Before he was the president of the United States, before meeting Michelle Obama, and before Harvard Law School, Barack Obama was an undergrad with roommates at Columbia University. And now, according to People magazine, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom Manhattan apartment where he lived while studying political science there in the ’80s is on the market for $1.45 million. The Morningside Heights pad is a short five-minute walk from campus, situated on a quiet residential block. The unit is one of 39 in a co-op apartment that used to rent out to university students; it’s unclear when the building was converted into condos, and what amenities were and were not offered to students at the time. Presently, the unit includes a laundry machine and dryer (a priceless bonus for any college student), and the building has a live-in superintendent and elevator.
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The apartment boasts a well-lit eat-in kitchen with a cozy nook. The main bedroom suite has its own bathroom and generously proportioned closet, while two other bedrooms share a full bathroom and are located off the living room. According to the New York Post, the building has been home to other famous residents as well: A plaque outside the landmarked six-story building confirms that filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille lived there between 1906 and 1913.
Obama, who recently released his memoir, A Promised Land, lived in several other spots in New York during and following his formative college years, including another apartment in Morningside Heights and a townhouse in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.