SAN ANTONIO – Construction is underway on a new apartment complex downtown that is being built from shipping containers.
Each of the 2,680-square-foot units at the Park Avenue At The Pearl has three bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths, two-car garages and a Smart Home Security System, said Robert Melvin, founder of Disruptive Construction.
"Each container weighs about 10,000 pounds," Melvin said. "Seventy-five hundred (pounds) are in the base of the containers. They can withstand 136 mph (winds)," Melvin said.
The containers, which are cut and finished at a warehouse prior to taking them to the construction site, dramatically reduce the amount of reusing, re-purposing and recycling of construction materials.
"This project is operating at a less than 1 percent waste in material," Melvin said.
The units aren't cheap. They go for around $700,000.