Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Undercover??/N St./Condo Conversion

[Bruce Koller (bkoller]

On Sat, 9 Dec 1995, Joani Blank wrote:

 Or the prospect of trying
> to purchase one of the units to turn it into a common house. Or even more
> costly, trying to build a new common house building mid-complex.  

I'd just like to jump in and point out that these prospects are far less 
daunting than trying to do the whole thing from the ground up (like you 
and I are trying to do in downtown Oakland, Joani :^} ).  When you 
already live in your community and are making your mortgage payments, you 
can get a lot done if your neighbors share your desire for a more usable 
common space and are willing to dedicate some monthly dues to making it 
happen.  That is why I think people thinking of doing a condo conversion 
need to get their dinner club going...so people can experience the 
enjoyment and convenience of this aspect of community, and thus see how a 
common eating space could be useful to them.

Keep in mind that most condos have a rec room and wet bar type of space 
already that can start to serve as a "proto-common house" until the 
demand for joining makes enlarging the space necessary.

bruce koller (a condo-conversion cohouser at heart)