The GrandMarc at Westberry Place leasing manager Marcus Martin compares living in the newly opened apartment-style residence hall to taking a tropical cruise.

Well, almost. Despite the distinct lack of an ocean view on the southeast end of the TCU campus, the analogy is apt. GrandMarc – a partnership between TCU and Dallas-based developer/property manager Phoenix Property Co. – amounts to living in an apartment on campus.

Filling a block between Berry and W. Bowie Streets, the GrandMarc boasts all-inclusive amenities like fully furnished rooms that include a washer and dryer, high-speed Internet and satellite TV. Plus, residents – exclusive to students (except freshmen), faculty or staff of TCU – can hang out in several common areas: the game room, complete with air hockey and shuffleboard tables; video games and a big-screen TV; the movie room, with its wall-sized screen; the pool, with its spa and hot tub and a gas grill; the 24-hour gym with treadmills and a weight room; and the study area with mini-conference rooms where students can gather to work on group assignments.

The complex, done in traditional TCU brick and Spanish-style tiles, will also house a first-floor public retail center. Tenants already signed on are Perrotti’s Pizza, Starbucks, Citibank and Paciugo, an Italian gelato franchise. Several additional tenants could be announced soon.

The GrandMarc helps fulfill the University’s goal of housing more students on campus. The complex also provides an anchor for the reconstructed Berry Street. The street will be narrower with tree-lined center medians to make it more pedestrian and shopper friendly.

GrandMarc units are available in one- to four-bedroom units in a variety of sizes. Students pay individually, meaning they aren’t dependent on other roommates to lease a bedroom in a unit. In every layout, roommates each have their own private bedroom and bathroom.

GrandMarc by the numbers

• 1,814 square feet in the largest four-bedroom unit
• 644 bedrooms in the GrandMarc
• 597 square feet in the smallest one- bedroom unit
• 340 bedrooms under lease
• 65 percent female residents
• 54 dollars more a month, on average, to live in GrandMarc rather than in a TCU residence hall
• 6 stories tall on the Berry Street side
• 5 stories tall on the Bowie Street side
• 2 courtyards, one with a fountain and one with a pool and spa
• 0 freshmen allowed to live in GrandMarc