GarageTown: Garages As Condos
By Kevin Whipps
Ok
What do you do if you’ve got a killer car/truck/boat, but you can’t work on it in your dorm/apartment/condo parking lot without catching hell from the man?. A new company called Garagetown is selling garages just like condos – a great way to own shop space if you’re not into homeownership.
Here’s how it works: when you buy a garage, you receive a title and deed, and you own the property. That means you have all the rights of a property owner and you can do pretty much whatever you want in the garage. Even better, there’s a clubhouse for the community, wide driveways, and lots of room to park your projects.
Pricing varies, so the jury’s still out for us on whether this is a rich guy’s tool or a solution for the masses, but we do know that right now they’re offering facilities in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Texas, Washington – and even Alaska.
Our question: why don’t they offer one of these in San Francisco where people really need it?
Garagetown [Corporate Site]
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Hehe. Garage Owners Association (GOA) fees?
I sure wouldnt mind one. My itty bitty condo garage is too small for major projects.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
There’s one near my place, where a 20 by 48 lists for $119,700. I suppose if you had a $600,000 R.V. you wanted to keep pristine it might be worth it. I don’t see the benefit over renting space. I’m guessing there might be laws or other rules that prevent you from using the space as a shop or part-time residence. You probably will never get a permit to put in plumbing and wiring for such a purpose. Am I wrong?
December 5th, 2007 at 10:00 am
all the crap I have it’s not a bad idea, plus with this killer freezing weather I wouldnt have to worry about frozen blocks as much
December 13th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
If you are interested in building or investing in GarageTown you can contact me and I will get you some more information. As far as the space being too small it depends on what you want. We have sizes from 14×40 to 28×96, in Idaho, and larger in some other states. There is no living in them as that is not what they are built for, but you can do almost anything else in them.
Mine is for storage as I have a shop to work on my projects, but my grandfather has one and he turned it into a wood working shop and builds all sorts of things. One person in Spokane, Washington turned theirs into an art gallery, we have an owner in Alaska that is turning his into a cigar lounge for him and his buddies, some people use it for their small business, it really is there for you to do what you want.
You can visit our website at www.garagetown.com for more info or you can contact me directly at Cameron@garagetown.com
May 20th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I am the guy in Spokane who has turned his Garagetown Unit into an Art Gallery. I absolutely LOVE my Garagetown Unit. It is my Office/Gallery where I show clients the current inventory for American Fine Art Company. It has all the comforts of other commercial space but way more affordable (and profitable). I look forward to many years of working at this location. I wish I would have done this sooner. Check us out at www.americanfineartcompany.com.