Corporate Housing With a Twist
Sentral, a real estate company based in Denver is one of several betting that the shift in where and how people work will pay off with short-term, tech-driven apartment leases, according to Propmodo.
"Sentral describes all three of (its newest) apartment communities as being designed with “tech-driven amenities” and services akin to “resort-style living.” Those include an exclusive membership club that offers special events and programming at the Downtown Los Angeles community; personal fitness training, a golf simulator, and putting green at the Philadelphia property; and a sky deck with a gym, pool, and club room at the Beverly Hills apartment building. The company’s resident app has services for tenants including the ability to pay rent, schedule housekeeping, order food to the apartment, and call their car from the valet. Co-working spaces at the company’s properties are also geared toward creatives and offer amenities like a podcast recording studio at a property in Pittsburgh."
“Life at Sentral is all about flexibility,” the company states on its website. “Not only are residents allowed to home-share their apartments, we give you the tools to do it successfully.” Sentral partnered with Airbnb to give residents the ability to rent out their apartments for short periods of time. Encouraging subletting is part of the company’s bid to digital nomads, typically young, urban professionals who prefer to work from anywhere—allowing them to travel more freely and split time between different cities.
The article points out there are challenges to the model including local laws and opposition from communities. The company still sees the advantages of the model.
"By offering renters at some of its properties the additional ability to sublet their apartments on Airbnb, it is appealing to a demographic that is looking for something outside of the box when it comes to housing. The number of people working from anywhere jumped significantly since before the pandemic,” the article reported.