There’s a new group in Lawrence promoting the benefits of retiring at a co-op. It took me a moment to wrap my head around the idea. Why would I want to retire at a grain elevator? Those, after all, are some of the larger examples of cooperatives in the area. Then I remembered that The Merc is also a co-op. Retiring next to its pastry case does sound appealing, although they are going to have to become a lot more tolerant of my bathrobe than they have been in the past. I’m not sure that’s what the organizers of a new cooperative in Lawrence have in mind, but they do think it is going to shake up the local retiree housing market.

Perhaps you have seen advertisements for Vintage Cooperatives and a new retiree housing project it has planned for Lawrence. I hadn’t seen any plans filed for such a project at City Hall, so I checked in with officials at Vintage. Indeed, the company hasn’t filed any plans yet because it is still testing the waters in Lawrence. But a company official told me he is optimistic Lawrence will become the site of a multimillion-dollar senior housing project by the Iowa-based company.

First, though, Vintage is taking some time to explain the idea of living in a cooperative. Curtis Jones, director of marketing for Ewing Development, said his company tries to build projects for seniors who want some of the benefits of home ownership but don’t want all the hassles of homeownership. The way the idea works is that Ewing Development constructs a large building usually housing 48 to 60 living units. Unlike a traditional condo development, however, residents won’t buy a specific unit. Instead, they’ll buy shares in the ownership of the overall building. At the end of the day, the building is owned by the people living in it, making it a cooperative. The residents of the building form their own governance group to manage the property, although Ewing provides professional help on the day-to-day management.

Part of the idea behind the concept is seniors don’t have to take out a mortgage to buy a unit. Jones estimated most units range in prices from about $150,000 to $300,000. Residents make an upfront payment of 40 percent to 50 percent of the unit’s value. They then make a monthly payment to the cooperative, which is used to help pay down the mortgage that the cooperative holds, and also to cover operating expenses of the cooperative. That includes maintenance fees and other amenities.

Jones said one of the advantages of the concept is when it is time for a resident to move out or sell their unit. Since you don’t own the actual unit, you aren’t technically conducting a real estate transaction. You’re instead just selling your shares in the building. Jones claims that will be easier than a real estate deal. A big part of the system seem to be that Ewing is confident that it can continually market the facility well enough that there will always be a waiting list for people wanting a unit. When it is time for a resident to leave, they simply sell their shares to someone on the waiting list. They sell the shares at a set price that is based on an annual 2 percent appreciation in share prices.

It sounds like there also may be some tax advantages with the system, but as my accountant, Vinny, tells me, I shouldn’t worry about all those details. (Do worry, however, if a car with government plates is in your driveway, he says.) I don’t understand all the details of this system, or whom it may work for or whom it may not.

My point in mentioning the project is to alert you to keep an eye out for another potential retirement development. The company is hosting its second meeting with potential co-op members today, and Jones said he expects a decision on whether to move forward will happen quickly.

He said the company has been looking at West Lawrence locations to build the project, but hasn’t yet secured any land. He said the company typically likes to have about seven to 10 acres because it ultimately wants to build a campus environment that would include a nursing home or other skilled-care units.

It looks like the company is aggressively pursuing similar projects in several other communities. It has had meetings in Liberty, Mo. and Independence Mo. It recently opened a cooperative living project in Ankeny, Iowa, and it looks like it has several other projects in various stages of development near Des Moines.

“We really like Lawrence because we like college towns,” Jones said. “People in college towns are often very committed to the community. They want to live in the community for a long time, and we really don’t see anybody offering something quite like what we have planned.”

I’ll keep an eye on whether the project moves forward, and report back.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Keep an eye out for some changes near one of Lawrence’s more popular loft-style apartment buildings. Officials at Black Hills Energy have confirmed they plan to demolish their old maintenance shop near Eighth and Pennsylvania streets and put the property on the market. The site is across the street from the popular Poehler Lofts building and the Warehouse Arts District.

Chuck Hoag, a Lawrence manager with the natural gas company, said he expected the site’s most likely use would be as a parking lot to serve the growing Warehouse Arts District. I could see that, but the site is several acres, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a developer tried to do something a little more ambitious as well.

One issue with the site is that there likely will be some environmental restrictions on the property. Based on past articles we have done, the site has issues related to coal tar. From the mid-1800s to early 1900s, the site burned a lot of coal to produce gas. In the late 1990s, remediation work was done on the site, and state environmental officials have said the property poses no significant risk to the public. But the state did require deed restrictions that prohibit residential construction or any other activity that would “necessitate frequent contact with the soil.”

So, we’ll see who is interested in that property and what plans may be in store for the area. Black Hills no longer needs the site because it has a new maintenance facility in northern Lawrence.

• It may be a busy couple of nights for trees. A few may house some toilet paper on Friday night, which is Halloween, lest you think my neighborhood just does odd things with toilet paper. But tonight, if a certain baseball team wins a certain game, you may find fans of this team hanging from the tree tops. (What? I’m admittedly bad at celebrating baseball victories.)

Well, a new study has pointed out that we sure do have a lot of trees to choose from. The Kansas Forestry Service recently conducted a study of Douglas County’s rural and urban forests. That means it looked at a lot of trees in Lawrence and other parts of the county.

How many trees? Well, the study estimates Douglas County has about 14 million trees. It also estimates that about 25 percent of the county has trees that are dense enough to create what is called a tree canopy. As for the types of trees, the most common are American Elm, Northern Hackberry, Eastern Red Cedar, Osage-Orange and Honey Locust.

The trees, of course, provide shade, protection from the wind and other such things that can help reduce the energy bills of homeowners. The report estimated that Douglas County trees reduce annual residential energy costs by $2.9 million a year.

The report also says Douglas County trees store 1.7 million tons of carbon, which has a value of $124 million. I don’t quite understand that, but I’m guessing maybe some of you scientific types do. Meanwhile, I am searching for loose carbon in my couch cushions.

You can read the entire report, here.

• Town Talk will be off tomorrow. I may or may not still be in a tree.