Chicago’s first two-unit modular house is constructed — more are on the way

Chicago’s first two-unit modular house is constructed — more are on the way

Kinexx Modular Construction, which I’ve been writing about for three years now, has installed the first two-unit prefabricated and modular house in Chicago at 2854 W Harrison St in East Garfield Park. The two units are back-to-back rather than in a two-flat (one over the other) design.

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Like Kinexx’s other modular houses, which were single-detached houses built in one day, the two-unit house was erected and weathertight in two days. Josh Braun, CEO, said, “We started at 7am on Monday morning and the entire structure was erected by 2pm on Tuesday.” The roof was added on Wednesday and the next day, ComEd turned on electricity to the house.

These townhouses — which will be for sale for around $245,000— are part of the Harrison Row development, being built by Structured Development and Fain’s Development. (How many times can I write “development” in a sentence?)

The townhouses will also be affordable, put into the Chicago Community Land Trust portfolio, and sold to people earning up to specific incomes (here’s the March 2022 list of homes for sale and the income ranges).

I went to the Kinexx factory in December to see how they’re built. The factory has multiple assembly lines; tracks carry moveable platforms that each hold one of the modules.

There are several other two-unit houses for Harrison Row being constructed in the factory. They’ll get installed on the three foundations that were curing last weekend. (We have a map of all of the permitted Kinexx houses.)

Each of the units in the back-to-back townhouses is 1,500 s.f., and has one and a half bathrooms and three bedrooms with walk-in closets. The kitchens have dedicated pantries and the mechanical room has storage space. Additionally, there are closets under the staircases.

Right away, I see a major advantage to the back-to-back design: Nobody lives above you so you won’t hear their noises. No matter how tall the house is, though, the builders in the climate-controlled factory are always working at ground level — one of the benefits of prefabricated construction.

In addition to the two-unit townhouses, Kinexx has sold three single-detached house to a private developer in South Shore for installation on a triple-wide lot that’s been vacant for over 24 years. It was erected in January.

Kinexx has also built two single-detached houses for The Resurrection Project (which I already covered) in Back of the Yards and one for Lawndale Christian Development Corporation in North Lawndale.

Kinexx has a two and three-flat design on offer, and the ground floor is ready to be accessible, should someone select that option. I can’t wait until someone buys and builds the first modular two-flat in Chicago.

Chicago’s first two-unit modular house is constructed — more are on the way was originally published in Chicago Cityscape’s Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.