Most people aren’t able to shoot like Michael Jordan, never mind soar through the air like he used to in his playing days. But they’ll have a chance to see how he lived as a student during his years at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Graduate Hotels will soon be opening a new room in its Chapel Hill, North Carolina, location called The Jordan Suite. It will be a replica of Jordan’s dorm room, where guests can stay.
There’s a well-known photo of the dorm room that was shown in a 1983 edition of Sports Illustrated that featured Jordan and his former teammate Sam Perkins on the cover.
The suite is appropriately numbered 23 after Jordan’s jersey. There will be a pair of sneakers that he wore in 1983 inside, along with his student identification card and a $5 check that he received after winning at pool.
“The room is an identical replica,” said Ben Weprin, Graduate Hotels CEO. “From the ceiling, to the brick wall, to the record player and records, the posters, the pennants —every single piece in that room, we have it.”
“We thought it would be a fun way to pay homage to him,” he further explained. “It is like going back in time, trying to get in the head of Michael Jordan. He was a normal kid, even though he is an icon now.”
Weprin is the same person who partnered with LeBron James last year to provide temporary housing for the Los Angeles Lakers star’s I Promise School in Akron, Ohio.
Together, the CEO and I Promise bought a historic building and renovated 20 units. The building is called “I Promise Village and located just walking distance from the school. It’s expected to be opened by this summer.
The Jordan Suite is scheduled to open a little after that in the fall.
Jordan played at the University of North Carolina from 1981-1984. He left school for the NBA after his junior season but returned in 1986 to complete a bachelor’s degree in geography.
