1215 Russell in Homewood Cohousing - Minneapolis

The house at 1215 Russell Av N which has been vacant for about 2 years
is being repaired by Mike Totall, the son-in-law of one neighbor. The
house is adjacent to Fred and Becca (south of us) so there would be an
opportunity for shared yards/landscaping.

We would very much like to have community oriented folks living in this house.

The house will be available when it is completed ( summer 2007???). The
story and a half house has 3+ bedrooms, large dining room and living
room with fireplace. The kitchen and bathroom will be completely new
down to the studs.  The house has a stone exterior, and will have a new
roof and an attached double garage. The expected price is about $200K.

--- 1215 progress. ------

June 8, 2007

Most interior painting is done, today Mike started sanding floors
(mostly Oak) and I expect they will come out great.

Today I finally got some pictures online... Several of the pictures show how
the house relates to ours and where there is room for some shared landscaping.
I've added some red dots to the pictures to aid in description.
Most of the dots indicate the location of 1215's back door
which is right off the kitchen and comes out to the potential shared
area between the two houses.  I did not happen to take a picture showing
the back door except in the far background...

1) Front view of 1215 Russell Av N  Note that red dot is on the
  steps to the "back door" on the north side of the house.
2) Viewed from south with my house in the background
3) Rear , 2 garage stalls Taken from the alley.
  There will be deck and railing above the left stall.  The red dot is on
  the roof over the back door.
4) My south side yard
  Looking toward front of houses with 1215 in the background.
  This is part of the area that could be shared. The (upper) single red dot is
  on the 1215 back door which is obscured by the trees. (This picture was
  taken from our garden are which is across from 1215's driveway that was
  seen in picture 3.) Note that in the upper right of the picture (two red
  dots) is a bit of the deck area of its garage.
  (The lower single red dot was a mistake...)

May 5, 2007

I'm sure I'm missing some things.  I thing Mike mentioned a goal of
making the house largely maintenance free for 10-15 years.

Outside.
The new roof is complete.
Some windows have been replaced including all on room above S garage
which has many and several basement windows (with glass block).
As of 5/4 some first floor windows have been replaced.
New front door installed.

Redoing the deck (on top of garage stall nearest us) has progressed some
including taking down the rusty (but classic) rot iron railing (he's
still debating what to put up for railing (sandblasted old railing or
something new).  Both new garage doors are up.

Work on stucco and trim, power washing stone front helped a lot.

The old fence (heavy pipe) has been pulled out - including between us and
1215 leaving some decrepit sections of wood fence of ours which will go
when we decide how to treat the property line.  It is now easier to ponder
how the boundary should be landscaped.  No decisions yet.  We are taking
down an old overgrown and tangled mulberry tree (kind of a "weed tree") on
the border.

Inside. (which I track less closely).

Progress on kitchen and bath new sheetrock is up in both.

Electrical (new fuse box) has been installed.

Message sent to Cohousing-L 6/8/07
Subject: Minneapolis, MN house avail. next door to Fred

Sometimes, in some contexts, I refer to our neighborhood as "Homewood
Cohousing"  and aspire to build a retrofit cohousing community. But we
are a long way from it.  But we do have a great block, with some great
folks, with great racial diversity and a location close to many
attractive features of Minneapolis.

Renovation of the house next to us will soon be completed. It was built
in 1930 and will have a new roof, new bath and kitchen, redecorating etc
etc. It has 3+ bedrooms. The expected sale price is around $200,000.

Since it is adjacent to our house there is the possibility of shared
landscaping and yard use. We would very much like to have community
oriented folks living in this house.

We are in easy biking distance of downtown Minneapolis (~2 miles), the
University of MN (~4 miles), Wirth Park (6 blocks- a large regional park
with a lake -- see
http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=4&parkid=255 )

North Minneapolis where we are located is currently disproportionately
suffering from foreclosures related to the subprime lending collapse and
has long been the less desireable part of town and been challenged by
crime.  However in many ways it is a great place to live -- particularly
in the Homewood area.

If you or anyone you know is interested in community living in an urban
setting in Minneapolis, send them our way. More information at
http://mn.cohousing.org/homewood/1215r.htm
or write to Fred Olson  fholson@cohousing.org

--- End post to cohousing-L ---

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