Apex Belltown Co-op

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 1982

What we do

We have been creating an intentional community since 1982.
The Apex is a limited-equity housing cooperative located at First Avenue and Bell Street in Seattle’s Belltown district. Apex provides its members with affordable housing and community facilities on a nonprofit basis. Apex seeks diversity of all types in its members and caters especially to people eligible for low-income housing.
We own it!
Apex members (there are about twenty-five of us) collectively own and operate 38% of the building (the upper two floors; the owner of ground level retail owns the remaining portion). This ownership translates to a lot of freedom, responsibility, and community involvement on the part of members.

Our Mission

To live and maintain our home together happily, harmoniously, and affordably.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Coliving

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1982
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1984
  • Started living together
  • 19 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
25

How to join

We have 2 openings for October 1st!
Membership limited to 21 members. New members are sought whenever a member moves out. Vacancies listed on our website as they occur.
How our membership selection process works:
1) When we have an opening we give tours and accept applications until the deadline posted on the website. (All applicants MUST tour in person: no exceptions are ever made. When there are no openings we don’t accept applications and keep nothing “on file”.)
2) We review the applications as a group and invite a few candidates to interview.
3) We hold in-person interviews and then decide whether to offer membership to candidates.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

*COVID update* Limited visitors or tours. Please call or email us to schedule a tour or to attend one of our periodic potlucks. We cannot host overnight guests. COVID restrictions are in effect.

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Decision-making process

  • Majority Vote

More than 50% agreement needed.

Governance structure

  • Representative/Democratic

Members elect leaders who make decisions within defined roles.

Conflict resolution approach

The apex has a yearly-rotating Board of Directors, which has legal and fiduciary responsibility for the coop. All major decisions affecting the coop, however, are made by the membership as a whole.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Join fee: $3006
Regular fees: $509
Labor: Yes (3 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Weekly chores, committee service, yearly building-maintenance work parties. Share price refunded upon end of membership. Monthly fee varies by room size. See website for details.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Library, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 1-3 times per month

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Coliving

    Shared living spaces with private bedrooms/bathrooms and communal
    kitchens, dining, and social areas.

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%
  • Land area size
    0.2 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Washington, United States

Apex Belltown Co-op

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

Need
  • Forming Communities
3 weeks ago

Looking for: people building relational capacity, with a view to community

What’s here now: An intention, a framework developed over five years, and a programme running in central Victoria to find people to build with. No land, no group, no timeline. The question this is organised around: What makes a community of people living together sustainable over decades – where people enjoy being there, conflict is low, and the conflict that does arise gets handled in ways people value. The distinctive premise is capacity before formation. Most communities form first and build relational skill afterwards, usually under pressure. This one proposes doing it the other way round: people build the capacities first, and the group forms from people who have them. That includes a working idea about collective capacity – that a group has a ratio, and below some threshold it can’t metabolise its own conflict and starts consuming itself. Roughly: in a group of twenty, perhaps three or four with high capacity, most in the middle, and very few without. Untested, and something this project exists to find out. Governance: Sociocracy, with the intention of testing it meaningfully at scale rather than adopting it nominally. What’s actually happening: A three-week residency at a property near Castlemaine, and a practice group running before it. The medium-term aim is twenty to forty people at a rented facility. The long-term aim is a support hub sharing the framework more widely. What I’m looking for: People who want to build this capacity seriously, and who might eventually want to build something together. Not necessarily people who want to live here – the current property probably isn’t the long-term site. Happy to hear from anyone this resonates with, including people already in community who’d rather share what they’ve learned than join anything.
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
4 weeks ago

Unit C-2, Woodard Lane Cohousing — Olympia, WA

Join Olympia’s first and longest-running cohousing community, in a quiet West Side neighborhood 1.6 miles from downtown, backing onto a forested ravine along Schneider Creek. Unit C-2 offers 1,904 SF. Two stories, 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and a bonus loft room on the main level. It can be lived in as one spacious family home — or split into two independent living spaces, each with its own kitchen, entrance, and effective soundproofing. Great for multigenerational households, live/work arrangements, or an owner-occupied half with a rented or shared half. Upper level: bedroom, full bath, bonus room with built-in loft bed, and an open kitchen-dining-living area with a deck facing the forest. Lower level: 3 bedrooms, full bath with dual sinks, second full kitchen, laundry room, and a second patio. Features: 2 full kitchens, radiant floor heat, stained concrete floors (bamboo upstairs), double-pane windows, bolted keyed entries at both levels, dedicated laundry, concrete patios facing the ravine, shared parking with 18 EV charging stations.   Ownership includes a Common House with a guest room, full kitchen, gathering space, and kids’ play area; a shared vegetable garden; a wood shop and bike storage; and wooded grounds with a stream path and central Green. Monthly dues are $799, covering all utilities except internet. Established in 2010, Woodard Lane is home to ~40 residents across 18 homes, with shared meals, work parties, and genuine neighborliness. Learn more about Woodard Lane Cohousing  We’re looking for a buyer who wants to participate fully in community life. $630,000. Contact Kate Greene: yo******@***il.com or text: 360-789-7587.
Offer
Need

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