Cohousing-L Mailing List: Co-Yarding in Center City Philadelphia

[Tobia,Blaise (tobiabj]

We are part of an eight-household cooperative backyard community in 
Philadelphia - in Powelton Village., which is part of University City. We 
adjoin the campuses of U. Penn and Drexel University; we have a trolley line 
out front that gets us to City Hall in ten minutes; we're a fifteen minute walk 
to the main Amtrak Station or a fifteen minute drive to Philadelphia's airport. 
We have an excellent hospital and major medical complex virtually across the 
street and numerous good supermarkets within walking distance. Powelton Village 
is a progressive, welcoming, and historic (mostly Victorian), neighborhood.

The eight houses that open onto the cooperative backyard ("Pearl Court"), ours 
included, are all historically listed, built from 1860-75. Pearl Court was 
established by Quakers (visa the Quaker Coop) in 1947 and it is protected by 
easements. The adjoining residents cooperate on maintenance of the Court - 
which is green and wooded. We have occasional social events.

One of the houses that opens up on the Court is currently on the market. It's a 
three-story brick row house built in 1871 but extensively renovated over the 
past decade. It's divided into an "owner's unit" - the second and third floor, 
and a rental unit - the first floor and part of the basement. The asking price 
is $750K, but we believe it will sell substantially lower. The rental unit 
brings in roughly $2K per month. The building has about 2200 sq. feet of space, 
plus a full basement. Note that the entire building is leased until August 
2026, so a buyer wouldn't be able to move in until then.

We would love to find a buyer who would embrace the cooperative nature of Pearl 
Court and be a good neighbor.

If you have potential interest and would like to know more, please email me 
<tobiabj [at] drexel.edu<mailto:tobiabj [at] drexel.edu>>.

-- Blaise Tobia