A proposed housing project featuring stackable and moveable shipping containers has fallen flat.
Stackhouse, a startup housing and real estate project set to open its doors in August 2022, will not be moving forward with its plan to bring 62 container homes to the site of an old West Colfax car wash.
Stackhouse co-founders Janelle Briggs and Ryan Egan told BusinessDen that their contract on the 0.27-acre lot fell through.
Egan said Stackhouse needed additional time to close on the space and asked the property owner for an extension of their contract, but the owner declined.
The Stackhouse building would have offered container homes that were 320-square-foot units. The container price ranged from $110,000 to $130,000. Owners would pay a slot price, which ranged from $200,000 for a ground unit to $350,000 for an upper floor. Briggs said the slot prices were similar to a co-op cost. Owners would purchase a share of the co-op, thus owning their spot in the complex and receiving a percentage of the co-op equity.
In total, a container plus the slot would have cost between $310,000 and $480,000.
Egan previously said he hoped that in the future the prices would decrease as demand increases but "anytime you try to do something new the banks ask you what your comps are and Stackhouse has never been done before, so our financing is exceedingly expensive."
He also previously acknowledged that the idea could cause some skepticism, but he ultimately told BusinessDen he was disappointed in the lack of support.
"I think, unfortunately, I learned my lesson, and I will build as much as I can in secret as possible because I've learned that if you try to do things the way you're asked to, you're penalized," Egan said. "And there's a reason the quote-unquote 'evil developers' operate in the manner they do. Because I tried to do it the other way, and we were eviscerated."
According to BusinessDen, Stackhouse received 12 deposits for containers, which they will refund.
