Working with developer or using dev. consultants/possible site
From: C2pattee (C2patteeaol.com)
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 22:37:01 -0600 (MDT)
shelly and i are in the same group, greater hartford cohousing, but i'm 
replying from beautiful washington state, where i'm doing two things - 
listening to the seattle opera's presentation of wagner's ring cycle, and 
visiting as many of this area's fascinating cohousing communities as i can get 
to.

my feeling on this is that we should hire the 'unnamed developer' to be the 
middle man that Margaret Weatherly <martiew [at] earthlink.net so eloquently 
described.  he and his partner (think savvy, sensitive men living in an 
established cohousing community in new england)are, i feel, just what we need 
to look out for our best interests.  i also feel that the laboror is worthy of 
his hire, and wish we could get a fair payment rate established.

christine pattee


> From: "Shelly Demeo" <shelldemeo [at] home.com>
> 
> Two quick questions..
> 
> 1.  Has anyone been in this situation where they had to not continue =
> with a development consultant and self develop and instead went with a =
> developer?  Is there a WIN/WIN scenario out there for having a cohousing =
> professional and developer?
> 
> 2.  If we choose to work with this developer, who would negotiate for us =
> from a "cohousing" perspective?  Our lawyer?
> 
> It seems scary doing this without our consultant there holding our =
> hands...but to have a local developer wanting to do our project and =
> showing us a good site seems like something we should explore further. =20
> 
> Thanks again for input.
> 
> Shelly DeMeo
> Greater Hartford Cohousing
> From: Margaret Weatherly <martiew [at] earthlink.net>
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org

> A couple of quick responses: 
> I am a member of Liberty Village in Maryland, where we are developing
> our community ourselves, and have been closely involved with Takoma
> Village, where they worked with a developer.
> 
> Regardless of how you develop it, you will have to have someone "in the
> middle" representing the interests of the cohousing group to the
> developer. This would never be your lawyer. Takoma Village had a
> consultant working between the group and the developer. In our case, our
> architect is a partner and is the person between us and the builder. 
> 
> This person will always be pushed from both sides, to represent the
> cohousing group to the developer and to make the project work for the
> developer. It seems that profit margin is always a problem when building
> cohousing, because what the group wants always costs more money. It
> seems to me that that tension will always be there. 
> 
> So you have to have someone representing the group to the
> developer/builder and vice versa. You may need to pay someone to do
> this, and it needs to be someone who knows cohousing and the development
> process. Also, if you are developing yourself, you have to have someone
> who knows the development regulations, the government, zoning issues,
> etc. This has taken a long time for us and has its good and bad sides. 
> 
> Secondly, you will be setting up the development process in whichever
> way you choose, but you must also pay attention to creating relationship
> in your group and working on group cohesiveness, facilitation, meeting
> norms and consensus. This is the heart of cohousing. You may need to
> hire people who can train you in these areas. This is just as important
> as getting the houses built, because it is what we are building it for.
> Development is a challenging, rocky road and your group needs to grow
> together during the process. This has been the advantage for us in our
> long development process.
> 
> Thirdly, I would look very carefully at any professional relationship
> where someone is giving you services for free, because it is hard not to
> have strings attached that get in the way of a clear business
> relationship. Remember, you are a company building a community and you
> should always look at your actions and see if they are consistent with
> sound business practices. 
> 
> Glad to talk to you privately if you have any other questions.
> 
> I am moving into my house in two months, and it has all been well worth
> it! Martie Weatherly, Liberty Village
> martiew [at] earthlink.net
> 
> 
> 
> > Shelly Demeo wrote:
> > 
> > hello--
> > 
> > There is a non-profit developer that has been interested in our group
> > for a while and took me for a drive the other day and showed me a
> > piece of property he has.  The group is excited about the location and
> > the site would be ideal.
> > 
> > He develops mostly senior housing in the non-profit and for profit
> > sector.  He also works for Community Renewal Team, an anti-poverty
> > agency in Hartford part-time in developing housing for them.  He used
> > to work for a huge development firm here in CT called Konover.  Within
> > the last year, he started his own non-profit development corp.
> > 
> > We have actually known this developer for a while (whose name is
> > Shelly too).  Early on, we hired a cohousing development consultant
> > for a four month/10,000K contract to help us focus on cohousing
> > development, do pro forma, narrow towns, evalute sites, etc.  He
> > helped us a lot and is a great person.  Our group likes him a lot.  He
> > is also a builder and the group was definitely thinking of him
> > building the project.
> > 
> > During the four month contract period, our cohousing consultant met
> > with Shelly (the developer) to see if Konover would develop our
> > project.  Nobody from the group was at that meeting, but the gyst of
> > it was that the profit margin was too low.  This meeting happened
> > about a year ago.  Our group was disappointed.
> > 
> > Well, basically the contract ended six months ago and our cohousing
> > consultant is still investigating land pieces that the group brings to
> > him.  He says that he likes this work and he wants to continue doing
> > it for free. We haven't been too successful in finding anything.  MLS
> > stuff is not great and overpriced.  I personally am feeling a sense of
> > growing obligation because of the work he has been doing.
> > 
> > Now we are in a situation where we have a piece of land that the group
> > is excited about, a developer who has seen our pro forma that wants to
> > develop our cohousing community on this site...BUT he is saying the
> > profit margin is too low to have the cohousing consultant AND him
> > involved.  He also wants to build it modular so having our consultant
> > build the project might not work.
> > 
> > Two quick questions..
> > 
> > 1.  Has anyone been in this situation where they had to not continue
> > with a development consultant and self develop and instead went with a
> > developer?  Is there a WIN/WIN scenario out there for having a
> > cohousing professional and developer?
> > 
> > 2.  If we choose to work with this developer, who would negotiate for
> > us from a "cohousing" perspective?  Our lawyer?
> > 
> > It seems scary doing this without our consultant there holding our
> > hands...but to have a local developer wanting to do our project and
> > showing us a good site seems like something we should explore
> > further.
> > 
> > Thanks again for input.
> > 
> > Shelly DeMeo
> > Greater Hartford Cohousing
> > 
> > 
> >
> 
> --__--__--
> 

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