First market-rate modular home available in Chicago’s South Shore

Factory-made modular homes are coming to Chicago.

Developer Summer Qwest Holdings completed one modular home in South Shore with plans to build at least two more, Crain’s reported.

“It’s faster to build [than conventional construction] and easily repeatable,” Summer Qwest’s Marcus Dailey said. “It’s an innovative way to bring new construction that people can afford into the community.”

The modular houses are built in pieces in a factory and assembled onsite, which essentially cuts construction time in half. In addition to the shortened construction timeline, the pre-cut, standardized materials are cheaper for builders, meaning the homes can be offered to buyers at a lower price.

The first completed modular home for Summer Qwest is a 1,620-square-foot, three-bedroom at 7205 South Ridgeland Avenue. The home is currently listed for $449,900 by Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty.

Dailey plans to build two more modular houses on the remaining vacant lots at the corner of Ridgeland Avenue and 72nd Street, next to the completed home. The lots have been vacant for almost 20 years, public records show.

While modular construction is often associated with cheaper homes, it’s also becoming more popular with luxury housing developers. A modular seven-bedroom home with a pool and pool house in Bridgehampton, New York sold for $4.7 million in 2020.

Dailey is the first developer to use designs from Archer Heights-based Kinexx Modular Construction for market-rate homes. Kinexx’s designs have previously been used for affordable housing projects, including the Resurrection Project in Back of the Yards, where the homes are listed for $200,000. Kinexx is also working with Structured Development to build modular houses in East Garfield Park as part of two developers’ affordable housing requirements.

Overall, Kinexx has delivered seven modular homes for affordable housing projects in the Chicago area. The East Garfield Park project, where four of the units are located, will have two more delivered this week and has a total order for 28 homes.

[CCB] — Victoria Pruitt