Cohousing-L Mailing List: Developer Driven CoHousing

[Zpaiss (Zpaiss]

Happy Holidays Everyone,

In response to an old post by Mike Mariner, the idea of developer driven CoHo
does not mean in my mind at least, that a developer goes out and builds a
coho project and when the units are completed puts up a sign and begins to
sell units.  A more realistic version is what is currently happening with the
Nomad group in Boulder.  The property was located and an option placed on it
by the developer.  Word was put out locally to see if there were any people
interested in cohousing at this location?  Presales are still a key in making
a project happen.  The developer was in charge of dealing with the local
government, determining number of units to make the economics work and
general guidelines around what kind of site layout would be possible in that
location.  This leaves a bunch of other work for the group but still gets
them involved early in the process. IMHO (in my humble opinion - for those
new to the lingo) this kind of cooperative strategy everyone skills are used
much more efficiently and the process can move ahead much more swiftly.  The
Nomad group is hoping to break ground in the spring (when the city will
release the next batch of building permits) and movin could be as early as
next fall.

Zev