Cohousing-L Mailing List: A Rare Opportunity for New Urban Cohousing in the San Francisco Bay Area

[Marty Maskall (mmaskall]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: The Cohousing Association of the United States 
To: mmaskall [at] pacbell.net 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 9:10 PM
Subject: A Rare Opportunity for New Urban Cohousing in the San Francisco Bay 
Area


            Sunday, October 8, 2006 
                  A Rare Opportunity for New Urban Cohousing in the San 
Francisco Bay Area

                  After seven or eight years of fruitless attempts to find an 
appropriate site for a new cohousing group, some members of the East Bay 
Cohousing umbrella group have located a wonderful site in North Oakland's 
Temescal neighborhood - partnering with a local development team to build a 27- 
to 30-unit new community just north of where Claremont and Telegraph intersect. 
North Oakland Cohousing should be completed and ready to move into during the 
first quarter of 2009. This is a rare opportunity to be part of the first East 
Bay cohousing community to be developed in six years, and it is likely to be 
the last one for a long time to come. Cohousers who join at the beginning stage 
will be able to select unit sizes and prices. Group members are currently 
negotiating with the developers to offer a price reduction for early members. 

                  Forthcoming Events
                  Experienced facilitator Eris Weaver, of Frog Song Cohousing 
(Cotati), will lead a day-long group-building workshop for the community on 
Sunday October 15, integrating new and existing members. Call or email Jenny 
Guy for details about the group and workshops (510-843-3239; jenstermeister 
[at] gmail.com. Child care can be provided if you need it. Contact Karen Hester 
for details about the neighborhood (510-654-6346; karen [at] hesternet.net. 

                  Chuck Durrett will lead a two-day common house workshop on 
November 4-5 for members who have had group-process training, have attended two 
general meetings including this workshop, and have a mortgage prequalification 
letter or proof of likely acceptance by Oakland's First Time Homebuyer program.

                  About the Community and the Site
                  . The community now consists of 12 households, a mixture of 
singles, couples, and child-raising families. 
                  . This is a 5-story urban infill site, including a 
ground-floor garage and retail space.
                  . Lead architects are Tom Dolan of Tom Dolan Architects 
(www.live-work.com) and Chuck Durrett of the Cohousing Company 
(www.cohousingco.com) - who coincidentally are old friends.
                  . Green building practices will be emphasized throughout the 
design.
                  . Design and size of the units and the common house will be 
determined by the group, in workshops with the architects; individual units are 
likely to range from studio apartments to 3-4 bedrooms, with common space for 
community meals, outdoor patios, children's play, guests, laundry, and workshop.

                  Neighborhood
                  The site is centrally located in Temescal, midway between 
downtown Berkeley and downtown Oakland along a transit corridor, and near 
freeways. It is a 10-minute walk from the Rockridge BART station and close to 
the Rockridge and Temescal shopping districts, and across the street from the 
historic Temescal Library and the new year-round Temescal Farmer's Market.

                  Learn more about cohousing by visiting the Cohousing 
Assoctiation of the United States' website at www.cohousing.org. The group's 
website, in development, is www.northoaklandcohousing.org.  
                 
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