Dorm-like ‘coliving’ apartment building planned in Northern Liberties

German real estate company Medici Living Group plans so-called coliving apartments with communal kitchens and bathrooms over an Alex Rodriguez-backed fitness studio at the former site of a beer distributor in Northern Liberties.

Medici, of Berlin, has a lease to operate the six-story building under construction at Germantown Avenue and North American Street as apartments under its Quarters coliving brand, it said in a release on Monday.

Medici already operates Quarters locations in New York and Chicago. Its Philadelphia expansion comes after a $300 million investment that also will allow the company to open new locations in cities such as Washington D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles, it said.

The Philadelphia project will consist of 186 units across 74 shared two- and four-bedroom flats, of 550- and 1,064-square-feet, respectively, it said. Residents — or “members,” in the company’s parlance — share kitchens and bathroom. Other communal spaces include a roof deck, lounge, espresso bar, and shared offices, it said.

The building is being developed by an ownership group that includes Philadelphia businesswoman Dana Spain, who had previously planned a more conventional apartment project with fewer units at what used to be the site of the Global Beer Distribution beer store.

The project is also to include a branch of Las Vegas-based fitness chain TruFusion, which counts former New York Yankee star Rodriguez among its financial backers. The fitness club will be on the building’s ground floor and in part of its basement, which Spain said would be a “yoga sanctuary."