Labo/Sauzède
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

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

Services ✧ all

Access ✧ station 5mins walk: Toulouse 45mins, Barcelona 2h30, 5h30 Paris changing or night train, Barcelona 3h direct; airport 10mins bus

Dedicated units likely for part-time use only.

Notes/Area ✧ would be able to function as a mini-hub, whilst there's a couple of coworkings they're fairly ordinary so a more dynamic space for local freelancers and all the expats should be appealing, especially with more events

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climate is barely passable off peak yet lovely in summer and decent otherwise, but has frequent winds most of the year (the Cers from the west); the off-season would thus be 4 months and given the small size

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Barcelona direct due to be reinstated soon
✦ well connected all-year airport for Stansted/Manchester, seasonal to Porto, Sardinia, Dublin, Tangiers; many others close (Toulouse, Beziers, Nimes, Perpignan, Marseille, Barcelona)

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town is decent especially in season, moderately lively, and extremely photogenic with its remarkable fort hanging over it, plus nice square, canal and riverfront
✦ canalside village of Trebes by bus or bike, small towns of Castelnaudry 20mins train (last 9pm), Limoux 30mins train (€1) also having bus service (train eventually, ) running up to Quillan (but 1h30); Narbonne (30mins train, last 10pm), larger Beziers (45mins train), quaint Mirepoix by bus or 45mins drive, and of course Toulouse as a big interesting city is well within reach at 45mins train (last 8:30pm)
✦ various other smaller villages

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lake with beach volleyball courts and SUP (in season, but could have own), 30mins bike
✦ some good escarpments are biking distance, or a short dropoff for hikes
✦ forests in the hills to north 40mins drive also possible by bus
✦ adventuous countryside is a good 1h drive, but when the train returns this will somewhat improve for hiking and biking
✦ horse riding 15mins bike
✦ tennis courts at riverfront 10mins walk
✦ several strolls possible along the canal and river in both directions, also good for jogging, paths kinda start on the other side of the fort which is 30mins walk, but get interrupted by sections of lanes; better if dropped off at the lake or taking the train
✦ biking is good with several long rides albeit also somewhat broken up, more variety taking the train

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aside — I lived here for a few years doing a renovation, having chosen the town for its connections, tourism (which mainly affects the fort, much less the town) and plans for public space renovation which has made it a fair bit more attractive; the main problem is the 4 shopping centres on the outskirts (one just built!) and thus loss of shops in town, however this is finally becoming a priority as in many towns, although does not represent much tangibly as it's also flighting ecommerce, but the town does have an adequate number, and notably becxause of the tourism, some actual cafes that don't follow a typical french format; there are still multiple large buildings empty and in need of renovations, and plans are afoot to demolish some decrepit little buildings to open up public space shops, plus a new green square is being created, it is also supporting more plants in town including on facades //Jacob

Notes/Property ✧ main disadvantage of this town is that the tax would be very high
✦ needs full refit as previously used as medical lab, however solid and indeed even windows could be kept for some time
✦ closed since at least 2016, for sale since at least 2020

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not immediately usable as no bathrooms (only toilets), however as some plumbing exists, creating the basics means it would quickly become partly usable
✦ 4 floors, plus barely usable attic that could easily be mezzanines if the (quite solid) attic floor is removed
✦ basement floor has full length lightwell so is better than a basement
✦ main building (18x4.5) and courtyard are private
✦ 1 or more lots in the adjacent and interconnected building comprising onto the courtyard; this could be ideal for coworking
✦ circa 80m2 (possibly 90m2) including passage *4 =320, plus stairwell at end (18m2 inc toilets)
✦ apparently few small windows at back/east, but should be possible to enlarge to full height, indeed looks directly over gardens and the next building is a bit rundown
✦ the building itself has no south windows, great in summer for staying cool, crap teh rest of the year but upper floors will get sunset and possibly sunrise
✦ 220m2 courtyard (almost fully private and enclosed, and rare in a town centre, getting sun most of the day, within which an 80m2 extension could be added for lounge and and storage with a 40m2 roof terrace and 40m2 tall orangerie opening into the 1st floor to catch sun even in the winter; this is specifically being allowed in the current regeneration plan (to allow covered courtyards and glass roofs) however the plan may call for the wall's demolition resulting in the space being full exposed to the public, nontheless this could avoided by having a lower wall, with greenery hanging over it; the entire row of buildings in front (west) has been identified as permitting demolishing for reconstruction however as there are hundreds of these it might take a while (plan)
✦ many parking spaces are being removed thus the courtyard would have to be used to park the minibus, however the extension could be part garage from the street thus hiding it without loosing space as roof terrace would exist above
✦ several nice sections of parquet and not too bad mosaic tile, but at least the ground floor likely asbestos-vinyl lino, and possibly the basement as well, should be possible to simply cover with parquet
✦ the top floor could accommodate 7 mezzanine units of ~9m2 plus mezzanine (~6m2)