PHOTOS: Rosedale Could Get D.C.’s Next Shipping Container Apartments

A vacant, District-owned lot near Miner Elementary School might be the next site for homes made from recycled shipping containers.

The firm Neighborhood Development Company pitched a plan earlier this week to create the units on the 1600 block of Kramer St. NE, two blocks south of Benning Road.

The initial concept NDC presented, as first reported by District Source, would create 26 units, each with two bedrooms and two baths, all made inside 8-by-40-foot sea containers.

Travis Price Architects — which finished the SeaUA shipping container building in Brookland this fall — is working now on designs for Kramer Street and shared photos and renderings of previous projects.

NDC is talking with neighbors to refine their proposal for the mixed market-rate and affordable building, financial analyst Michael Giulioni said.

“We want something that the community supports,” he said. “Based on our discussions, we are looking into less density, on-site parking, more family-driven units in scale with the area and improvements to the site that would improve things for the existing neighbors and the future occupants.”

Building with shipping containers has the advantage of being fast, Giulioni said.

“We estimate we could do something like this in three months because it’s pre-fabricated, a lot of it is done off-site, and then we do interior finishing,” he said.

Two nonprofit developers have also presented plans for the site, which will be reviewed by the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development.

Manna, Inc. proposed 10 houses with a mix of 2- and 3-bedroom units, District Source reported. Four of these units would be affordable. The group Mi Casa, Inc. presented a plan for 12 houses, each with three bedrooms. Ten of these would be affordable.

Development proposals for the property are due to DHCD on Feb. 19.

Photos courtesy of Travis Price Architects