Meg and David Lessard and their 3-year-old son are among the first residents of Richmond Cohousing. (Photo by Jay Paul)
A new condo development in Manchester promises an old-fashioned neighborhood feel updated to meet modern needs.
The project, Richmond Cohousing, welcomed its first residents in June and follows a model set by other “cohousing” communities across the country, which combines traditional home ownership with an emphasis on communal living by providing common areas for members to gather, share resources and spend time together. The Richmond project has been in the works for more than five years.
Located at 901 Porter St., the four-story, 19-unit building offers a communal kitchen and dining area, a children’s play space, a large workshop area with shared tools, and a rooftop deck where residents can socialize or grow crops in a community garden. Cohousing members, who range from recent empty nesters to nurses, teachers and VCU administrators, own their individual condo units but maintain common areas and plan for the community’s future collaboratively.
Meg Lessard, a VCU clinical research coordinator, lives in Richmond Cohousing with her husband and their 3-year-old son. She says the ability to integrate themselves into a tight-knit community and the flexibility to spend time with other families were major selling points.
“We’re all in this community because we want people around, and we want that support,” she explains. “At least for me, it gives me that permission or nudge to ask [someone] to hang out, to make those spontaneous plans that can sometimes be challenging with kids or without.”
While cohousing promotes social gatherings, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the community to adapt its plans. Regular communal dinners have been put on hold, Lessard says, while neighbors now expect to gather mostly on the building’s rooftop deck while staying 6 feet apart. Despite the setback, she says the sense of community offered by Richmond Cohousing remains a welcome break from her regular work-from-home routine.
“I think we’re all realizing the importance of being around each other,” Lessard says. “It won’t be everything we dreamed of initially, but I think it will be a good step in that direction.”
