Meet Jeremiah Erickson | Community Developer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeremiah Erickson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeremiah, how does your business help the community?
We have been very intentional about building purpose into everything that we do here at gemenskäp. The entire business was created to foster beautiful spaces where people can connect in community. In a world where people are increasingly finding themselves feeling alone, we have created an environment that gives people an opportunity to connect with others in ways that matter both to the individual and to the greater good.

gemenskäp engages its residents in raising funds for causes that matter via our charity bar (välgörenhetsbar) and neighborhood events. We then decide as a group which organizations we want to support financially. So far, we have been able to donate over $50,000 in the last two years alone. These funds went to helping those in our community that need assistance the most, at-risk youth. We feel blessed to have been able to partner with CASA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and The Boys and Girls Club. And we are just getting started…

We also are very excited about partnering with a startup called Neovita in bringing a new green housing option to Colorado. They have an innovative approach to housing focusing on affordability, while using recycled coffee bean husks and recycled plastics as their main building materials.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
gemenskäp initially started in 2017 in the short term rental (STR) space, by creating unique properties that were designed to offer special experiences for our guests. For example, a home on the water next to the mountains with available paddle boards and kayaks was one of our properties. In all our homes we intentionally only had televisions in the living room, to encourage folks to connect and not just hide away in their bedrooms. Our strategy worked incredibly well.

We had tremendous success with our STRs, with occupancy consistently in excess of 90% – well above industry norms. We were able to transition out of short term rentals at the right time, and it provided us with the financial resources to start building a physical community, which was always the goal of the organization.

Today we are filling up our first neighborhood just outside of Fairplay, CO. We have a beautiful parcel of land with 60 homesites on it. When we initially bought the land we are on, it was intended to be a 93 homesite, pull in/pull out RV Park. While operating a 93 site park would have been very profitable, it was not what we wanted to contribute to the world. So we eliminated lots, making the existing lots bigger, and added a central park to foster togetherness. The entire neighborhood surrounds this park with fire pits, a sauna, our charity bar, oversized hammocks, and other structural elements that encourage connectedness. gemenskäp’s slogan is ‘live different.’ We try to incorporate this into everything we do.

Housing in Colorado is unattainable to so many. We are very proud that we have been able to keep our homes affordable, with prices between $300k-$350k. I teach financial planning at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and retired as a financial planning director of a trust company. I have seen first-hand how hard it is to make personal budgets work. We are doing everything we can to give access to beautiful mountain living, taking a personal approach with every prospective resident.

Being a developer is hard work. It is a very capital intensive business, with lots of humans and regulatory hats involved. It can be tiring and daunting at times, but it is so worth it…especially when you are doing something different and needed. Just recently I was engaging in conversation with a stranger at a local eatery. We spoke about work and he was extremely complementary and incredibly thankful that gemenskäp is building in the area, where there is a significant housing shortage. He mentioned that he tried to get an affordable housing project off the ground here but investment fell through. Developing land is a big undertaking. In all aspects of life, there are highs and lows. This stranger and people who visit the property who say how much they love it, give me encouragement to keep going.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When friends and family visit, of course they stay at gemenskäp. It’s a great launch point to experience all that Colorado has to offer.

There are so many places in Colorado that we love to experience and share with our friends. We’d first drive an hour and hop on a raft and float down the Arkansas River in Salida, followed by a meal at the Boathouse, one of our favorite dining spots right on the river. On the way home we might stop at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort. We use our locals pass to these hot springs regularly.

We’d drive an hour and a half to Denver to catch a Rockies game, which is a great experience even if they are not doing so well. Before the game, we’d choose amongst one of Denver’s many wonderful eateries.

Breckenridge is a half hour away, so we’d head there for some shopping, dining, and hopefully one of their many events and festivals.

What else would we do? Drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. Play with our water toys at Pueblo Reservoir. Hike one of the many trails nearby.

We have a favorite spot where we like to lazy river float. We’d set up a tent and spend the afternoon grilling and enjoying the beautiful Colorado weather.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
So much of who I am has been influenced by individuals who have cared enough to invest in me. Bruce Redmond. Darnell Boehm. Mark Weaver. Steve Brown. I owe a lot of gratitude to these mentors.

Website: https://www.gemenskaplife.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gemenskap_tinyhomeresort/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremiaherickson/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gemenskaptinyhomeresort