Duclos
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

Environment ✧ border of wooded agricultural rolling hills and small mountains

Services ✧ all

Access ✧ hourly bus to station 45mins, and 1h45 Toulouse (last 7:30pm): +45mins airport, +3h30 Barcelona, +4h30 Paris

Dedicated units for full-time residence.

Area ✧ this area is somewhat tame but still offers a decent amount of variety if not the best balance (e.g. besseges/st ambroix does make a city reachable whereas this is isolated)
✦ somewhat tired town centre that's car-heavy but has riverfront and some smaller works to improve are being undertaken
✦ next to gym and the aquatic centre with sauna, jacuzzi and hamman (though we'd build our own sauna); tennis 5mins plus covered
✦ large weekly market; bakery and local foods shops next door, minimart, organic supermarket 5mins, other supermarkets (another organic) 20mins walk
✦ tunisian resto a few doors down, even bao, amongst the usual French
✦ Foix is the only other small town, but 40mins drive/1h bus (last 5pm)
✦ hilltop hamlet with abbey, tapas cafe/bar 30mins walk/10mins bike

---

various paths, both riverside and into wooded hills start 10mins on lanes for easy +300m climbs, reaching 1200m in 1h45
✦ 4 different bus routes serving the hills around thus good independent access for hikes though better driving
✦ multiple MTB routes
✦ from 30mins drive (1h bus) 80m(!) tall waterfalls (others nearer) and mountain hikes reaching 2200m
✦ horse riding and climbing spots 10mins drive; kayak 20mins drive/35 bus
✦ 10mins bike to 45km/2h30 easy greenway for Foix;
✦ 50mins drive (winter bus) to bikepark and skiing drive/bus (1400–1700m)
✦ very stable climate being set back in hills, good amount of sun and minimal cloud cover all year

---

Paris–Toulouse trains will reduce 1h15 to 3h15 from 2032
✦ not having nearby station access is not bad due to being on a high frequency route, trains from Toulouse are every 30mins, with the bus hourly
✦ there are later trains but doing pickups is undesireable even at 35mins and indeed there's nothing that'd make an outing of it, however exceptions could be made for late flights (last train 9:45pm)
✦ nighttrain is only decent to Foix with a pickup (40mins) probably combined with market day and lunch out (Fri thus Thu night travel), or at Pamiers which is bigger (1h) and on Sat (Fri night travel)

Property ✧ I listed this years ago, but appears its renovation into apartments ran into financial difficulty thus returned to market
✦ not sure why it's listed with larger size (200m2+ discrepency), but seems like somebody simply measured around the building walls then multipled (technically if sold with this measure it'd permit a propotional rebate, but sales require a proper measure to be taken in the first place)

---

very presentable building that fell into disuse as offices and workshops for a plumbing/heating firm
✦ roof and facade in good condition
✦ usable with nominal effort; most has been used as bare rooms, and lacks bathrooms, all windows as usual need replacing (but absolutely fine for interim) and otherwise a complete fitout for use
✦ south facing in front of a road, but only serves about a dozen villages so not a significant concern however would be noticable at peak hours, the plot directly opposite is empty thus the front has direct view over the river (if not particularly notable)

---

not quite big enough to use as aa hub, but a mini-hub would probably work, and there's plenty of opportunity to extend

---

1800m2 of garden: 800m2 is flat next to the road with a small wall that could be built up and bamboo planted, it backs into the hill as parking so the ground needs rehabiliation but is south facing thus would be great for an orangery and pool; the rest is steep rocky hillside with trees mostly unusable, however there's maybe 150m2 of slope about half way up at the end, this could be terraced and would have river view, similarly another 100m2 above where hammocks could be hung

---

main building 160m2 with 3 floors =480 five windows across
✦ 2 wings of 25m2 and 35m2, with 2 floors and attic =240; small end window could be enlarged, plus has tiny side windows
✦ apparently only one tiny staircase which might need enlarging, alternately an exterior one could be added at rear
✦ the main 1st floor has 5 french doors thus would be at least part common space, and the east annexe has a balcony connecting with the main
✦ 90m2 courtyard at front-east giving access to barn
✦ 60m2 courtyard in front of barn
✦ 60m2 shed next to barn cut straight into rock, could be removed or better turned into new barn extension or excellent massive (120m2+) wall orangerie that would remain warm all winter and potentially heat common spaces
✦ annexe/barn 85m2, good for 3 cohousing units, though easier turned into coworking with dedicated units being apartments
✦ also opportunity for seperate newbuild cohousing/tinyhomes e.g. at the end of the garden or against the wall seperating the road