When you shopped for your last home, what did you look for? You might’ve wanted something with a view or maybe it had to have a two-car garage, but did you consider your home’s job history?
Let us take you on a tour of an apartment that used to have a completely different purpose — an 8-by-40-foot, navy blue shipping container.
Brian Stark and his business partner Wesley James own the architecture company Starkjames. They’re now the owners of 16 containers from Long Beach.
Stark and James plan to transform these containers into an eight-unit apartment complex called Containers on Grand because they’ll eventually be moved to a lot on Grand and 12th Avenues.
It’s hard to know exactly what the containers were used for before this, but they definitely did a lot of traveling, carrying cargo across the ocean and now they’re ready to try something new.
So are the more than 100 people who have shown interest in them.
They are still empty, but that hasn’t stopped people like Stephanie Strausser from getting on the wait list. She said she’s always had an eclectic style.
“I like things that are kind of like not cookie cutter, kind of out of the box," Strausser said.
She’s going out of the box by going in the box.
“So, I just like things that are a little different and artsy," she said. "I kind of like when my home is a piece of art itself.”
And the project developers said most of the people on the wait list are like Strausser, young professionals with no kids who are looking for a unique living experience.
Right now, they’re estimating around $1,000 a month for rent. Stark said they’re saving money on the fabrication by keeping the character of the containers intact.
“We worked really hard on trying to get all navy blue containers so that they match and our goal is to do something that’s relatively low-maintenance," Stark said.
So, no paint on the exterior and they’re also keeping the original plywood flooring. The team got the necessary building permits this week and will start on fabrication soon.
The containers should be starting their first day on the job as apartments in late spring.
