Crown Heights co-living rockets out of the starting gate

Wow. Common reported via Twitter Tuesday that it received 150 applications in the first week for its 19-bed complex in Crown Heights:

150 applications in our first weekend being live at http://t.co/2mgIcIbq4c. Whoa!

— Common (@hicommon) September 15, 2015

Demand like this is a tremendously good sign for the company, particularly since the questions leading up to its launch were about whether there would be that demand for $1,000+ bedrooms in Crown Heights. An earlier iteration of co-living, Campus, in San Francisco and New York, closed earlier this year for lack of demand.
Common is the project of Brad Hargreaves, who cofounded General Assembly. He left earlier this year to start the co-living company, which in July secured more than $7 million in funding.
“We’re very excited about the reception we’ve gotten in the five days since our site went live,” Hargreaves said via DM this morning. “There is clearly a need and a desire for flexible, community-centric housing. We have very long way to go but it’s a great initial signal.”
The rents at Common will be between $1,000 and $2,000, and each member of the community will have their own bedroom. The kitchens, living rooms and common areas will be shared by everyone. Communal household products will be provided, as will cleaning services. Common will organize group events, such as a regular Friday night potluck dinner.
“One of the challenges is that these cities have a big mismatch between supply and demand for housing. I saw the New York problem first-hand,” he said in our interview from July. “Our students [at General Assembly] would come and typically wouldn’t qualify for a lease and would end up going to Craigslist and would rent a space from a stranger. Some of those are great and some were really, really bad.”