East Bay Cohousing - Berkeley/Oakland/Emeryville/SF

July 5, 2010 4:00 PM - 9 attended

Potential retrofit cohousing fourplex: EBCOHO private tour (N. Berkeley)

This location is shown only to members

Longtime EBCOHO member Tim Silk, a realtor, just let us know that a fourplex right behind his home just came on the market, and he's eager to find (and represent, if you don't already have a buyer's agent) some cohousers to buy it, and potentially build connections with him and his neighbors, building community in place in the style of a "retrofit" cohousing neighborhood.

I got to visit the site yesterday at an open house and take some pictures, which you can find here. -- Raines

The property, for which offers will be accepted starting this week once the pest report is out, has 4 2-bedroom 1-bath units, half upstairs; two are occupied and two vacant. All units have washer/dryers and fireplaces, carports and storage. includes a large yard and backs up against a creek, on the border with Albany. It is down a long driveway, tucked behind some on-the-street units, so very quiet and private. It is off of Albina street, which runs off Hopkins between Sacramento St. and Gilman (and features Berkeley's oldest home), so it is close to Monterey Market, North Berkeley BART, many restaurants, the BART bike path.

The asking price is $775,000. It is not condo-ized, so a group wanting to purchase it together would have to work out their own arrangements. Our hope is that some EBCOHO members can figure out how to band together to purchase it, and then connect with neighbors to make it into a full-fledged cohousing neighborhood. I met some North Oakland Cohousing members at the site and at least one is reportedly seriously interested.

Tim is available this afternoon to show the vacant units; please RSVP here and arrive promptly so he can do a single trip. If you are interested but can't make it today, please RSVP "No" (if you get this before the event time) and indicate your interest in the comment, and drop Tim a line to see about seeing it some other time.

Note: the MeetUp location is Tim's house, not the property for sale.

Full disclosure: If Tim earns a commission through helping someone buy this unit, he plans to make a donation to EBCOHO. But we wouldn't be listing it here if I hadn't visited it and felt the potential as a community.

Doris Pummill
Sorry could not make this meetup. Doris Pummill

Posted July 5, 2010 at 8:03 PM
Raines Cohen
I posted my photos here: (ignore the "no photos yet" above)
http://www.ebcoho.org/photos/977051/

Further comment about this form of community creation is on the EBCOHO discussion board here:
http://www.ebcoho.org/messages/boards/thread/9373642/#365...

Posted July 5, 2010 at 10:52 PM
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9 attended

4.001 (1 ratings)

PattiR

Diverse group of people walked through. Useful information about the property was shared. Conversation expressed different levels of interest. Connections were made. Timing and lack of cohesiveness made it clear those interested would have to become active in organizing.
Hallie
Maura
Sky
Cheryl Koehler
Orli Loewenberg

+2 guests
A former member

Berkeley, CA

Founded Oct 22, 2003

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Imagine lively people-scaled communities dotting the San Francisco Bay Area - places co-created by their residents for raising kids, for retirement, for growing food or simply living well by sharing more. The Bay Area already has ecovillages, and cohousing neighborhoods, resident-owned housing cooperatives, and group houses -- real world places where we can live more sustainably through a more cooperative way of life. You can have both privacy and community when you know your neighbors on purpose, in day-to-day relationships based on common vision and values.

East Bay Cohousing (EBCOHO) is a Bay Area-wide MeetUp. We connect a wide variety of kindred spirits and resources. We support individuals wanting to learn more, forming groups looking to create community together, and members of existing communities. We are mostly in the East Bay and San Francisco; others are from the North and South Bay, Los Angeles, Nevada, and other parts of the US and Mexico.

There are over two dozen cohousing communities in the greater Bay Area, (more cohousing in Oakland than any other U.S. city). There are also dozens of other emerging and long-established intentional communities. EBCOHO members have recently bought or rented homes in cohousing neighborhoods and cooperatively owned apartment buildings in Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland , Pleasant Hill, Grass Valley, Santa Rosa, and Nevada City. We have members living in Swan's Market Cohousing, Triple Point, Temescal Commons, Berkeley Cohousing, Parker Street Coop, Berkeley Town House, Addison Court Coop and established forming groups like East Lake Cohousing (formerly North Oakland Cohousing).

Extra bonus for 2012: The National Cohousing Conference is coming to town in June!

We host EBCOHO events for members, and link you to other events featuring a global network of friends and allies: pioneers in cooperative culture and sustainable communities: urban farmers, affordable housing developers, green builders, and creative visionaries in the movements for more open, user-friendly and collaborative technologies, economies, and governments. There's a global reinvention of communiies going on - both on the ground and online -- and the Bay Area is one of the world's epicenters.

EBCOHO has more events than our MeetUp-based home page can show fully, so please click on our Calendar to see more. Join for free to get involved! There's no charge for basic membership, but supporting members get discounts on some events, including socials, and workshops, cohousing books, and Cohousing Coaching.

Join us for an orientation, for social events, discussion, talks with exciting speakers, and hands-on workshops to learn the tools for developing good group relationships, and the real estate development process.. Find others who share your vision for supportive neighbors. Do it for yourself, for your family, for your parents, do it for the Earth! Make 2012 the year to deepen YOUR community connections.