A rare chance to live in Edmonton's only cohousing project just popped up
A two-bedroom condo has hit the market in Old Strathcona. On paper, it sounds like a pretty standard, if not underwhelming, listing, but this place comes with something you won’t find anywhere else in Edmonton.
Located at #403, 10115 88th Ave. NW and selling for $450,000, the condo is one of 26 units located inside Urban Green, the city’s first — and still only — equity-based cohousing community. Here, residents own their own homes but intentionally share parts of daily life, from meals and maintenance to holiday celebrations and childcare.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Urban Green was born out of frustration with car-centric neighbourhoods and the isolation that can come with them. Instead of building a place where everyone keeps to themselves, the group wanted to create an intentional community where people could raise families, age in place, and support one another.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Sounds great in theory, but getting it off the ground was another story.
The idea first took shape in 2011, but residents didn’t move in until 2023. According to founding member and resident Della Dennis, most cohousing projects never even make it that far.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
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Because the project was funded entirely by the future residents, the group had to pre-sell 80 per cent of the homes before construction could even begin. By the time shovels finally hit the ground in 2020, the pandemic arrived, bringing soaring material costs, supply chain issues and delays. Then came a contractor bankruptcy. The project even had to pivot from a wood-frame building to steel and concrete before it finally crossed the finish line.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
But for the people who stuck around, the result has been a close-knit community built on years of trust.
When we visited, it was easy to see what they meant. The building is home to people of all generations, and everyone seemed to know each other’s names and birthdays. As one resident said, they’re “living independently, together.”
But how does cohousing actually work?
According to the Canadian Cohousing Network, cohousing communities are intentionally designed to balance private homes with shared spaces and collaborative decision-making, allowing residents to maintain their independence while fostering a stronger sense of community.
Legally, Urban Green is a strata, Dennis explained, because Alberta doesn’t have a legal definition for cohousing, but day-to-day life looks a little different than a typical condo building.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Residents meet every month, make decisions by consensus and pitch in through committees that look after different parts of the community. Ownership also comes with access to about 4,000 square feet of shared space, including a community kitchen, dining room, library, media room, guest suite, rooftop terrace, and gardens.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
And it’s not just the shared space.
There are regular community meals, Christmas parties, babysitting, and neighbours looking out for each other. When we stopped by, people knew each other by name, stopped to chat, wandered through the common spaces like extensions of their own homes.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
The building itself was also designed with sustainability in mind. It’s fossil fuel-free and includes triple-pane windows, solar panels, high-efficiency insulation, and an air-source heat pump.
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
Samia M. Seifeddine/Remax Excellence
While the condo itself is now up for grabs, it’s really the rest of the space, and a community built in, that’s on offer.
You can view the full condo listing on the Realtor website. For more information about the cohousing project, check out the Urban Green website or visit one of the monthly drop-in sessions on the second Tuesday of each month.
Would you live in a cohousing project? Let us know in the comments.