You may have heard about a new development now nearing completion in the Belknap neighborhood, just east of Lookout Park, called Newberry Place. It’s Grand Rapids’ first “cohousing” community, which is a concept that’s a little difficult to get your head around, but interesting to think about once you do.
Cohousing is about living collaboratively in a community designed and run by those who live there. Although people have lived communally since the cave men, the modern concept of cohousing began in Demark in the 1980s. Today’s version is usually described as an “intentional” community, which means that people have made a conscious decision to plan it and be part of it. Cohousing is philosophically built around cooperative values like being good neighbors to one another and good citizens of the planet.
Hundreds of cohousing communities exist around the world, including three in Ann Arbor. And while the concept conjures up images of old hippie communes, it strives to be a much more sophisticated, developed, and sustainable model. (Check out the Newberry Place website to find all kinds of information on cohousing, from links to the national organization to a listing of books on the subject.)
Newberry Place is made up of 20 privately-owned, newly-built condos, which look more like houses, with two stories, basements, front porches and back yards. They’re built very closely together on a one-acre plot, and most face a center pedestrian walkway or courtyard where there are sidewalks, grass, small play areas, etc. A common parking area is behind the units, and Coit Park is right across the street, which is one of the main reasons they chose the site.
Downtown Grand Rapids – and its surrounding neighborhoods – is in the midst of an incredible revival. But Newberry Place is perhaps the most mind-bending example of the new and promising urban forms rising in the modern day city. The idea evolved from a conversation among friends back in 2002.
“We were all starting to have kids and none of us wanted to move out of the city,” says Steve Faber, president and co-founder of Newberry Place. “We like urban living and being close to downtown, and we didn’t necessarily want to get on that conveyor belt of living in the suburbs with 2.5 kids and upgrading your house every two years. We wanted something different. So, we thought, hey, what if we all moved into the same neighborhood?”
Hey Neighbor!
Five years and who-knows-how-many discussions, meetings, forms, committees and decisions later, Newberry Place broke ground. The first residents began moving in this fall.
Two other founders, LeVonne and Phil Schaafsma, were one of the first families to move in. “I love it!” says LeVonne of her new lifestyle. “When I walk out my front door it feels like a little village to me. I like the spontaneity of it all. So much is scheduled and planned in our society today; if you want together with a friend or your kids want to play with someone you have to make a date. Here, if you want to have a visit, you walk outside. If you don’t, you stay in your house. I think that’s great. I’m looking forward to more of it.”
Steve Faber’s wife, Nora, says she can’t wait to be part of the scene. “When you’re a young mom, it’s really nice to have other mothers around so you’re not so isolated,” she says. “Our little boy doesn’t have any siblings yet, so it will be great for him to have buddies to hang out with, too.”
It’s that whole idea of “neighborliness” that seems to have the biggest appeal to people, including Scott Huebl and his wife Linda Naranjo-Huebl. They also appreciate being around younger families. “We want be surrogate grandparents,” laughs Scott, who admits he was a little reluctant about moving there at first. “Linda was all for it, but I was dragging my feet. The more I learned about it, the more sense it made. Plus, we travel a lot, so it’s nice that somebody will be watching over our house when we’re gone.”
Huebl says they also like to entertain, “But why live in a 5,000 square foot house to throw two or three parties a year?”
For that, they can use the Newberry Place Community House, which looks like the surrounding homes, only on a larger scale. With a variety of dining areas, it will also be used for things like community dinners and potlucks. The lower level may eventually be turned into overnight guest rooms.
Like the Idea? Get in Line
Newberry Place residents are committed to making the world a greener place by shrinking their collective footprints. Their housing is not only more dense than normal, it’s more energy efficient. They encourage bike riding and walking; and they don’t mind sharing resources like lawnmowers and rakes.
Diversity is another highly held value. Residents range from new babies to Baby Boomers and beyond. Occupations tend to professional – college profs, business consultants, engineers, and so on.
Most all will share some of the duties and maintenance that come with condo living. “Everybody offers something – some people like to garden, some people are good at keeping the books; we just match them up with what they like to do,” says Steve Faber. That’s not only a nice commitment to the community. It keeps their condo association dues low, too.
Residents also get a 50 percent reduction in their property tax, thanks to a partnership with the City of Grand Rapids’ Neighborhood Enterprise Zone. “This project came around at the right time for the city,” says Steve Faber. “(Because of its density) It’s the kind of development they want, and they have the zoning and planning tools in place to support it. A lot of it is because of the sustainability movement. Grand Rapids is becoming a real leader in this kind of thinking.”
The group credits the Bank of Holland, Vander Kodde Construction, and Destigter/Smith Architects for taking “a calculated risk” on the project.
The residents of Newberry Place are pioneers of a new kind of living. Metropolitan Grand Rapids, like most American cities, continues to sprawl out over the countryside with new homes and strip malls on far flung farm fields and rural land.
But, at the same time, there’s a growing demand for more compact, high quality residential dwellings in the central city. Newberry Place, like the recently completed Union Square Condos or Midtowne Village now under construction on Health Hill, illustrates the trend is real, and increasingly popular.
You may have to wait awhile to join Newberry Place, or start your own cohousing development. To date, all but one of the project’s units are sold and completion is scheduled for late December 2007.
Keasha Palmer is a freelance writer who lives near Rockford. She recently wrote for Rapid Growth about preparing young Grand Rapidians for a career in biotech.
Photographs:
Newberry Place and it's common footpath between units
Steve Fabor and his son Levi
Solar panel
Another view of the common footpath
Scott Huebel
Interior of a finished unit
Photographs by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved