Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Urban Mixed Use Development

[ken (gebser]

Regan Conley wrote:
> I'm part of a forming urban cohousing group in Washington, D.C.  
> Someone in our group suggested we considering partnering with a  company
> that owns about 3/4 of a city block and is going to be  rebuilding on
> it.  It's a grocery store and the store wants to  essentially build a
> new multi-level building with grocery at the  street level and housing
> above.  It's a pretty spendy neighborhood,  but some neighborhood
> officials are encouraging them to do something  for moderate income
> people (one of our cohousing targets).
> 
> This is just one location, but we are looking at very densely built  up
> urban areas, so it might come up in other places.  Setting aside  the
> cohousing design issues (which I admit could be huge -- getting a 
> corporation to let us design what goes on top of their building),  does
> anyone know about the mechanics of such a thing?
> 
> How do mixed use buildings work when the housing is owned condos and 
> not rented by the corporation that owns the commercial parts?   Perhaps
> I'm not even framing the question properly, but it's  essentially who
> owns (and controls) what and how?
> 
> ....

I'm not a lawyer, but I've seen enough legal stuff to guess that there
is no "standard" way these things work.  It would all depend upon what
kind of agreement you have with the property owner.  Will they let you
design the part of the building you'd live in above their grocery?  If
they agree to it in writing, then yes.  I'd kind of doubt it though.  At
least they'd want to have final say in the matter.  But, again, it
depends upon the (written and legal) agreement you have with them.

Frankly, I wouldn't want to live above a place where there's food all
the time.  It's nearly impossible to avoid cockroaches and possibly
other vermin unless they spray regularly (more than monthly, I'm
guessing) and sometimes that just chases the critters to another part of
the building (if you catch my meaning).

It would be nice if it worked out... it would be great, in fact.  But
I'd expect it to get really tricky.

-- 
"This world ain't big enough for the both of us,"
said the big noema to the little noema.