'Mondos' touted as quality at low price
A St. Petersburg developer will build 54 units of modular condominiums to show they are a viable solution for quality work force housing.
By JAMES THORNER
Published May 6, 2006
Condominiums, synonymous in coastal Pinellas and Hillsborough counties with high-rise luxury, could be going mondo.
Mondo is short for modular condominium, and if the term evokes images of trailer park tin, developer Frank Maggio wants to clear up the misconception.
Maggio, owner of St. Petersburg's First Dartmouth Development LLC, is pitching factory-made condominiums as a solution to the work force housing shortage.
Business leaders complain that rising home prices have left behind the average middle-class worker. Think cops, teachers, entry-level accountants and secretaries.
The benefits of mondos are their low cost and quick assembly. Whole stories are trucked to the building site and hoisted into place. The process takes about six days, though preparing the ground, installing elevators and sheathing condos in siding can take a couple of months.
As Maggio corrals 4 acres in St. Petersburg for the region's first mondo project - he won't say exactly where - he'll have to work some magic to convince the legions who scorn all things mobile and modular.
At a recent soiree for the real estate industry at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg, Maggio challenged politicians like Mayor Rick Baker to stand up to inevitable opposition.
"I call it NIMBY provincialism. Everyone wants a solution but they all say, 'Not in my back yard.' " Maggio said. "It's not like we're putting a prison in or a landfill."
Maggio's not the only developer plugging the appeal of multifamily modular. Baker said at least one builder is considering two-story modular apartments in a disused mobile home park.
And Palm Harbor Homes, a national company based locally in Plant City, is keen to enter the market. Palm Harbor recently built its first two-story modular duplexes, 23 units in New Port Richey, which were priced cheaper than similar-quality duplexes built on site.
"Can we build three stories? There's no reason why not,'' Florida manager Rob Kolanowski said. "The greatest interest is in high-building-cost areas. We're building two-story homes in St. Pete now."
Maggio is best known recently for proposing at least three condominium complexes in St. Petersburg worth an estimated $500-million. None has begun construction.
In his view, what better businessman to pitch modular than a guy known for upscale stuff?
Modular construction is superior, he said. To minimize mold and mildew, the sections are built in climate-controlled factories in the Carolinas and sealed before shipping. Roofs are premade, snapped into place and secured by hurricane straps. Windows are installed to withstand 140 mph winds. Flooding won't be a problem since the three-story structures are elevated on piers, the lowest level for covered parking.
"The concept of building apartments and condos using modular sections, that's not new," said Frank Williams, director of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, a trade and lobbying group. "It's not been prevalent in Florida at all, but it's been done in the Northeast."
Maggio hopes an appeal to price will sell the mondos. In a St. Petersburg market where $250,000 condos are considered entry level, Maggio is pitching mondos for as little as $160,000. The reason is the shorter building time, assembly line construction and low profit margins.
He said he's so confident of sales, he's building the first 54 units, housed in three modular stories, on speculation. They will range from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet with two or three bedrooms.
"In work force housing, we don't need to be driving prices up, but driving prices down," he said.
Fellow developers like Craig Sher, president of the Sembler Co., are all ears. Sher's company built some of the city's marquee projects, including the BayWalk entertainment district. To create enough work force housing, innovators need to save on labor and material, Sher said.
To serve their purpose as housing for workers, Maggio insists mondos be "urban infill," not shoved into suburban green fields. A successful mondo would blend in with established surroundings, providing housing otherwise unattainable at that address.
"This won't be in Myakka City or even northern Pasco County," Maggio said. "It has to be in our neighborhoods.''
Baker is potentially supportive if projects meet three criteria: They're affordable for the target buyer, stand up to hurricanes and look good. It can be modular, Baker said, but it shouldn't look modular.
"The idea of looking for more affordable work force housing is a good thing," he said.
"I've always thought the market, and not government, will have to find out how to do it."