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July 29, 2009

More Trouble for CoHousing Group

cohousing-graphic-072909.jpgAnother curve in the road for the idealistic crew behind the Brooklyn CoHousing project, via The New York Times. Seems that the bank, already skittish lending to even experienced developers these days, is extra nervous about giving money to an experience group such as those trying to convert the South Slope warehouse into apartments with communal living facilities. Instead of closing with $1 million down, as they originally thought, they now need more like twice that amount.




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:14 AM | Comments (8)
Categories: Development, South Slope

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Why not shop a long term lease (5 to 10 years?) agreement/CofO on some industrial space until market comes back? Maybe rent-to-own.

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at July 29, 2009 11:26 AM

This makes me see red. The taxpayers bailed out the banks last time I checked, but now the banks are dragging out the recession by continuing to squeeze credit. They can't have it both ways!

Posted by: grand army at July 29, 2009 1:09 PM

surprise surprise

Posted by: chrishavens at July 29, 2009 1:23 PM

grand army is so right
banks lend too much then too little

Posted by: chrishavens at July 29, 2009 1:26 PM

Banks are futilly trying to absorb past bad bets gone awry, grand army. It's not a recession, it's a depression.

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at July 29, 2009 1:29 PM

Say what you want about banks. However, it seems pretty reasonable to price some risk into this transaction--if for no other reason than the novelty of it.

I dont think banks gave out big loans for hippie communes either.

Posted by: slick at July 29, 2009 2:21 PM

Grand Army, would you loan out money in a recession, when things have a much greater chance of failing? Probably not.

Posted by: sixyearsandcounting at July 29, 2009 5:02 PM

Member of Brooklyn Cohousing here..

For our account of current financing options, see http://www.brooklyncohousing.org/financing.shtml

Unlike what the article says, our troubles have nothing to do with the type of building we're creating. The fact that we have 16 committed qualified buyers for a building not yet under construction in this market is very attractive to lenders. But the traditional banking rules now say 100% is required. So we just have to grow fast enough to make the traditional model work, or we have to choose one of the many alternative financing options available to us (at higher cost). Either way, we have options.

--K.

Posted by: kb at July 29, 2009 5:51 PM

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