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bathrooms, are located in the heart of downtown The beauty of WeLive, says McKelvey, is that it
Syracuse in a refurbished building. facilitates “real-life connections.” “You don’t have
to go on social media, you don’t have to plan all
Like Commonspace, WeLive, the new co-living of your interactions. Things happen
concept from the founders of WeWork, the spontaneously, and they evolve from there.”
popular co-working startup valued at an
estimated $16 billion, is also seeing whether it Can Co-Living Work?
wants to have a mix of both long-term residents Most of the aforementioned co-living spaces are
and more transient travelers.
very new and have opened within the past few
Co-founder Miguel McKelvey said, “We’re months or within the past few weeks, with the
working on It, and trying to figure out the right exception of PodShare, which turns four this year.
mix … we’re excited about the possibility of There are some doubts as to whether this type of
bringing in new people to the community and residential/temporary housing/accommodation is
seeing what they have to offer. If you have the really sustainable, and for good reason.
same 10 people around the dinner table every Not all co-living experiments have been able to
night, it may expire in terms of how interesting succeed, financially. Silicon Valley’s Campus
that is. If there’s a new person, getting that new Coliving, which was founded by Tom Currier, a
perspective is a cool addition to the equation.”
former Peter Thiel fellow (yes, that Peter Thiel, the
WeLive’s Manhattan location occupies 20 floors cofounder of PayPal and sworn enemy of
of WeWork’s Wall Street location, and the D.C- Gawker) in 2013.
area location in Arlington, Virginia, is also Campus closed in 2015 because, as Currier
connected to a current WeWork location. WeLive wrote, “Despite continued attempts to alter the
residents communicate with each other using the company’s current business model and explore
WeLive app, and all units are private. Monthly alternative ones, we were unable to make
rates for the Manhattan location begin at $1,700 Campus into an economically viable business.”
per person, and for the D.C. location, it’s $1,200 a
person. Time will tell if these businesses will be able to
thrive, but perhaps, one way for them to become
Following our interview with McKelvey, WeLive “economically viable businesses” is to look
added short-term stays for its newest Wall Street toward traditional hospitality.
location. Nightly rates range from $235 to $495
per night.

Co-working and co-living are gaining steam among millennials. Photo: Level Office

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