A ONE of a kind co-housing community has been launched to market by Ray White Frankston in the Melbourne seaside suburb which aims to see a lighter footprint left on the planet.
The co-housing project called The Digs is the brainchild of local mortgage broker Andy McGorlick and his wife Lyndel along with their friend Claire Harvey, who all fell in love with the community minded vision more than 12 years ago.
The project is a type of intentional community composed of private homes supplemented by shared facilities. The high end project will be located at 56 High St, Frankston once built this year. The sought after spot opposite Beauty Park is within walking distance to the beach.
“We loved the idea of co-housing as we value generosity and want to encourage sustainable principles plus connectedness. While we love the philosophy it soon became apparent that we’d have to do it ourselves if we wanted to live like this. So we bought a block of land with our friend Claire and we now have all the council approvals to build eight two bedroom units on our block,” Mr McGorlick said.
“It’s a passion project, a total leap of faith, and we now have a brilliant location in Frankston.”
Ray White Frankson Sales Agent Brooke Wegener and Ellis Schofield are marketing the four remaining two bedroom townhouses, which start at $669,500 and go up to $819,500 depending on the size.
Each of the high end four bedroom townhouses are fully self contained plus in addition in the complex there is also a shared kitchen for meals, utility room, bathroom, workshop, laundry and shared grounds with an extensive vegetable patch and fruit trees.
Mr McGorlick said the philosophy of the project was to promote a way of living that reduces both consumption and waste and values sustainability.
“This is not like buying any other premium townhouse, it’s a lifestyle choice. We’d love to see some diversity in the home owners.”
The beauty of the site is its laneway at the back meaning vehicle access to garages is via the laneway, keeping the inner sanctum essentially car free.
The ecologically aware complex will encourage owners to walk and ride bikes. Of the eight houses half have been pre-sold, meaning there are four still available.
The project has been on the drawing board for many years but gathered momentum during COVID as it highlighted just how important “community” is for connectedness.
“I work as a mortgage broker and I know there’s a lot of interest from buyers who want to move out of the city. I think the time is right to come to the market.”
‘It’s a passion project, and I expect it will take 12-18 months to build them once all sold.” Sustainable building features include rammed earth, double glazing and solar panels.
Beauty Park has become home to the incredibly popular Little Beauty craft market in recent years, attracting Peninsula locals who are keen to support locally grown produce and hand-made, ecologically sustainable products. This all happens on the front doorstep of The Digs.
