Description
Atchison Village includes 450 apartments of five styles in 97 one-story buildings and 65 two-story buildings. Every unit has ground level access both front and back and fenceable backyards. Each unit has a dedicated parking space and there is ample on-street parking near each unit on the public streets. There is free wireless at 2.5 Mbyte/s from a Meraki system of 10 nodes.
As of May 2012, units cost from $30,000 to $70,000. They are relatively unaffected by the housing bubble or foreclosures, since share certificates cannot be liened, and the low prices may be to the fact that title to the property is not transferred, but only the real property interest in it, making it difficult to take out a loan to buy a Right to Perpetual Use. However, the Atchison Village Credit Union may lend a significant sum against the purchase if the buyer has a co-signer with real property in California.
A maintenance fee, currently averaging ~$300 monthly, covers taxes, insurance, reserve funding, structural maintenance, water and sorted waste collection from curbside individual rolling plastic containers.
The grounds are landscaped, including a large park and separate soccer and baseball fields with bleachers. There is also a small children's playground, completely upgraded with modern Big Toys and soft ground. All streets have sidewalks and street lighting and are patrolled by the Richmond Police Department. There is a large laundromat and small supermarket adjacent, at First Ave and MacDonald.
Point Richmond is within walking distance and has two small supermarkets, a post office, bank, public warm pool, fire station and library. The entire neighborhood is on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historic Monument.
The Atchison Village housing project is an example of the local-federal collaboration that provided much-needed housing and domestic support for WWII defense workers and their families. The modest, wood-frame buildings clearly reflect the constraints of time, money and materials placed on publicly funded housing construction during the period, but though simple in design, they have full-dimension clear fir framing and heavy interior plaster. Water mains, electric panels and all roofs have been recently upgraded at a cost of more than three million dollars. Reserves for such replacements are replenished through a dedicated portion of the monthly assessments, to avoid the sometimes catastrophic assessments other condominium associations may levy when they ignore the need for maintenance of large structural elements. Currently under way is a complete rebuild of the sewer system.
Read more about this topic: Atchison Village, Richmond, California
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