Developer plans co-housing project in Silver Spring

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Apr 25, 2003 by Robyn Lamb

Blocks south of the epicenter of the Silver Spring revitalization, a vacant office building is on the verge of its own transformation.

A local developer is looking to turn the former Robbins Building into a community within a community.

Don Tucker, an architect and developer with Eco Housing Corp., plans to transform the old building with the input of the community of people who will live there.

"They're acting like a client. I'm taking input simultaneously from 40 people," said Tucker, who already has one co-housing development in the area -- Takoma Village -- under his belt.

The Eco Housing Corp. plans to buy the vacant building, gut it and create about 55 loft-style condominiums.

So far about 40 people have made commitments to buy one of the condos, which range in size from 650 square feet to 2,100 square feet and cost between $140,000 and $400,000.

They are a diverse group, said Tucker, ranging in age from mid- 20s to 82.

Future residents form committees and weigh in beforehand on everything from the unit floor plans and common space -- of which there is plenty -- right down to the planters that adorn their individual walkways.

The 6,500 square feet of common space includes the co-housing standards: a kitchen, living room and dining room, said Ann Zabaldo, the co-housing coordinator.

"Sharing meals is the big deal about co-housing," she explained.

Not just the coordinator, Zabaldo is also a resident of Tucker's first development, Takoma Park. She said residents in her community share at least two meals a week -- one sit-down dinner and a pizza night -- in addition to those that come together in the spur of the moment.

Current common space plans for Eastern Village residents also include a meditation room, a children's room, a green roof garden and a landscaped courtyard with a trellis faade.

"The feeling of the common house is friendly high-tech -- not on painted exposed ductwork -- with warm woods and natural," Tucker said. "That is in keeping with our vision, along the lines of an urban garden."

The units, he added, are contemporary with round concrete columns, exposed ductwork and lots of spiral stairs.

Tucker chose Silver Spring in part because of its designation as an Arts and Entertainment District and Enterprise Zone, both of which provide incentives that keep building affordable.

But it also is the redevelopment effort sweeping over the area that made it a perfect place to build, he said.

"With Discovery and AFI [American Film Institute] there is a lot happening. The county's making it a priority development area," he said.

"It's a great place to be building. It's a fabulous energy," said Zabaldo.

In keeping with the arts and entertainment designation, Eastern Village will include about 12,000 square feet of artist studio and gallery space, over which artist residents will get priority in leasing.

But finding the right space is never easy, said Zabaldo and Tucker.

Zabaldo, who has been coordinating communities for more than a decade, said it is much more efficient to get a developer on board to find a site before future residents come together.

For years, she said, she did it the other way around.

Searches in Washington, for example, went on for years but never came together.

Even with a developer heading the effort, she said, a Baltimore search for a site is still ongoing.

Tucker, for his part, said co-housing construction, with all of its preliminary coordinating and planning, is no more expensive than traditional building.

"It's all about managing the process. Having Ann involved is a huge asset. She organizes them into committees and they really roll over their sleeves with marketing," he said.

But his is not a nonprofit business, he said, with all of its cutting edge.

The building, on which he closes in June, is running Eco Housing about $3 million and he hopes to net between 10 percent and 12 percent.