$5 million cohousing property to become city’s first

A $5 million, 24-home cohousing community in Gainesville will break ground next month, making it the first of its kind in the city.

The Gainesville Cohousing, located at 4500 NW 27th Ave., will break ground Feb. 3 and take about a year to complete.

After 10 years of dreaming and five years of planning, Brooks Nelson, the facilitator of the community, said the residents will have shared living spaces like a common room, dining area, pool, garden and playground.

“An intentional community is a community that has a purpose and beyond just having a home where you park your car and you know, live, eat and sleep,” he said.”

Only four properties in the community are still available, he said.

The 24 homes can accommodate about 40 people and will allow residents to share more of their lives than an average neighborhood, Nelson said.

Andrew Kaplan, the architect behind the project and a future member of the community, said there are about 140 similar communities throughout the U.S. — and he’s excited to finally bring Gainesville one.

Living in a community like this has been a goal of his for years, but it’s been difficult to find prospective neighbors who would like to interact with each other, he said.

“I think that finding the right group of people who have similar interests and values is the key,” Kaplan said. “We have done that in Gainesville.”