Bringing It All Together:
The Merger of the MSU-SHC with Rivendell/the Shire!
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n 1972, a group of SHC members started Rivendell Co-op in a small house on Grand River Drive. Four years later, the group pooled their resources and bought a house in Lansing, not far from the Capital. It was a long way from the university, but it had always been a largely non-student group, and the prices in Lansing were a lot lower. Fast forward to 2011, when SHC staff member Mike McCurdy talked to Rivendell about a house for sale near his home in Meridian Township. What? That isn’t near Lansing or the university. But Rivendell was thriving, and they were ready for a new adventure. Why not buy a second house in the country? At least they could grow vegetables! A deal was struck, and The Shire was purchased. Rivendell became two houses.
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In an odd twist, the SHC also jumped across the Grand River just a few years earlier, buying Harambee (originally called Bulmer) a little south of the capital and about a mile from Rivendell. In doing so SHC became a “community co-op,” providing affordable housing for non-students in a totally different part of town. Indeed, both groups expanded their visions and dreamed of new horizons, making bold leaps of faith. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that both cooperatives soon had “new house problems.” That’s common, particularly when a concept, both geographically and conceptually, is different from the norm. Harambee had high turnover and operational difficulties from the start. The Shire and Rivendell had communications,
