This is not what I expected for $1,600.

I’m standing in the middle of my new bedroom, which is a small white box measuring about seven by 12 feet with a double bed, Ikea side table, small dresser, light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and a metal air-duct pipe ominously poking out from the ceiling over my bed, looking ready to pour its contents onto my face while I sleep. A scratchy towel is folded and placed at the end of the bed.

I’m still standing there holding my wheely suitcase, when a guy scooches around me to put the final touch on the scene: a piece of notebook paper, tented, with “Welcome, Alden!” scribbled on it in marker. He places this on the towel and says, “Sorry, we usually do that before you arrive!”

I’m at Pure House, a so-called millennial commune in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. It’s one of several millennial communes currently operating or under construction in New York City. One commune in the Financial District, The Loft, seems to revolve around drinking and other bro-tastic activities. Pure House sounds a bit more like me. It offers the opposite: fresh juice, discounts on activities like yoga at its event space in Williamsburg, plus spontaneous dinners and brunches in a positive community of like-minded, creative people.