Home & Living

In Their Wheelhouse

The co-living concept has arrived in Baltimore.

In recent years, people interested in moving to South Baltimore had two primary rental options—apartments or rowhomes. But in September, the 28 Walker Development team added a new alternative to the mix with Baltimore’s first co-living apartment building, Wheelhouse.

This sleek property on South Charles Street allows residents to rent by the room in one of its 29 furnished apartments, ranging from studio to four-bedrooms, which come equipped with everything from a flat-screen TV to a silverware set.

Similar to co-living spaces in other cities, residents are encouraged to interact with one another in Wheelhouse’s common areas, including a coworking space and a shared kitchen.

“Living in a studio or a one-bedroom apartment can be challenging for young people today because they are pretty pricey, and while you can usually find an affordable room within a rowhouse, you have to have a group of people ready to rent together,” says Scott Slosson, director of development for 28 Walker. “We created a rental product that was a hybrid of the upside of both South Baltimore options.”

That being said, all of Wheelhouse’s perks, including a bike for every resident, come at a price, as the cost of a private bed and bathroom lease runs between $797 and $1,117. Slosson says the concept is marketed toward renters like Maame Aba, one of the building’s original tenants, who had recently moved to Baltimore and was looking for a built-in social community.

Wheelhouse hosts weekly events ranging from fitness classes to whiskey tastings for its tight-knit group of residents to connect. “[Wheelhouse] is, and has, the potential to be a great social living place for like-minded people,” Aba says.

As of January, the building was filled to about 40 percent capacity. 28 Walker is building a second co-living location in the development across from The Shops at Canton Crossing, testing another neighborhood full of high rental prices and millennial renters. “We want to be responsive to the changing ways that people live and work, and our hope is that [Wheelhouse] hits the sweet spot,” Slosson says.