The New Community properties were designed to be a counterculture, utopian experiment for students at Michigan State University.

New Community as it is currently known, located at 425 Ann Street, was officially incorporated as a housing cooperative of the SHC on June 24, 1987.

With money from a HUD loan in 1980, the SHC eventually purchased properties at 415 and 425 Ann Street to provide housing for New Community members.

The SHC operated 415 Ann Street as a rental property until 1995 when it became an incorporated five-member co-op known as Toad Lane.

In 2010 and 2011, the residents engaged in home improvement projects to repaint several rooms, remove old carpet, and refinishing wood floors to instead have tile installed in the first-floor bathroom and hallways.