Shipping Container Apartments Coming to Brookland

• July 14, 2014
• 2 Comments

by Lark Turner

A single-family home currently sits on the property.

DC already has a shipping container restaurant. Now it looks like shipping container housing isn’t too far off.

The Washington Business Journal reports that Matthew Grace and Sean Joiner want to build a three-story, four-unit apartment building out of shipping containers. The duo is working with DC-based Travis Price Architects on the project. Joiner didn’t respond to UrbanTurf’s requests for comment.

There’s currently a single-family home at 3305 7th Street NE (map), the address for the proposed project. Some neighbors aren’t happy about the planned apartments, as Michael Neibauer noted in his post. In particular Gary Imhoff, who writes the local DC Watch newsletter, railed against the containers in a post titled “Packed in Containers” at the end of June:

“Prefab shipping container houses can be made to look nice in architect’s plans. So can trailer parks. But I suspect that a few decades of wear will quickly turn them into slums. This is the sort of housing development, along with micro apartments, that our city planners hope to stuff us in.”

Grace and Joiner reportedly hope to make an environmentally-friendly statement with the container homes by using recyclable materials. The plans have not yet been made publicly available by the Board of Zoning Adjustment.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/shipping_container_apartments_with_environmentally_friendly_focus_coming_to/8732

2 Comments

1. UrbanDweller said at 8:38 pm on Monday July 14, 2014:
   This is great news. I myself have been looking into this for a year now. Shipping container homes are great if properly designed and cost way less per sq ft than homes on the market. Just like any other home, they have to be maintained but you don't have to worry about your siding or brick facade falling apart. Just a new coat of paint will do. Other countries around the world already have this type of housing available and they look great.Try Japan. I hope this works out for them and I would like to hear more about their experience. Keep us posted Lark.

1. Ronnie Pistons said at 6:04 pm on Sunday October 5, 2014:
   The US is behind on this trend. I think shipping container house customization is a brilliant idea. I'm actually thinking of building a shipping container recording studio.