Co-living concept might be finally taking off

Co-living may have reached its maturity phase.

The concept is less than 10 years old, but developers are now getting ready to build some of the continent’s biggest new co-living properties, indicating its growing popularity, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Starcity, a co-living startup based in San Francisco, agreed to buy a development site in San Jose, California, last week where it is planning a co-living building with 750 units. It also intends to file plans for a 270-unit co-living building in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood this week.

In New York, London-based co-living company The Collective has purchased a site in Williamsburg where it plans to build its first American project with more than 500 units.

A co-living project at 29-22 Northern Blvd in Queens

If these larger projects take off, larger investors could be more encouraged to enter the co-living market that has so far grown slower than expected. For instance, WeLive, the co-living concept that is part of WeWork, told investors in 2014 that it expected to have 69 locations by the end of 2018 but has so far completed just two.

“Co-living’s institutional moment is now upon us,” chief executive of the co-living company Ollie Chris Bledsoe told the Journal. “There’s no more flying by the seat of your pants.” [WSJ] — Eddie Small