Coffee and conversation were shared among onlookers as the first few repurposed shipping containers were lowered onto the concrete foundation of what will soon be The Oscar, a sustainable housing development in downtown Phoenix.
Located a block north of Roosevelt, the development at Portland and Second Street is already a welcome addition to Roosevelt Row’s arts district, according to investor Kathleen Santin, who added that many residents of the area have reached out to her in support of the project.
Comprised of 12 total units, the three-story building is a larger development than its predecessor, Containers on Grand; however, The Oscar will be a more art-focused development than Containers on Grand, Santin said.
“We sandblasted these containers,” Santin said, “that’s why they look matte silver. We don’t know what’s going to happen, they’re going to patina and change with the weather. We’re really excited to see how they end up… we’re in the arts district, we feel like that’s really art.”
The Oscar will feature a sculpture garden and one commercial space on the northeast corner of Portland and Second streets. The sculpture garden will lease a different sculpture from a different artist each year starting with, and taking direction from, artist Pete Deise, Santin said.
StarkJames, the company which designed Containers on Grand and The Oscar, was awarded the land after bidding on a request for proposal by the City of Phoenix, said Jeff Stapleton, economic development specialist for the City of Phoenix.
“It’s great to activate vacant land downtown. That’s really important,” Stapleton said. “We’re really making an effort to put our own land and our own vacant buildings to use. The private sector is doing the same thing. This is a good project; both sides are working together to activate a vacant lot.”
The project is not only expected to have economic benefits, but environmental benefits as well.
“The advantage to living in them is that you’re living in a piece of history, and you’re also helping promote adaptive reuse and the environment,” Santin said. “These containers would have been shipped, burned for metal — a total environmental hazard — not to mention trucking them to where they go. This really saves something.”
Each unit will be about 800 square feet, according to Brian Stark of StarkJames. He said the small spaces could be seen as a negative or a positive, but, “We’ve used it in a positive way and created really nice spaces… It’s like those projects in architecture school that you always do, but you think never happens.”
Stark said he expects people of all ages to live at the new development, comparing it to Containers on Grand, which houses residents whose ages range from early 20s to late 30s.
The Oscar is slated to begin leasing its spaces in late May, Stark said.
Contact the reporter at shane.crowe@asu.edu.
