Real estate company Gold Key Group has partnered with shipping container company SG Blocks to propose a mixed-use development that could bring affordable housing to the northeast section of the Bronx, reports amNY.
The project would create around 65 to 75 apartments out of shipping containers, along with retail space at its base and space for a church, says Gold Key Group founder Nyron Chin-Sang.
Sang also told amNY that he decision to construct residential units from shipping containers was due, in part, to its affordability, quickness, quality, and the success of other shipping container-based buildings in other cities around the world. He also hopes that it could be part of the solution to the city’s affordable housing crisis.
It also helps that the containers meet international building codes and can withstand natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, however some question whether a full building constructed of shipping containers would be able to offer rents low enough for New York’s extremely low-income residents.
““I’m not sure if the cost savings up front are enough to charge low enough rents for people at or below the poverty level,” said housing policy analyst for the Community Service Society, Oksana Mironova, in a statement to amNY.
The proposal would need to obtain approval from the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation before it could move forward. Developers have not disclosed the exact location for where they would like to see the building rise, since the approval process is still in the works, not have they revealed the income earning levels that the project would cater to.
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