What Are New Yorkers Looking for in a New Apartment? A Sense of Community
As urban renters become more community-oriented, traditional apartment managers should take their cue from innovative new co-living spaces.
Over the course of the past five years, the real estate market has been inundated with millennials moving to densely-populated urban areas, namely New York and San Francisco. Faced with incredibly high rent and an impenetrable social scene, many of these young professionals find themselves missing the physical and social comforts of dorm life. To address this need, companies like Common and Krash are creating a new breed of living space, where renters not only enjoy higher quality amenities at lower cost, but also an environment designed to facilitate relationship and community building in a style reminiscent of their recent college experiences.
These new living spaces are hardly a passing fad; according to the New Yorker, in its last round of investments, Common raised more than seven million dollars towards its co-living venture. Although these spaces offer many benefits, chief among them is the sense of community they create. But what exactly are they doing to foster this sense of cohesion, and what can owners of more traditional apartment buildings learn from their ventures?
Community Building
One of the simplest ways these co-living residences foster community is by establishing functional and inviting communal spaces. In addition to communal bathrooms and kitchens, for instance, Common’s Havemeyer location in Brooklyn features shared living rooms, outdoor patios, rooftop decks, a wellness studio and an entertainment room. For the inhabitants of Havemeyer, not knowing your neighbors is not an option — although each occupant has a room of their own, every other space in this expansive Williamsburg complex is meant to be shared.
In addition to providing tenants with amenities they might not be able to afford in a studio, these shared spaces encourage a sense of community that new transplants or working professionals might not find elsewhere in the bustling city.
Although traditional apartment buildings often don’t have the infrastructure to offer communal entertainment areas or wellness studios, there are other ways to create a sense of community within the building. With the help of social media, for example, traditional apartment managers can create an online space that mimics a shared room, giving tenants a space to talk to each other, make plans, compare restaurants, and so on. Some co-living spaces utilize Slack channels, giving occupants a user-friendly way to communicate with a large group of fellow residents quickly and easily.
An app like Netaround provides a more comprehensive (and fun!) system with which to communicate and connect with neighbors. Zones can be created or joined with a specific purpose in mind, such as a Pet Lovers' or Fitness zone; then, members of the zone can use the zone feed to coordinate plans, share photos, and generally unite their otherwise isolated apartments into a much more socially accessible space.
Facilitating Interactions
Of course, the charm of co-living doesn’t end with the creation of shared spaces. WeWork, a company that’s made a name for itself in the realm of co-working spaces, has hopped on the co-living train with a project called WeLive. Located at 110 Wall Street, this beautiful building not only boasts well-furnished common spaces, but also offers Sunday night dinners, karaoke nights, and group fitness classes. Krash, which is more professionally-oriented, prides itself on its weekly speaker series, but also offers communal bread baking, dinners, and frequent day-trips organized by the company for its tenants.
Although these co-living companies tend to go above and beyond in their community-building efforts, the concept can be adapted at a smaller scale and yield similar benefits. Inviting tenants to take turns cooking a weekly dinner, for instance, or organizing something as simple as a monthly movie night might go a long way towards helping them utilize the apartment building space to its full social potential.
The takeaway here is not that traditional apartments need to mimic co-living spaces in every way. Rather, by adopting some of their values, apartment buildings can meet the needs of renters who are looking to invest in a communal experience, not just a place to sleep at night. If you lead the way by introducing a social media app like Netaround, community members will have a seamless tool to establish initial connections and foster ongoing interactions. With Netaround’s location-based approach to social networking, tenants can organize their own activities, social clubs, and events, thereby transforming a traditional building into a more community-oriented living environment.
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