Matthew Thorsen

Farrington's Mobile Home Park in Burlington's New North End

Residents of Burlington's only mobile home park have signed a purchase agreement to buy the land on which their houses are parked.When the Farrington's Mobile Home Park went on the market for $5 million last November , its inhabitants worried they'd be displaced by a developer looking to capitalize on the prime real estate. Located just off North Avenue, the 11-acre property with 120 lots offers what is widely considered to be the most affordable home-owning option in a city where the cost of housing has escalated.Residents voted to form a cooperative, with the goal of purchasing the property themselves. Robert Farrington, one of several family members who inherited the New North End park, toldat the time that he was "100 percent" in support of their effort.But the looming question for months was: Could the residents — many of whom are on fixed incomes — actually cobble together the money to make it happen? Theresa Lefebvre, who's lived in Farrington's for three decades, is president of the new North Avenue Co-Op. She announced today that the group signed a purchase agreement with the Farringtons on Tuesday. It had help along the way from the city, nonprofits with experience financing cooperative purchases, and strong state laws protecting mobile park tenants.Citing the complexity of the deal, she said they don't expect to close on the sale for another four months and aren't releasing further details about the transaction in the meantime, including the final price.The co-op may need to sell a swath of green space at the southern end of the park to raise the necessary money, according to Lefebvre. But members are hoping instead to raise $800,000 through donations, which would allow them to preserve the land as a play area for children and to have a place to pile snow in the winter.