We're generally pleased to see development of all shapes and sizes, but it's particuarly satisfying when we see a delayed project finally moving forward. It was almost four years ago that we first told you about K'House, a teamup between Indy Hall and Postgreen to create the first cohousing project in South Kensington. The plan for K'House (pronounced like Ka-boom) at 1711 N. Howard St. called for six units, each with a small kitchen and living area, along with a shared living room, a large shared kitchen, and a shared roof deck.
It seemed like an interesting concept, and South Kensington Community Partners supported it. But as we told you during the winter of 2013, for reasons we don't quite understand, the ZBA didn't approve the project. So Postgreen built and sold a new home on Howard Street, putting K'House temporarily on the shelf.
The other day, we spotted a City Paper article (one of the last, sadly) which tipped us off that the K'House project is back, but the plans have changed somewhat. Unlike the first iteration, this version will have only three units, for which no variance is required. Also, since the original site is now occupied by a new home, K'House is rising on Hope Street, behind the Howard Street property. It's actually pretty far along, but Hope Street doesn't get much foot traffic so you're excused if you haven't noticed.
With the scaled-down K'House leading the way, perhaps a future project can realize the vision of the original larger K'House. And with a proof of concept in hand, perhaps the developers will be able to make their case to the ZBA more easily. Meanwhile, we'll consider it a win that this thing, in one form or another, is finally getting built after years of delays.