Communal garden plots on the roof will let tenants grow their own fruits and vegetables and provide a destination for walkers who can either climb up to them from the courtyard or step down to them after a workout.
Most of the land is rented to a tenant, who grows corn and soy, and Woolson works his catnip on two acres.
Tenants have grown frustrated waiting for repairs.
Trees are considered tenants and grow out of their own windows.
The list of prospective tenants is growing, said Mr. Wells, who hopes to begin leasing the site's commercial space next summer.
"We knew the needs of our tenants were growing, and we wanted a system that could support them for the next 15 to 20 years," Mr. Stoddard said.
Honoring that culture meant adding balconies to all apartments, creating walking paths dotted with native plants, adding pedestrian access to a nearby park and waterfront, and even installing a rooftop vegetable garden where tenants could grow their own food.
DISPUTES between landlords and tenants often arise when the landlord stops providing a service that a rent-regulated tenant has grown accustomed to.
The moors, Briggs explains, begin where the cultivated land ends; in the Brontës' time, the small tenant farms grew oats, kept dairy cattle and took in hand-weaving, but in more recent decades the fields have been taken over by the horsy set and hobby farmers from the cities.
For instance, one savvy user noticed that current piracy legislation could mistakenly leave a person who owns a domain name legally responsible for the actions of the website administrator (the equivalent of holding a landlord responsible if his tenant was growing pot in the backyard).
