State-Of-The-Art Cohousing: Lessons Learned from Quimper Village

If you are seeking to join or build a senior cohousing community, add this gem to your tool kit.Follow the inspired and methodical processes utilized by the residents of Quimper Village in Port Townsend, WA in “State-of-the-Art Cohousing”. See how Quimper members dreamed it, planned it, built it, and now enjoying living the dream.Co-authors Alexandria Levitt and Charles Durrett teamed up to interview Quimper Village residents and development partners to unearth their best gold nuggets so that seekers like us might have an easier journey.The book is concise yet thorough, and goes right to the heart of the most pressing issues asked by seekers and advocates like me: finding like-minded people who share your dream, utilizing the most effective marketing tools, locating the right property, understanding why the “Getting it Built” and “Design” workshops are vital, building a governance system, remember that “time is money”, and much more.Through insightful interviews by Levitt and Durrett, you hear from Quimper Village residents, development consultant Katie McCamant (CoHousing Solutions), project managers David Wrinkle (Fairbank Construction) and Fred Kimball (Quimper Village), local architect Richard Berg (Terrapin Architects) and more. Co-author Charles Durrett was also principal architect for Quimper Village.Quimper Village began with a vision sparked by Pat and David Hundhausen in January 2014 and by Thanksgiving 2017 over 65 happy residents of brand new Quimper Village enjoyed their first shared meal in the state-of-the-art Common House.Not all senior cohousing dreams result in this kind of success. It takes vision, cooperation, discipline and work. Quimper Village is a success story worth following, especially for those of us seeking to one day live in senior cohousing.What better way is there for us to learn how to achieve our vision of living in cohousing than from experienced, passionate, successful senior cohousers who have already walked the walk? Put this gold nugget of a book in your cohousing toolkit, and keep moving forward!

This is the story of building our community, both physically and through the development of friendships. We want our future to be socially active and supported by our talents and resources. Alexandria and Chuck have captured the personalities and share our journey with the guidance of the right professionals, from dream to move in, as a highly functioning neighborhood. The framework and timeline of our achievement is well documented here for the successes of the next generation of cohousing. We all need a community in which to live and our story is beautifully told.

A group of seniors in Port Townsend really did develop their own senior cohousing community in 3 years. The book describes in detail how we formed our community, gathered the 28 households, worked with our attorneys, architects, consultants and contractors. I know because my husband and I were there for the whole process. Now, in this time of physical distancing, our community holds and supports each of usds because we know and care about every one of our neighbors.-- Carolyn S, QV's president.

This is a great book for people who are thinking about a different kind of aging experience than what we usually see in the US--one where people have independence but also a community that really works at becoming a community. The book tells the story of Quimper Village, a senior cohousing community in Port Townsend, WA. But it is more than just a chronology of Quimper Village. It is also a primer for people looking to start their own senior cohousing groups. It is written very clearly and goes over all the basics, like marketing, financing, and designing the community. If senior cohousing is something you have been thinking about, this book is for you. It will show you exactly how to get your dream out of your head and into the world.

Levitt and Durrett have written a concise powerful book that captures the essence of Quimper Village and most of the big lessons prospective cohousers need to know. An invaluable resource. I highly recommend it.