The chairman of SG Blocks, Paul Galvin, revealed to the Times in an interview that the company is extremely close to a final agreement to put up an apartment building made out of shipping containers in Manhattan. How very on trend. SG Blocks, which "repurposes maritime-grade steel cargo shipping containers into green building blocks for use in commercial, industrial and residential building construction," works fast. Even though the plans haven't been finalized, Galvin expects the building to be complete by late fall. To put shipping-container construction time in perspective, he cited a Bareburger restaurant that the firm is erecting in Long Island. Made of 11 containers, the entire thing will be stacked and pieced together in a day and a half. Meanwhile, the Manhattan project will be bigger than that.
Our product is engineered to go nine stories high, so right now we're vetting one site in particular very closely in Manhattan for a mixed-use project. We think, plus or minus, the building will be somewhere around 16,000 to 17,000 square feet. We don't make one container an apartmentmaybe we'll engineer four or five to create four apartments, and we take out the side walls to facilitate that. That building will probably be one floor commercial and seven apartments, a few of which will be duplexes. We have a letter of intent signed and partnership documents are being finalized. It would be a partnership with the landowner. I'm under an agreement; I can't say who. SG Blocks has worked on shipping-container structures in a variety of locations (the Hamptons to Fort Bragg) and for all manner of projects (Starbucks to retail pop-ups.) Here now, welcome to NYC's eclectic shipping-container club.
· A Conversation With Paul M. Galvin, Chief Executive of SG Blocks [NYT]
· Shipping Containers coverage [Curbed]
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