Calling all travel junkies, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and digital nomads who want to live in a community with social impact. Here And Now, a brand-new co-living company, is opening their first building in the heart of Bushwick, with the intention to bring together a thriving community of like-minded individuals who care about making a difference in the world.
“Our community is geared toward people who want to live with an impact,” Avi Mermelstein from Here And Now told Bushwick Daily. At Here And Now in Bushwick, you’ll likely end up living with similarly focused roommates and neighbors who are there to enrich each others’ lives. Unlike other co-living buildings that often include as many as 200 apartments, Here And Now is small and actually cares about its people. At their Evergreen Avenue building in Bushwick, you’ll live with only 17 other people. There are six apartments with three bedrooms in each.
Additionally, Here And Now’s community manager and co-founder Kayley Sweeney, who herself is an avid traveller and has tons of social impact experience, will organize weekly communal dinners, catered by local chefs, for all the tenants where you can catch up and truly build lasting relationships.
We also love that Here And Now supports entrepreneurs, and most of their furniture is sourced from artisans. Additionally, 10 percent of the company’s profit is loaned through a lending platform called Kiva to low-income entrepreneurs, many of whom are located in third world countries.
Of course, all of the apartments come beautifully furnished and include a comfy Casper mattress and central air conditioning. The building even has a co-working space with work stations and cold brew and kombucha on tap.
The rent starts at $1,400 and includes literally everything from high-speed internet, electricity, and Apple TV. Thanks to their partnership with Brooklyn Bikes, you’ll even get a bike to explore Brooklyn on wheels. Get ready to be spoiled by complimentary housekeeping and weekly wash and fold. Honestly, all of this sounds like heaven!
Here And Now strives to build a more just and transparent rental system as well.
“The rental system benefits the landlords’ pockets, not the tenants lifestyle,” Avi explained to Bushwick Daily. “We’re not our parents and working at PWC for 20 years. We’re nomadic in all aspects of our lives and the rental product needs to reflect that.”
Of course, Avi is right. Bushwick landlords require that you commit to an apartment for 12 months and that you submit three pay-stubs showing you make 40 times as much as your monthly rent. You can imagine the type of person the rental system favors: a full-time-employed person committed to life in NYC. There’s nothing wrong with being that person, but what if you’re a freelancer or an entrepreneur whose income comes in invoices paid by your clients, and you can work from Bushwick one month and from Berlin the next? You might run into a trouble, especially if there’s one landlord making the decision.
Luckily, Here And Now gets it. They offer flexible leasing. Also the vetting system for tenants is much more chill. There’s an in-person interview process where you can see if you’re the right fit for the community and vice versa.
As far the co-founders of Here And Now, Avi Mermelstein, Jack Lipman, and Kaley Sweeney go, you can trust they are in it for the right reasons. Avi and Jack have previously worked in real estate (Kaley in arts) and became disillusioned by the role of real estate in the society. “We were part of the problem,” Avi said. But by building the co-living communities, they hope to democratize real estate and to give people the rental product that allows them to be the best versions of themselves.
The new Here And Now building in Bushwick opens any day now. Don’t hesitate and fill out their application ASAP or email [email protected]