Brooklyn Co-Housing Lands in Greenwood Heights
It was a big disappointment when the Brooklyn Co-Housing group had to walk away from its plans to take over the Carlton Mews project for financial reasons back in January. Good news though: The group has found a new home in Greenwood Heights. More specifically, we have learned that the Brooklyn Co-Housing went into contract…
It was a big disappointment when the Brooklyn Co-Housing group had to walk away from its plans to take over the Carlton Mews project for financial reasons back in January. Good news though: The group has found a new home in Greenwood Heights. More specifically, we have learned that the Brooklyn Co-Housing went into contract in early March on the 40,000-square-foot former mattress factory at the corner of 19th Street and 8th Avenue. The group’s website has a sketch of the building posted and has been working with Ken Levinson, the architect from Carlton Mews, to carve out 29 separate co-op apartments along with common dining, guest and recreation areas. So far 15 households have come aboard. The closing should happen in early June.
Fort Greene Co-Housing Deal Falls Apart [Brownstoner] GMAP
the funny thing is that if someone asked me in a pinch to bake 58 cupcakes, i probably would, and enjoy it. hmmm. sign me up 🙂 it sounds like the best part i like about having a roommate. we both have dogs and cover for each other whenever we have stuff to do. and some people think it is weird to have a random roommate in your 30s but i love it. honestly i dont want to live alone.
*rob*
Gee Man, I agree…
But, oh how I wish a sick toddler and 58 cupcakes needed for tomorrow morning could be the worse case scenario. But life would be so bland.
What seems to be over-looked in much of the commentary above is the recognition that people in co-housing communities self-select to live in a more communal setting. So, with very few kinks, it works because the community is made up of people who have the right personalities for the situation and are invested in making it work. It’s not like 30 people get thrown together because they won (or lost, if that’s your point of view) a lottery.
When someone asks, “Oh Rob, I know you were not planning to do anything in the kitchen again this week but Cindy’s home with a sick toddler, so can you pitch in and bake the fifty-eight cupcakes and clean up tonight?,” the hypothetical-Rob knows he isn’t being manipulated, knows he could make a similar request in a time of need, and is already predisposed to pitching in.
I read about co-housing–New Mexico, upstate NY. Wish them the best. We need self-sustaining housing alternatives, I think it’s great.
Exaclty rob, it is right for some people and not for others. I am sure many people have “blossomed” after living at the Jehovahs Witness headquarters in Brooklyn Heights for a few years, but somehow, I don’t think it is for me.
And when peer pressure is involved, you don’t just “cook if you fell like it” it’s a human social dynamic. I am sure you gotta do a lot of things you don’t particularly want to do because it is “expected”. hypothetical coversation:
“Oh Rob, I know you were not planning to do anything in the kitchen again this week but Cindy’s home with a sick toddler, so can you pitch in and bake the fifty-eight cupcakes and clean up tonight? Oh thank you, you’re just blossoming beautifully. Oh and tomorrow too? You must have so much free time not having kids of your own”.
It’s maybe more like co-op building meets “Village”/”Small Town America” (whatever *that* is!) 🙂
It’s kind of too bad that in NYC, with the cost of real estate, it is harder to work in more affordable units or rental units or even rent-to-own.
Some cohousing set-ups in Europe actually have managed to work in all sorts of residents in an existing city block: home owners, renters, apartment owners–and brought in new renters. There’s an American cohousing community that had long time planner/member who uses a wheelchair and has fixed income that prevented him from ever getting a mortgage. The group financed his unit! A WONDERFUL story and if I could find the link, I’d post it. It was in the Cohousing Magazine last year I think.
This JUST doesn’t happen in the “real world”.
I read the comments from so many of you all the time and my heart bleeds a little. I empathize with all of you who cannot afford the crazy prices in Brooklyn. Wouldn’t it be great if you could rent-to-own? And even if you could afford the monthly mtg/interest payments, where is that downpayment going to come from?
How wonderful would that be: rent-to-own?!!!
hmm after reading your description in the last post tho it sounds kinda cool and i can see the value in for some people. if be afraid of it being more like the brady bunch meets melrose place though.
*rob*
quote:
“It’s like those condo complexes in the suburbs”
‘xactly
*rob*
No, Sam, it’s not “kitchen duty”. You participate if you want to or you don’t if you don’t want to. At least that’s the routine at the cohousing complex a friend of ours lives in. She’s retired and she loves it. She happens to choose to cook a lot and loves it and living alone before she just was losing her incentive, joie de vivre and was barely cooking and not eating decently. This is what can often happen to people living on their own. Eating is a communal experience and for many, food loses its interest when you’re all by yourself.
She has blossomed since she’s been livng there and she actually has lots of time on her hands of course so the couples who have kids where both parents are working actually benefit from her being able to do more cooking for the group meals. Again, she loves doing this.
She also knows that she has very caring neighbors who look out for her and her health. When you get older, so many people live alone or with a husband/wife/partner is may be aging or out of it. Just how it goes…growing old ain’t for sissies (Bette Davis? I can’t remember). Anyway, just to know you have people you can rely on is a wonderful thing! Living in nameless apartment buildings where you barely know your neighbors is less and less appealing as you grow older. You kind of like knowing there’s that young couple next door, that someone can drive you to the ER or at least come with you (sometimes you just don’t have convenient hospitals around the country so you actually rely on neighbors or family to get you to the ER).
If you have a cat or dog or lots of plants, it is nice to know someone can handle these things, can get your mail for you.
It’s that community you just don’t usually have in this society.