Coliving
Your own room. Shared everything else.
A private room with your own key, shared space that somebody else maintains, and one weekly number instead of six monthly ones.
What coliving means once you strip out the marketing
Coliving describes a simple trade: your bedroom is private, some of the rest is shared, and an operator runs the building so that the shared part actually works. Everything else - the branding, the community language, the events calendar - is optional decoration on top of that trade.
At Seton Residence the private part is your room. The shared part is a kitchen, a laundry room, a lounge and a courtyard. The operator part is weekly housekeeping, security and a single point of contact when something breaks.
How it compares with the two obvious alternatives
Against a flatshare, the difference is liability and maintenance. In a shared apartment you are usually on the lease with people you did not choose, responsible for their share if they leave, and collectively responsible for a kitchen nobody owns. Here you rent from the building, the agreement is yours alone, and the shared rooms are cleaned because that is somebody's job.
Against a studio apartment, the difference is what you give up and what you get back. A studio gives you a kitchen of your own. It also asks for a twelve-month lease, a deposit, a broker, furniture and separate utility accounts. Coliving trades the private kitchen for weekly terms, a furnished room and one inclusive rate.
Which trade is right depends almost entirely on how long you are staying and whether you cook. Both are legitimate answers.
The shared kitchen, stated plainly
There is no stove or oven in any room. Rooms have a mini-fridge, a microwave and a kettle, and real cooking happens in the communal kitchen.
This is the defining constraint of the format and the thing most worth being honest about. If you cook most nights and want to do it privately, a studio apartment will suit you better. If you cook a few times a week and would rather not furnish a flat for a five-month stay, the trade works.
What the building brings to it
Sixty-one rooms across six floors in a 1931 building on East 40th Street, renovated in 2010, which operated for decades as the Seton Hotel. The layout is the reason the format works here - it was built for stays rather than converted into them.
Grand Central is four minutes away, which is the practical difference between shared living that feels central and shared living that is simply cheaper. The address scores 98 for walking and 100 for transit.
- Deluxe Room - $525 a week, shared bathroom
- Studio Basic - $650 a week, en-suite
- King Studio - $745 a week, en-suite, shareable as a twin
In this part of the guide
Common questions
- Is my room private?
- Yes. The room is yours. The Deluxe shares a bathroom with two or three other residents; the Studio Basic and King Studio are en-suite. The kitchen, lounge, laundry and courtyard are shared by the building.
- What is shared in the building?
- A communal kitchen, a laundry room, a lounge and a courtyard, all maintained by the building rather than by residents.
- How is this different from a flatshare?
- You rent from the building rather than joining someone's lease, so there is no joint liability, no co-signer and no dependence on a housemate paying their share. Shared areas are cleaned as part of the operation.
- Can I cook?
- In the communal kitchen, yes. Rooms have a mini-fridge, a microwave and a kettle but no stove or oven.
The rooms
Weekly rates, all utilities and housekeeping included. Seven-night minimum.
The rest of the guide
Enquire
Tell us your dates
Send the dates and the room you want. You will get availability and a full quote back, normally the same working day.
- Phone
- 1-929-630-2212
- Address
- 144 East 40th Street, New York, NY 10016