Our Story
Bull City Commons began when our three founding couples wanted to develop an urban, walkable cohousing community in central Durham. They found property at 610 Trent Drive that was zoned for our type of project and was in a perfect location: walkable to parks, grocery stores, and great restaurants.
We self-developed our project, which meant that we directly hired the architect, general contractor, and other experts to construct the building, rather than working with an independent developer. This benefited us by reducing our costs, provided us with more input on design and marketing decisions, and gave us a head start on developing the human aspects of our community.
2017
Purchased land
610 Trent Drive was purchased. Read more about how Bull City Commons came together in an interview with Jim, a founding member.
2018
Initial marketing
We began marketing to find people with shared values who were interested in enhancing their lives. A handful of members joined us early on and helped shape our vision of a diverse urban community guided by kindness, respect and mutual support. We selected Sociocracy as our self-governance process. Together, we began to reimagine the way we will live in our future building.
2019
Design
We hired the award-winning firm Weinstein Friedlein Architects to design a condominium building with 23 private condo residences and multiple shared spaces that foster meaningful social connections. (Read more about our architect, Ellen Weinstein.) We created our development oversight process.
2020
Construction
We grew to over 30 members and pre-sold 100% of our units. We obtained construction financing from Pinnacle Bank, and RESOLUTE Building Company began construction on our future homes.
2021
More construction
Though we experienced inevitable construction delays, made worse by the pandemic and supply chain issues, we continued watching the building rise up.
2022
Move in!
In early 2022, we closed on our units and began moving in to our new homes. Our community became a COA: Condominium Owners Association.