The Slow Home Movement

One of my favorite websites, worldchanging just published a story on The Slow Home. Akin to the Slow Food movement, the Slow Home Movement is about turning the places we live back into a home, instead of just an investment or a temporary landing pad.

From Worldchanging.com...

"The newest slow kid on the block is the Slow Home Movement, a web-based design community and resource library dedicated to taking residential architecture back from the grip of the "cookie cutter houses and instant neighborhoods" churned out by community-blind development corporations, to revive the presence of good design and empower individuals to create homes that will support and fulfill them for a long time."

After I read this article, I sent off a quick email to the editor letting him know about how Newberry Place has integrated many of the Slow Home principles into our design. Within a couple days, they included us in their weekly video blog report, pretty cool...

cohousing news story

Newberry Place got a little press coverage today in preparation for the Spring Parade of Homes.

VIDEO LINK

morning walk

Levi and I took a nice morning walk around the neighborhood. With all his winter clothes, he barely fit inside his backpack. It may be time to start looking for a stroller that can double as a bike trailer; I can't imagine having to lug him around this way for much longer.

First we visited the construction site to take a few pictures. Things are really moving along on the garages and the first unit. The first unit is taking a little longer because they have to work out some of the kinks that always happen between what is drawn on paper and what can actually get built. I saw our architect and builder on the site earlier this week inspecting the discrepancies. I think the other units will really fly once the builder figures out the details.


Second we walked through the various parks. Lookout Park was beautiful this morning; the sun was out and there was a haze across the city. It really made me want to hike down to the river and take the trail, but the thought of hiking back up with Levi wasn't do'in it for me. There were a lot of squirrels out, probably thinking spring is right around the corner. It has been such a mild December that I think the next three months of winter will be much more tolerable. We went from Lookout Park back over to Coit Park and took the small path that runs through the park. There were a lot of people sitting on benches and just enjoying the sun. Then it was home again.

foundational

The foundations for Newberry Place should start going in this week. We are using a Superior Wall System, so the side walls and ceiling go in first, with the basement slab getting poured last. The Shea House is the first to start, with Nora and my building pulling up the rear. First move-ins should be in mid-summer with our own tentative move-in of October. This is great because it gives us a little more time to figure out what we are going to do with our house. Exciting stuff!

groundbreaking photos

loan

Today we signed our loan to begin construction on Newberry Place. UNBELIEVABLE! Foundations should start to go in the next couple weeks.

excavate

I went out this raining, fall morning to check out the cohousing site progress. The bulldozers and backhoes are out and starting the work of getting the site prepped for foundations. Most of the trees and brush have come down. There were multiple homes on this site back in the 70's, so there will also be a lot of foundations to dig out.

Here's a photo looking north up the infamous Dexter alley. Apparently the court hearing for the alley vacation was yesterday. We haven't heard anything from our lawyer as to how that particular hearing went. In order to vacate the alley we had to have all the neighbors within 300ft of the project be listed as defendants. They represent the public that we are claiming the alley from. Nothing says "get to know your new neighbors" like listing them in a lawsuit. If it went well, then we are ready to keep rolling on the project, and these powerlines should be the next to go. This next week is full of big decisions and critical junctures for the cohousing group, culminating in the loan signing at the bank.

aia event

Tonight, Marty and I presented at an event for the Grand Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) on the topic of cohousing. There were several moments throughout the evening where I just couldn't believe we were presenting on this; taking people through 4 years of development. In my opening comments I talked about how Marty and I were in the back of a little Dodge Omni car (with Bwindi) on our way to a camping trip. I barely knew Marty at the time, but we started talking about our homes, neighborhoods and hopes for ccommunity. I was having similar conversations with Phil and Lavonne. Out of these conversations the cohousing project was born.

It was really rewarding to present with Marty tonight, so close to having this project off the ground and in the ground. After the presentation our Architect came up to us and said, "it's really amazing what you guys have done." What a huge compliment, and one that extends to so many people in our group. I often get credit for a lot of other people's hard work. I always try to pass on the compliments, but that's the great thing about the cohousing project is that people have come into leadership at the right times. I wish every compliment I receive was heard by everyone.

rapid growth story

We just got a really nice story about Newberry Placed published in the online journal "Rapid Growth" www.rapidgrowthmedia.com There were only minor glitches and I think the journalist did a great job of capturing the project and not making us sound like total wackos (or Waco's).

The article focused a bit too much on me, personally, but this has always been the case in talking with media. They need the human story, and there isn't time to tell 16 human stories.

bids are high

We have the bids in for the cohousing project, and things are a bit high. It's really tough to figure out why or how it translates to individual mortgages. I'm starting to figure out why standard developers just build the same unit over and over - no surprises. I'm sure we can get it figured out and still keep on schedule, but it takes the wind out of every ones' sails. People get really excited that they might be able to add that one thing if the bids are on, but now they have to think about getting rid of something instead. "Who wants to ride the roller coaster? Step right up!"

timelines

We are now in the "if..then.." stage for Newberry Place. October is full of hoop jumping as we zero in on breaking ground. Between financing, construction bids, alley vacations and unit selections there is little time for anything else. If we can get the alley vacated then we can start on financing, if we get the bids in then we can start on unit selections, if we can get the unit selections then we can finish up on financing. CRAZYNESS!

It's important to step back now and again to appreciate the success of this project. It has become so "normal" that you forget how extraordinary it all really is. The last 2 years has been filled with a lot of details so that you get consumed by the minutia instead of seeing the bigger picture. I think people are starting to try things on and dream a little again.