According to a report from Chicago Tribune real estate reporter Mary Ellen Podmolik, Greenline Development president Benjamin Van Horne and a group of Chicago residents are requesting approval from the city to build Prairie Onion Cohousing, a 20-unit cohousing development in Bronzeville.
According to the Cohousing Association of the United States, cohousing developments “contain all the features of conventional homes, but residents also have access to extensive common facilities such as open space, courtyards, a playground and a common house.”
Here’s Podmolik’s explanation of how it works:
“At the homes in this neighborhood, you have your own kitchen but you’re expected to dine with your neighbors in a large communal room at least a few times a week. There are bedrooms for overnight guests in a space shared by all families. Community decisions, ranging from how the homes and development are designed to how the grounds are maintained, are made by consensus.”
The 850 to 1,350 square-foot, one- to three-bedroom homes will be priced from the $150s to the $240s (about $176 per square foot), according to the Trib report.