Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Office building to Co-Housing Conversions

[Pare Gerou (paregerou]

I echo Bryan's, "as usual," insightful comment about former hotels.

Because of the work I've done over the past few years starting Greek
Village Cohousing, a small group reached out and started working with me
because they want to repurpose an old "condo hotel complex" in Greece.  It
is set up quite nicely in almost perfect cohousing design, and they are
determining if repurposing is cheaper than new build.

I think people like Bryan are ideal for taking these old hotels and
turning them into something beautiful and cohousing.  I just moved from
Tucson, and before that from Miami, and both those areas have very cool
1950s "motor lodges" in an open rectangle formation, with a central
restaurant reception that could be redesigned and would be very fun with
mid century character.  The parking lots are very often large enough for a
large garden and outdoor commons overhaul.  I am remembering some great
examples of these 1950s motor lodges on the "lesser end" of South Beach.  I
am also thinking about beautiful Swan's Way and all the old open air malls
in America in ruins and about the many mid century rooming houses that
coliving companies tried to repurpose and then could not keep up once the
pandemic hit- like "Roam" in Miami.  Even existing hotels are so hit by
Airbnb in the US that they might consider selling.  This is what another
few individuals I am working with in Greece are trying to do- not unlike
beautiful Durham Cohousing and other urban cohousing design-- if you can
open up the corridors with more common spaces.  Anyway- just dreaming away
with you.  So many possibilities....

-Pare Gerou
Greek Village Cohousing

On Thu, Mar 21, 2024 at 4:39 PM Bryan Bowen <bryan [at] caddispc.com> wrote:

> Hi Rebecca -
>
> There are some really great examples of turning hotels into housing. A few
> that I know of off the top of my head are in Steamboat Springs, CO but
> there are a lot more I think affordable housing developers have their eyes
> on older walkway accessed hotels in semi-resort areas for reuse as
> workforce housing. It's a bit of an easier lift than converting office
> buildings, but it does vary by jurisdiction.
>
>
> https://891khol.org/one-way-mountain-towns-are-trying-to-provide-affordable-housing-converting-old-hotels/
>
>
> - b
>
> BRYAN BOWEN    |    PRINCIPAL   |    AIA   |    APA    |   LEED AP
>
> *caddis collaborative*
> 1521 Easy Rider Lane #102
> Boulder, CO 80304
> 303 443 3629
> caddispc.com
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 21, 2024 at 8:33 AM Rebecca Herman <rgherman07 [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Thank you for posting this. From what I understand, there can be many
> > challenges converting offices to housing.
> >
> > I'm also very interested in hearing about converting existing buildings
> > (apartments, townhouses, non housing) to cohousing. My forming community
> in
> > the Pacific NorthWest is considering this and we would appreciate any
> > stories and thoughts.
> >
> > Thank you, coho community!
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 21, 2024 at 4:47 AM <dkemper398 [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > In the post-COVID era many office building have become vacant.
> > >
> > > I recognize that:
> > >
> > > *       CoHousing done well has many architecturally special needs.
> > > *       Office to residential conversions are not easy
> > >
> > > Still, with so much office space going vacant in our post-covid world
> and
> > > with the growing recognition of isolation as a public epidemic, I'm
> > > wondering if anyone knows examples of office building to cohousing
> > > conversions.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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