Co-living start-up Common expands in Brooklyn with market-rate rentals

UPDATE: Common’s largest co-living space so far, Common Baltic, in Boerum Hill is now open, and the company is expecting anywhere between 135-140 residents. The building features 70 co-living homes, and 67 studios and one-bedrooms.

“As Common has grown, we’ve found that more and more people want to live in community, even if they want more private space,” Brad Hargreaves, the founder of Common, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re so excited to expand our community-driven living to a broader group of people with Common Baltic.”

Now check out a host of images for the interiors of this space including images of the roof deck, the building’s two lounges, the gym, and some finished apartments.

Grid View

Common is expanding its Brooklyn empire even further with the co-living start-up company announcing this week that it was partnering with real estate firm Adam America on a new project in Boerum Hill.

In the largest project they’ve taken on yet, Common is expanding from its co-living model to include private studios and one-bedroom apartments at this new development known as Baltic.

They will still maintain their shared living spaces, but Common is also looking at more robust options as the co-living market continues to expand, a conversation with the Wall Street Journal revealed.

The Baltic will be able to accommodate up to 140 residents with rents starting at $2,000/month for the shared spaces, $2,825/month for a studio, and $3,295/month for a one-bedroom apartment.

For the shared living spaces, residents will get their apartments fully furnished (including bed linen), and regardless of whether you have a private apartment or not, all the floors here come with “House Leaders,”—like resident advisors, but here instead of monitoring you, they’re really just trying to get people to socialize. The house leaders tend to encourage organizing events like potlucks and movie nights.

All the residences will come equipped with WiFi, gas, electricity, a washer, and a dryer, and residents will have access to a large rooftop deck, bike storage, lockers, and parking.

Residents opting for the private living facilities here will have access to the services provided to the shared spaces as well including weekly cleaning, household goods restocking, and furnishing services. One of the principals at Adam America Real Estate told the WSJ that should this model not work out, they had designed the building in such a way that the shared living spaces could be converted into three bedrooms.

Some of their residences from other developments in Brooklyn.

Apart from this development, which will start welcoming its first tenants in January, Common has buildings in Crown Heights and Williamsburg. Outside of New York they have two spaces in San Francisco, and they’re set to add new homes in Crown Heights next year. A part of their rapid expansion has to do with the fact that they’ve already received over 120,00 application for their existing inventory of 120 rooms.

• Common Living to Partner on 140-Resident Building in Brooklyn [WSJ]
• Common, NYC's Latest Co-Living Start-Up, Expands Its Brooklyn Footprint [Curbed]