If you’re charging $1,350 for a bunk bed, you better have a heck of a pitch to go with it. Cue Serendipia Nest, a live/work startup in North Beach advertising for tenants to "solve humanity’s problems," "work with the United Nations," and "triple [their] level of productivity."
That is indeed quite a pitch. In a more material sense, what you’re renting is a single crash spot in a four-bed, two-bath house at 717 Union, right around the corner from Washington Square Park. "Prices start at $1,350/bed," says the Craigslist ad. "We stay in shared rooms, San Francisco-style."
Much of the house is workspace—utilities and "sleeping pods" included—with the communal atmosphere touted as another plus. There are ten residents already. The house advertises Draper University, the startup program founded by Tim "Six Californias" Draper, as a partner, and the house COO is an alum.
So is this just another hacker hostel? Well, they seem to fancy themselves an entrepreneurial brand; in fact, they’re apparently planning to start up a parallel community in Dubai soon.
Most of the residents are indeed members of the young tech set, although the present suite includes a writer and a resident "anarchist" too, and they’re keen to advertise their interest in attracting artists as well as Silicon Valley faithful.
But yes, the tech-set vibe is pretty strong with this one. Earlier in August, for example, they hosted "Fuck-Up Nights," a meet-up where everyone got together to kvetch and bond over their past missteps, in the style of Failcon.
The house itself is a flat in a larger, six-unit 1910 Edwardian building with a gorgeous (if a bit weathered) facade that you’ve probably noticed without realizing it when you’re in the neighborhood. The building last sold to an LLC in December (and it seems we’ve now cleared up the mystery of who that was) for some $3.3 million.
Young people crashing in communal living situations is hardly anything new in San Francisco, even ten or 20 to a house. (Remember that Millennial commune in Alamo Square back in July?) The only thing that really makes a place like this stand out, other than the Silicon Valley leanings, is the price.
But $1,350 is roughly 40 percent of the cost of a one bedroom apartment in the city these days, and North Beach is not exactly a discount neighborhood. And we guess it would probably be naïve to expect a house of budding entrepreneurs to charge less than the market rate, wouldn’t it?
- Serendipia Nest
- Nest ad [Craigslist]
- Six Californias Deep Sixed [Curbed SF]
- 717-723 Union Street [UrbanGroup]
- Fuck-Up Nights [Eventbrite]
- Failcon Succeeds [Wired]
- Millennial Commune, Lots of Hugs [Curbed SF]
- Map: Rents Refuse to Fall [Curbed SF]
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