Inside the new 'co-living' space where San Franciscans pay $2,600 for maid service and new friends

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

How do you make sure a residential building where a dozen co-eds eat, sleep, work, and play doesn't feel like a college dorm? "Co-living" startup Common is on a mission to find out.

The Brooklyn-based company, founded in 2015, operates a chain of fully furnished apartments where tenants, mostly young professionals and creatives, can rent bedrooms for varying lengths of time. Residents share common spaces like kitchens, living rooms, and even a roof deck, and participate in community events such as museum trips, bowling, and Sunday night dinners. The toilet paper is always in stock, and HBO GO streaming is ready-to-go upon move-in.

Common is a sweet solution for city transplants — if they can afford it. Rooms at Common's first San Francisco outpost, which opens this week, start at $2,600 a month.

Business Insider has the exclusive look inside Common's new San Francisco building.

Common's newest building is a 12-bedroom, 12-bath walk-up in San Francisco's up and coming (read: fast-gentrifying) SoMa neighborhood.

Leases are flexible, and can last as few as three months or up to 12. There are only a few rooms still available at Common's newest location.

Unlike traditional dorms, Common's bedrooms are all single-occupancy (though couples may share a room). The rooms look straight out of a West Elm catalog.