North Collin County Habitat for Humanity is using shipping containers to put a unique spin on its latest affordable housing project.
The nonprofit organization recently put a contract on 2.75 acres of vacant land it’s planning to develop into a 35-unit town-home community called Cotton Groves. The neighborhood, at Bumpas and Fitzhugh streets in east McKinney, will be its first to be made entirely of shipping containers, according to the McKinney Courier-Gazette.
From office space to food truck parks, shipping containers are being repurposed for a range of real estate developments these days. NCC Habitat CEO Celeste Cox told the Courier-Gazette she wanted to bring that urban design trend to affordable housing.
“Habitat for Humanity is very excited to embark on this new adventure in order to provide affordable housing for more families in need of a place to call home.”
Celeste Cox
“The need in Collin County for single-family residential developments continues to grow as the cost for land and new home prices soar beyond the reach of families earning the median household income,” Cox said. “Habitat for Humanity is very excited to embark on this new adventure in order to provide affordable housing for more families in need of a place to call home.”
Cox told Dallas Innovates the project’s construction timeline hasn’t been set since the development is still in the approval process.
For the project, NCC Habitat is working with The JDL Group, an advisory group bringing together all the development’s stakeholders. JDL Managing Director J.D. Lee told WFAA that Cotton Groves will be both affordable and sustainable.
“You can create some really unique housing. We just don’t wanna get people in houses. We want people to call that house a home eventually,” Lee told WFAA.
An interior of a Cotton Groves dwelling.
Kitchen and living area of a Cotton Groves dwelling.
Cotton Groves’ homes will be made from repurposed shipping containers.
Photo gallery updated Sept. 22, 2017
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