Grand Café
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

Environment ✧ forested mountains and rocky canyons; hikes from door; beach 1h

Services ✧ cornershop, restos/cafes, supermarket 20mins walk; market

Access ✧ bus at door; station 10mins drive, Perpignan 1h30 transit (last 7:30pm); +Barcelona 1h30 / Paris 5h

Area ✧ VISTED 3/5/24; Video

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quite elevated but nice amount of sun in winter and brief snow, indeed there's even palm trees
✦ I'm not keen on mountain locations, but this elevation is a nice compromise between rugged wilderness and a more livable environment; I've been here with some snow as a kid and it's quite pleasant plus brief, not to mention climate change since then…
✦ the environment is lush and full of lovely trees, not to mention gushing water (at least in the spring, not sure about late summer…) and the air smells lovely

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village is presentable if somewhat missing life in its small public square where there's just a resto and cafe/bar
✦ neighbourhood is only really 'good' because of a lovely public garden and green spaces along the river though this has a big (stone) retaining wall
✦ has moderate thermal curist tourism Apr–Nov (mostly old folks of course), some were doing tai-chi in the public park, and there were quite a few tourists doing the hike up to the waterfalls
✦ local town of Prades is 20mins bus (last 8:45pm) with a good twice weekly market
✦ village also has a small twice weekly market
✦ one good French resto plus an Indian(!)
✦ good hikes including ravines and waterfalls (suitable for a dip) plus straight to the peak of the famous Canigou (2700m) in 8–10h overnighting in a refuge

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15mins bike 10mins bus to fortified village with better restos and station with the mountain train, and Perpignan in 45mins; the only big town in striking distance, is moderately lively, however too far for outings by transit (1h30) and whilst not unreasonable at ~1h with a 10min dropoff, the centre itself is another 15min walk

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good mix of biking some marked right from the door
✦ tennis and horse riding 10mins walk
✦ secret hot springs and suspended canyon hike 30mins drive
✦ the station is 15mins bike thus one can take the train up for more impressive trails / decscents
✦ flat sandy beaches within reach, also an inland etang for wind/kitesurfing; with just abit more driving (1h15+) the rocky beaches around Collioure are possible for a day trip stopping along the way
✦ skiing 1h drive

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train is super for Barcelona and good for changes to the UK and northern europe through Paris
✦ airport serves Agadir all year (nomad connections) though its Lisbon route was recently removed but may return for winters; London-Stansted seasonally; Barcelona provides the best interchange with train taking 1h30

Property ✧ Diagnostics (PDF) 23/3/24 dropped significantly from 130k to sell ASAP

was tempted to put a deposit down but not convinced due the remote-ish location (really needs more size to make up for it); whilst it's a great offer there's decent choice of properties in the under 100k range elsewhere and with lower tax

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presentable building from outside but other than the large windows is plain inside
✦ no garden but in addition to the public garden and riverside, there's also a hillside winter garden a stone's throw
✦ all east windows are large but loose sun a bit before midday, 1st floor has a full length balcony, 2nd outset juliet balconcies with top window, 3rd juliet but standard height
✦ easy to enlarge south-west windows on the other side with juliet balconies as a sunroom

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roof is in excellent condition but requires some work to cleanup a collapsed chimney on it
✦ some fairly minor termite chomping (hardly unusual in the region), one on some flooring is definately vacated; two beams would be fairly easy to replace but don't look too bad and would be much more easily re-enforced, and finally one door surround which would be replaced anyway

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four floors, plus basement of almost similar size, but having a dividing load bearing wall; the stairway can be reconstructed to give access and the existing mini stairs removed

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basement: storage and shed; 40m2 snug/movies/kneesup events (one glass door for light)
✦ ground: 75m2 casual workspace with 11 desks + lounge + bikes
✦ 1st: 75m2 kitchen, dining, hangout
✦ 2nd: 1 plus microstudio 18m2, 3 plus ensuites (11m2) with balconies, 2 ensuites
✦ 3rd: 3 ensuites, 45m2 library with 7 focus desks
✦ 4th: 4 basic 6m2 (1 twin/double) with juliet balconies, 5 pods, 4 bathrooms, callroom
✦ 13 rooms, 5 pods
✦ note: no yoga space, there's nice parks!

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structure is good; waste pipes are all asbestos cement but could potentially be kept, if not are mostly simply hanging from the exterior thus easy to remove
✦ ground floor facade need stripping and refinishing
✦ sections of damp infliltration from the neighbour's terrace at ground (next to stairs) and basement, but simple stripping and refinishing, plus sealing outside
✦ lead paint presence is limited to door and window frames, which would simply be replaced, with the exception of one small section of wall

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eventually the nasty cement finish on the back should be stripped

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possibly partly usable with nominal work but the plumbing is questionable
✦ has piped gas

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no load bearing walls, thus easily stripped for refit
✦ the floors are very lightweight so would need insulation but could simply be laid over the existing boards

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4 floors of 85m2
✦ attic unsuitable for mezzanines but very nice to simply open up
✦ full height cellars having almost the same footprint, plus doors onto the lane that could become big windows thus making this space useful

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tax is BAD at 5k/year (same as Beziers!) representing about €45/month/room or €550/year of increased contributions versus cheaper locations, is not terrible, but does push up the cost of ownership to unacceptable levels given it'd only be for a room; could be reduced by reclassifying

✦ the property next door sold (several hotels here have been on the market including a ginormous ruin just up the road for a pittance)