Davis Square Lofts

[lilly9999.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know if the Davis Square lofts are renting or just for purchase?

Comments

[ron_newman]

Where are they?

[lilly9999.livejournal.com]

Elmwood street, off of Holland.

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

They're for purchase, but owners can and will rent them out.

more info at: http://davissquarelofts.com/

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Is this the place that for a while was going to be cohousing?

[derekp.livejournal.com]

If these are the same places I think they are, they must be super nice. My friend lives across the street from them and they've been building them for YEARS.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

they're beautiful; i took a tour once. Very expensive if you go by the pricing guide but I imagine in this period of housing disaster you might find them a leetle more flexible...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Cohousing?

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

http://www.cohousing.org/overview.aspx

Cohousing is a planned community, where units are individually owned, but members often share meals and have some common areas for hanging out. The buildings are often very green, too. There was talk of some cohousing in Davis Square, and I think this is where it was going to be, but it looks like that idea didn't work out.

The cohousing I know best is JP cohousing, which a friend of mine helped organize over about ten years. For a number of years, I thought her talk of cohousing was just a pipe dream, but after the land was purchased, I realized that it was going to become a reality.

There are a couple of cohousing communities in Cambridge, I think, and several others in the state. Google "cohousing," and you'll find them.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

That sounds like a very interesting concept.

When I heard cohousing, I thought it meant mixed income, but I'm glad I know what cohousing means now.

[dfan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we looked into them around six years ago and they were in the middle of building them then. At the time I think they thought they were going to be done within a year. I guess things have moved a little more slowly than that.

[ron_newman]

It can be mixed income, if the people who are creating it want that.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

According to a friend, this is what happened to it:

Yes, there was once upon a time a cohousing project that was going to come to Davis Square. Unfortunately, the developer had a different notion of what he wanted to build than the group had about what they wanted to buy. He was building a very high-end development. The cohousing group wanted something medium-to-low end. So they soon came to a parting of the ways.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

That development has unfolded over many years. I had some friends who bought there going on 5 years ago and have since moved on. Their place was spectacular.

For any History of Davis Square buffs, the picture on this page is really neat: http://davissquarelofts.com/building/

Those train tracks are now the bike path.

[turbodog73.livejournal.com]

I was under contract for a unit in early 2006. My closing date was fall of 2006 which they thought was a realistic date. As of 2008, the unit is still not done.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Do you know what's taking so long? Are you still under contract, or have you moved on too? It's hard to understand how a project can get that far behind schedule.

[turbodog73.livejournal.com]

At the time I was told that there was a delay in getting the windows. I signed an extension for 3 months. After 3 months, they were still far from being complete. Before signing another extension, I asked for a more detailed project plan. I waited a few weeks and never heard from them so I canceled the P&S. I never bothered to find out what the hold up was since I wasn't interested in dealing with them anymore. I have since moved to a more conventional condo right in Davis.