Cargo Containers Converted Into Housing

BOCA RATON, FL - Boca Raton developer Envision Prefab is converting cargo containers into affordable housing. Company founder Aaron Newman has partnered with a company in South Carolina to put the prototype together. Envision plans to have the first model completed by early September. Models are being installed on a plot in West Palm Beach and a site in Miami, Newman said.

The modular units range from a two-bedroom, 740-square-foot unit to a three-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot home. Decks run as large as 520 square feet. The cost to the consumer is $150 a square foot, compared with the $300-a-square-foot preconstruction price of most ground-up units. Newman's product can be single-family homes or apartments.

Goose Creek, S.C.-based Associated Container is building out the containers. Newman said he pays as much as $3,000 per container, but would not disclose the conversion cost. Each of the units goes through tests to make sure the containers are safe and the steel is galvanized to avoid rust. The conversion involves fitting the modules with solar panels, Wi-Fi, bamboo flooring and charging facilities for electric vehicles of the future.

Newman said building to code for each municipality is not an issue because modular designs are submitted to the Florida Department of Community Affairs. Cities are provided with the state approval. Year-old Envision expects to generate revenue of $5 million in the first year by targeting developers and municipalities, which are constantly in need of affordable housing. In reference to the developer market, Newman said he would sell the units and install the homes on site.

Envision said it can produce 25 homes a month, compared to the six-month average for one ground-up construction. The company is currently looking for investors to begin ramping up production, but has not signed a contract for orders. Newman said the prefab strategy is useful because it recycles existing materials that otherwise would eventually be out of use.

Although the affordable niche will be a focus, Newman will continue to build ground-up, market-rate units through six-year-old Urban Core International. UCI built the ground-up, eight-home Hemmingway in Curry Park in West Palm Beach. Newman has also built office space in Central America and a prefab prototype in Panama.

Newman, a licensed mortgage broker, was also secretary of the Midtown Miami Community Development Board, which released $108 million in bonds to cover the infrastructure costs associated with the Midtown Miami residential and retail project. Newman is currently on a task force that is evaluating the creation of a green certification system for modular homes. One of the sponsors of the task force is the 13-year-old, New York City-based Manufactured Housing Research Alliance. Alliance Executive Director Emanuel Levy said Newman may be the first to implement prefab housing comprising cargo containers.

He added that prefab homes are gaining in popularity because they are high-quality products produced in optimum conditions and they can be produced at a lower cost than traditional housing. He expects Newman's container based housing to appeal to a niche of the market because the size of the containers present architectural limits that won't likely appeal to all homebuyers.

Newman acknowledges the biggest challenge is educating consumers, developers and public officials about the versatility of the product. The strategy is also ideal for infill sites that may be limited in size. "Think of them as Legos," he said. "You can mix and match them, depending on your site configuration."