, residents do enjoy a number of amenities that are unusual for dormitory style housing, owing to the building’s previous life as a hotel. These include air conditioning and private bathrooms for each room.

Most rooms are triple occupancy, with very few double and single occupancy rooms also found throughout.

Nicknames

While the University officially refers to the facility as "575 Commonwealth Avenue," students sometimes shorten this to simply "575," but almost exclusively call it "the HoJo," in reference to its previous use.

Parking

The building is constructed over a dual-tiered parking garage. Under normal circumstances these parking areas are reserved for staff members with the proper permit, the University also sells spaces during baseball season when there are home games at nearby Fenway Park.

Hostel Use

During the summer months 575 is leased by Hostelling International as a destination for tourism. It is known as the Fenway Summer Hostel