Nation's First Mid-Rise Container Condos Planned for Salt Lake City

"A year from now, if all goes as planned, developers will unveil a downtown Salt Lake City condominium building that will be unlike anything Utah has ever seen.

The seven-story structure will be fashioned largely from recycled steel shipping containers, those trailer-sized units that cross oceans on cargo ships and are stacked at ports and railroad yards around the world. Architects in the emerging field of shipping-container housing believe it will be the first building of its kind in Utah and the tallest such structure in the nation.

Called City Center Lofts, the building will occupy the site of the 337 Project, the graffiti-covered building at 337 S. 400 East that became a blank canvas last spring for 150 Utah artists and is slated to be demolished Saturday. Developer Adam Price says he was inspired by the creative energy of 337 in conceiving the new condo building, which will house an as-yet-unnamed nonprofit arts group on its ground floor."