While prefabricated homes are common, prefabricated apartments and hotels are not in Minnesota. They have largely been constructed on the East and West coasts, and even became a go-to solution for much-needed worker housing during North Dakota’s fracking boom about eight years ago.
The prefabricated home industry is a well-known entity. But the scarcity of modular construction options in Minnesota has created a good opportunity here, said Rise Modular CEO and Founder Christian Lawrence, who plans to build more apartments and other structures.
Rise Modular recognizes how something is built is equally as important as the quality of a project. According to their website the benefits of modular construction are speed, cost, quality, sustainability, safety, and capacity.
- BUILD TIMES REDUCED BY 30-50%
- OFF-SITE CONSTRUCTION FOR 10 – 20% COST SAVINGS
- CONTROLLED MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT
- MORE ENERGY- EFFICIENT BUILDS
- MITIGATES JOB SITE RISKS
- BUILDING OVER 1M FT² OF FINISHED MODULAR SPACE
In its Owatonna, Minnesota-based production facility Rise leverages lean manufacturing assembly line techniques and best practices to reduce waste, improve operational efficiency, and increase productivity. 75-90% of the construction project is completed entirely within its controlled environment.
South Minneapolis now is getting its first modular apartment buildings, with the pieces placed together with cranes last week.
The $4 million project, dubbed “Mod42,”in the Standish-Ericsson neighborhood (4200 32nd Ave. S. in Minneapolis), was largely built on the Rise Modular assembly line and then trucked to Minneapolis.
Last week, workers stacked the giant boxes — each 16 by 72 feet — then bolted them together to form a 30-unit, three-story apartment complex.
There is also a larger project, a seven story, 192-unit building in Saint Paul at 337 W. Seventh St., known as The Alvera.
What are your thoughts? Are you leary? Excited?
(Story details credited to the Rise Modular website, Brian Johnson at Finance and Commerce and By Nick Halter at Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal)
