Cohousing idea in Durham: It's better to build together

DURHAM -- At an abandoned garage downtown, about 70 people celebrated Saturday in the place some of them will one day call home.

"I want to build a new neighborhood on this lot," said Tim Hunter, a member of the Durham Central Park Cohousing Community, which plans a four-story, 24-unit, eco-friendly communal condominium on Hunt Street.

"When I come home, I want to know everybody that lives here, and when I look around, I want to see my friends."

That is almost two years away, at best. First, there is the old garage and another building next door to remove, and architects' sketches to be done, dealings with the city planning department. Hopes are for a construction start in October and move-in a year later.

Still, even with cold wind whipping banners and bright balloons, the enthusiasm was infectious among Cohousing Community members, their friends and downtown promoters who gathered for a 30-minute ceremony on the land the group bought in December.

Members said that urban living in walking distance of amenities such as the farmers market, ballpark and theaters is one of the project's attractions. Another is living within a close-knit group of like-minded people.

"What could be better than living with people who share your values and you get to see and take care of and be with?" said member Amy Vincus. "And it gets to be downtown, too, and I get to walk pretty much wherever I need to go? That's nirvana."

"Cohousing" - sometimes called "intentional community" - refers to self-selected individuals or families who own their own homes but share amenities such as a common kitchen, workshops, art studios and lounge areas. Founding members plan their neighborhood before construction starts. Management and maintenance are shared among the homeowners. Members typically take several communal meals a week and deliberately choose living situations with a great deal of interaction among neighbors.

The idea originated in Denmark and caught on in the United States with the 1988 publication of "Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves." The Cohousing Association of the United States lists 241 communities nationwide, including 11 in North Carolina.

In the Triangle, Durham has two completed cohousing neighborhoods, Chapel Hill and Carrboro one each. The association lists a new group organizing near Rougemont, and Durham Central Park member/manager Doug Henderson-James said others are under way in Raleigh and Chatham County.

"Many of us have a little bit of radical edge in us," said Alice Alexander. She and her partner, David Sheidt, were the seventh members to join the Durham Central Park group when it began about a year and a half ago.

The idea of a cohousing community near Durham Central Park - two blocks north of the Downtown Loop, near the Durham Farmers' Market, YMCA, Center for Senior Life and Durham Athletic Park - first came up in 1999 with a few artists. That effort never materialized, but just two years later, in 2001, Henderson-James and his wife, Nancy, were intrigued by the idea and began scouting possible sites.

Durham Central Park Cohousing Community LLC incorporated in 2009 with nine people to occupy five units. Membership is up to 32, according to the group's website, and 20 of the planned 24 units are presold.

"We're putting our money on the line to build this building," said Tim Hunter.

Central Park Cohousing's architects haven't drawn plans yet, but the group envisions three designs, ranging in size from 800 to 1,500 square feet with a midsize unit costing about $287,000. Full membership requires an investment of $32,500, Henderson-James said, as well as a get-to-know you period for current members and prospective neighbors to decide whether they will get along.

That's important in a neighborhood where everything works by consensus. But some said they knew right away.

"The first meeting I went to, I paid my dues," said Tish Hoover. "I thought, I can live with these people. And I haven't been sorry."