First Ground-Up Co-Living Project Comes to L.A.

Co-living brand Treehouse is breaking ground on a large-scale co-living concept in Hollywood, eponymously named Treehouse Hollywood. The project is the first ground-up, large-scale co-living concept in the market, which has been plagued by a housing shortage. Treehouse Hollywood will accommodate 60 to 70 residents and will include entertainment and professional amenities, like recording studios for podcasters and musicians.

“Treehouse Hollywood is the first purpose-built, ground-up, co-living development to open in the United States,” Prophet Walker, co-founder and CEO of Treehouse, tells GlobeSt.com. “We took that to heart, and we’ve created a truly new, kind way of living. Everything about the building, and our company, is designed to facilitate community and kindness. Our vision is to make the modern world less lonely and isolating, to create a community of people who live fuller lives by living those lives together. We think that is particularly important in a city as sprawling as L.A.”

While L.A. in general has a high demand for housing and alternative living concepts, Treehouse is particularly bullish on the Hollywood market. “We chose to launch our first Treehouse in Hollywood for a number of reasons,” Brent Gaisford, co-founder and CFO at Treehouse, tells GlobeSt.com. “For one, the subway and other transit options connect the area to the rest of L.A. It’s also a huge employment center, we’re walking distance to some of L.A’s leaders in creativity—Netflix, Technicolor, United Recording and Emerson College, among others. Hollywood has incredible nightlife, restaurants and things to do. Most importantly, it attracts people who share our values—people who dream about making something new, something better, something no one has seen before.”

Co-living is a new concept and still in its earlier growth stages, particularly in Los Angeles; however, many see the model as fulfilling both the housing and lifestyle needs of younger generations, both millennials and gen-Z. “In general, co-living has two possible goals – convenience and community,” Walker. “We’ve taken a different path than the other co-living companies by focusing on creating community.” Co-living isn’t only a shared living space but a professionally managed space as well that takes care of common shared roommate needs, like utilities and essential household supplies. “There are some choices that can achieve both objectives, for instance, including utilities and Wi-Fi in the rent,” says Walker. “That’s both convenient and achieves community, because it is one less friction point between people sharing space. Then there are decisions where you really have to pick a side, for instance, lease length.”

According to Walker, these options set Treehouse apart from other co-living models. “Other co-living companies are offering shorter leases, sometimes as short as one night. We’re instead offering yearlong leases, because you can’t be a true community without allowing the time and space to get to know each other,” adds Walker.

In addition, co-living also supports density and housing needs. “L.A. has been underproducing housing for more than thirty years,” says Gaisford. “At this point, we’re more than half a million units behind, and the rent keeps rising as a result. That is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. While Treehouse will certainly add units to the city, unfortunately, we don’t see a long-term solution happening without major legislative change.”

With both demand for housing and a shift in the culture of how people live, there is good reason to see why co-living could work well, particularly in urban markets. Treehouse is certainly bullish on the demand drivers. “We think co-living is the future of housing,” says Walker. “In the U.S., we’ve spent the last 60 years putting ourselves in increasing isolation with sprawling suburbs and picket fences. At this point, the verdict is in—it isn’t making us happy. Paired with the rise of the internet and social media, that isolation has created a lack of understanding due to a lack of dialogue. Co-living is one of the solutions to those issues, encouraging residents to engage and know their neighbors.”