...the first thought was sound system in the corner, platform over there, what a great place for a rave.
But it's also got enough passing walking traffic for a cafe or restaurant or something. It's a really great location.
Anyone got any ideas about, or experience with, setting up a worker's co-op and somehow leasing or buying the property? Basically a project to try and create some kind of shelter from capitalism, in the most equal way possible, for a few committed people?
There are so many opportunities for outreach in this location: kids + parents walking to school in the mornings, sports teams, hikers, cyclists, runners, theater types occasionally...
Gather some like minds first, so you can coordinate in case a shitty developer comes along and tries to swipe it from you (seen it happen before).
Figure out what your short, medium, and long term goals are with the property. What kind of financing do you need to make that happen? There are all kinds of grants available for opportunity zones, rehabilitation of older buildings, etc. that you might be able to apply for.
Then look up the zoning. That'll tell you what kind of land uses are allowed—if it's a warehouse it's probably manufacturing and a lot of other stuff—and other rules for the site like parking, landscaping, etc. This will give you a good sense of your parameters but don't forget you can request to rezone the property if you think you'll need it.
I would think about starting a community development corporation, or CDC. Having that entity can allow you to get affordable housing funds from local government. A community land trust might also be a good idea.
These are all potentially daunting structural tasks but can help immensely towards affordability and long term securement of the property. There are plenty of experts out there too that can help make it happen. PM me if you want more direct help. I can point you to resources.
quality post thanks for taking the time. You're absolutely right to say that there could be local rural regeneration funds available. Who get these funds is a whole other story.
It's in a rural area, in a non traditional location with little road access but great walking access, so I'm hoping that rent would be realistic.
It did tho take me a long time to realise that all the bars, cafes + clubs in the last city I lived in were run by trust fund kids staying busy, running at a loss as tax write offs.
Same with a lot of high end stores. My hometown was near a ski resort town and 9 months of the year high end luxury stores sold almost nothing until the rich folk came to ski.
They were all open last I went in 2019, but my hometown of 7k is now down to three grocery stores, a walmart, and a dual feed/hardware store.
depending on how depraved the area is, governance wise, you may run into parking requirements. plenty of places get fucked by those rules because they've been in business for decades so they were exempt, then they shut down temporarily during the covid lockdowns and now to re-open they're being told as a 'new' establishment they need x-amount of parking spaces for their size establishment
someone posted some literature on setting up and maintaining a co-op that I saved but I guess they deleted their account :/
SIKE! i put them in my reading list. I haven't read these yet so idk if they'll be useful but just in case they were:
Building Co-Operative Power: Stories and Strategies from Worker Cooperatives in the Connecticut River Valley
and
Humanizing the Economy: Co-operaties in the Age of Capital (I have a note here that this is more theory on why they're good than actually organizational structures but its there.)
appreciate the recs :) they're not on libgen but I'll keep looking for the first one.
PM me! I don't wanna dox myself but I have a decent amount of experience with this sort of thing.
