roy

A universal experience that most college grads go through is "The Loneliness." For four years, college students are constantly surrounded by their peers, and when you leave... you suddenly go, "where the hell did everybody go?"

I think this loneliness is partially to blame for the rash of marriages that occur within 4 years after college graduation - you think to yourself, "Man I'm never really going to meet more people" and you end up trying to make that one relationship fill the void of many relationships (I think that everybody needs some of the superficial relationships that pepper a typical college experience). Maybe that's why we have such a high divorce rate.

In any case, the general consensus among my friends is, "Man, I love being independent, having my own apartment, and making money ... but I wish I could spend more time with people my age."

So I was wondering why there hadn't been apartments (and correct me if this already exists) specifically geared towards young professionals. That is to say, that the only people who can are allowed to rent are young professionals (although that definition can be stretched, cause there's no reason why you'd exclude graduate students; perhaps it would be geared for anybody 21 - 30). Let's not worry about the specifics of that - generally what we want are vibrant, educated people within the 21-30 age demographic.

The set-up would be like most apartments - you would have one or two "roommates," but the common areas would be set-up to faciliate some sort of interaction between "floormates." I think this concept is generally lacking in most apartments - I think it's very rare that you ever have a chance to casually interact with your other apartment-mates. I envision on each floor a huge "reading" room with couches and desks set-up for any "down" reading/writing time (which is something I find a lot of people like to do). Perhaps you can also wire that common room with wireless Internet so people have an incentive to use the room (dont' got Internet at your place? Just go to the common room!). The apartments could come pre-furnished as well, because realistically, who has the time to go shopping to furnish a bedroom in an apartment for a job that they won't hold for more than a few years?

I just think there needs to be a more casual way to meet your peers without the pressures of seeming like OH MY GOD I'M NEVER GOING TO MEET SOMEONE AGAIN LET ME CLING ON TO THE FIRST PERSON WHO IS REMOTELY GOOD AND ISN'T BORING. At my apartment complex, people would have a group of peers to socialize with and hang with after a hard's day work, setup in such a way that it's not weird ("Oh hey, you're in the common area too! What are ya doing? Crosswords? I LOVE crosswords!")

And hey, people at my apartment complex would get complementary Tabulas patron accounts.

If that's not a great business idea, I don't know what is.

And if you're wondering why I can never get to sleep, it's because ideas like this always pop up right before I'm about to drift off to Neverland, and I always have to think about it for a while.