8-a-huit
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

Environment ✧ vineyard valley, hills with good hikes close; 1h coast

Services ✧ bus at door; supermarket 10mins walk; town 20/30mins drive

Access ✧ station 30mins drive/1h bus, 5h30 Paris changing or night train, Barcelona 3h direct; airport 35mins drive

Area ✧ potentially a good collection of buildings for expansion (up to a further 380m2) in a quiet little village, the first actually for sale is unremarkable and was a minimart but nonetheless works very well, with the main disadvantage simply being uncommonly persistent wind, I did however live nearby for 3 years and enjoyed many good outings year round if haphazardly, and the rest of the time one requires shelter, which this may be able to offer with the buildings at its rear
✦ opens onto the main square next to the mairie and adjacent the library, recently renovated but regrettably mostly parking
✦ climate is barely passable off peak yet lovely in summer, but has frequent strong winds all year (notably the Cers from the west)
✦ Carcassonne is 30mins drive, but the fairly regular bus takes an hour (last 7pm) because it visits two other villages in the opposite direction first
✦ there a good selection of villages in 20–40mins and Narbonne is 40mins drive, better for pickups (more direct trains) and combines for a pleasant daytrip
✦ there's some easy strolls from the door partly along vineyard lanes or tracks beside the stream, reaching a hillock as a loop in 40mins, though the hills propper are 40mins to reach thus better hikes would require a quick drive (5–15mins); for biking it's good as only 10mins
✦ good wooded hills and a nice village with 3 weekly markets plus the nearest good restaurants (one organic) are 15mins bike/10mins drive/1h walk; from here a 4h loop can be taken along a rocky little valley, or to the peak at 900m traversing chestnut and managed forests; canal 30mins bike
✦ village has an aquatic centre with sauna and hamman 5mins walk thus a good option for winter; there's some stream front but is not pretty as such and in summer it dries up; small lake on plains 15mins drive/40mins bike with beach and kayaking/sailing or a more natural little barrage in hills same distance; river kayaking 15mins drive; better 1h; tennis 20mins walk
✦ there's a lively bar and bakery around the corner, and a supermarket in the suburbs
✦ neighbourhood is passable thanks to the new streetfront and a pretty ancient stone house on the opposite side of the road (for sale); there's a small public garden (mainly with playground), that and some other places present opportunity for community gardening and improvements
✦ mainly this is a good location to radiate out from similar to #149 but that has potential noise exposure and no outside space, albeit better nature

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common areas would be quite generous and the space planning is really rather good; additional bedrooms or studios and further common spaces if several adjacent properties could be acquired for redevelopment, and likely to be quite affordable even if not insignificant work, it would be small scale
✦ ground floor is very generous 180m2 mostly open plan having been the shop, with two large doors onto street, half goes back a long way with a 45m2 annexe that would need windows; gets morning winter sun at the front (otherwise blocked by trees)
✦ 45m2 roof terrace catches only some summer sun after midday but could be built up for a higher terrace with full south exposure, and additional rooms (see below for better expansion options)
✦ accommodation of 6 pods (but maybe only 2 bathrooms), 6 ensuite doubles mezzanines (2 premium), 2 ensuite doubles; =8 rooms
✦ 3–4 kitchen stations; dining would normally seat 20 at full occupancy but could easily be extended to 30 for events
✦ casual coworking onto street with 15 seats, 3 at bar; 1st floor quiet coworking with 6 seats, thus work capacity of 28 (ex dining and lounge) so easily capable of functioning as a mini-hub having a ton of vilages within 20mins
✦ 1st floor lounge seating 15 (sofas) to 22 (with beanbags), could be rearranged with at least 30 seats for events without removing sofas; breakout lounge onto kitchen/coworking/street becoming the quiet area as the library would be noisy with the main lounge in use
✦ the coworking could attract some dropins if public, or at least for events (unlike the cevennes which has better weather at the cost of being less lively); within a 30min drive there's a lot of villages
✦ main building is 10m wide, with half 10m deep, and an extended half 13.5m deep

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several apparently unused/abandoned buildings behind on the next street(s) which are currently mainly garages and unused lofts: the first two probably with the same owner; parcel 1427 (yellow) for 75m2 (to demolish for garden and plunge pool) with 25m2 of existing courtyard/alley directly adjoining the main property; parcel 503 (orange) for 55m2 (one floor); parcel 1428 (blue) 130m2 (two floors) with an additional 30m2 of courtyard; parcel 1277 (purple) with 140m2 (two floors, very narrow but long, with potential for south windows) at right angle onto another street but appears to be still used as a garage; annexe of a neighbour (pink) backing directly onto the main building's extensions, may be acquireable if unused and would offer additional roof terrace with better exposure, plus room off the kitchen
✦ assuming the first parcel could be acquired there'd be very nice 110m2 courtyard garden with south exposure and well protected from wind
✦ there's also a further 45m2 annexe (parcel 1513; pink) adjoining to the south and would offer additional roof terrace/space if it could be acquired separately, could however be integral to the house in front of it which is for sale (parcel 52; the intermediate 521 has already been sold); this section as roof terrace gets much better sun exposure but so does parcel 1427
✦ not unduly significant works to become usable and the roof is good, but further development of additional buildings could be; the stairs are tiny and would ideally be rebuilt, plus the ground floor needs a toilet and connection to the sewer as it currently uses a pumped connection at the back