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Denver Startup Plans First-Of-Its-Kind Stacked Container Housing

DENVER (CBS4) - West Colfax Avenue in Denver is changing. It's already a hub for new development, but is also slated to be home to the first-of-its-kind Stackhouse.

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"I thought, 'What if I could put an apartment in one of those and you could just buy one house and move it to any city,'" co-founder Ryan Egan said.

Egan and partner Dr. Janelle Briggs plan to transform 12,000 square feet, now a rundown car wash, into a tower of 62 two shipping containers turned tiny homes.

"This is our living and bedroom," Egan said during a tour of a model unit.

"Our goal was to create a type of housing that we could build faster and more economically than any other developer and that's what we have been able to accomplish," Egan said.

For the house, you'll spend $110,000. Add a slot in the tower starting at $200,000 and anyone wanting to own is looking at a base price of $310,000.

You get about 320 square feet and percentage of ownership.

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"There's a development directly behind us that had an affordable housing requirement, and our units are less expensive," Egan said.

He believes that price will likely go down in cost once development gets underway.

Tony Hernandez a professor of policy and community development at Metropolitan State University of Denver, says it doesn't meet the definition of affordable housing in Denver, but he welcomes the concept.

"It's reducing the cost by increasing density," Hernandez said.

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With the median Denver metro area home price sitting at around $560,000, Hernandez says it's just time to try something different.

"New approaches, new style, new type of wood, aluminum, let's build LEGO homes ... anything we can to find a way to build more affordable housing," he said.

Egan understands the idea won't appeal to everyone and he's creating new questions when it comes to housing development but for some, he believes it might be just what they are looking for.

"Our goal is to give people exactly the amount of housing and quality of housing they need," he said.

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Denver is the first tower planned and is still in the approval process with the city, but they plan to have people living in the structure by August 2022.

They would then like to have 25 towers across the country in the next 5 years with the idea that if you decide to move your home goes with you.

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