Wolf Creek Lodge Construction Makes Local Paper
Wolf Creek Lodge going up is an exciting site and the local community has noticed. Here’s what The Union ran in their paper today.
Wolf Creek Lodge and Commons getting underway
By Trina Kleist Staff Writer
First it was the economic collapse that delayed Grass Valley’s first cohousing project. Then it was the snowiest, wettest winter in a generation.
But backhoes and earth movers are digging again at what will become Wolf Creek Lodge and Commons, on 8 acres at the corner of Freeman Lane and West McKnight Way at the southern end of town.
“It’s been one thing after another,” said developer Kathryn McCamant of CoHousing Partners LLC in Nevada City. “It’s been exciting to see … a building coming out of the ground.”
And it’s one of only two housing construction projects going on in the city at the moment — a sign of continued weakness in the economy.
Teamwork among contractors, city officials and future residents, who already have bought into the project and helped design it, has made progress possible, McCamant added.
“We’re working on a really tight budget,” she said. “The whole environment we’re in — housing prices continue to drop, but construction costs are going up — (mean) everybody’s giving to keep costs down. That’s what it takes. We’re always about, how do we keep the quality (up) and the costs down?”
Construction-related companies that are surviving a third year of recession are “leaner and meaner. It’s not always fun,” McCamant added. “Everybody’s working 10 times harder to make half as much as in the boom days.”
Phase one of construction is a 30-unit condominium-style lodge at the corner, housing small units dedicated to active adults; completion is expected in July 2012.
Phase two will be 32 townhouses geared toward all ages; a start date has not been set. The project includes 3.5 acres of open space on the property that fronts Wolf Creek.
McCamant and her husband, Charles Durrett, brought the cohousing concept to the United States after learning about it in architecture school in Denmark. Their Nevada City Cohousing is one of several they have built in the country.
Units both in the lodge and among the townhouses still are available. For more information, contact CoHousing Partners at (530) 478-1970.
