Man creates home made out of shipping containers in Manatee County

Aug 13, 2023

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Kimberly Kuizon reports

BRADENTON, Fla. - A unique home in southern Manatee County sits as an example of Glen Gibellina's vision and hard work.

"The whole idea is to give a long-lasting product, hurricane resistant and little maintenance, because that's what we need," he said.

The 744-square-foot home is made out of two 40-foot shipping containers as well as one 20-foot container.

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"I’ve been interested in shipping containers for about a decade," Gibellina said.

He's lived in Manatee County for 40 years and served on the Affordable Housing Board. He believes the home could be a model to solve a growing problem.

"We are keeping up with demand for the $5-600,000 homes, but we aren't looking out for the work force housing," Gibellina said. "We are currently around 30,000 units short of affordable housing. We are so far behind we are 20 years from where we need."

The home took three years to construct, but could be done in as quickly as four months with proper financing.

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Denise Jones and her son Dustin Muir are preparing to move in to the home.

"Just in my own situation, we would be homeless, because there is just no way I could have afforded the going rates at 10 years ago let alone now," said Jones. "I have people that I know personally that are in circumstances that there's nowhere for them to go and there's no options."

Jones and her son rented from Gibellina prior to the new build.

"Even after watching the process day in and day out it's still amazing what happened and what it became inside," she said.

At a cost of around $150,000, Gibellina said it should be a model for the future.

"That's my input to the community. I can't do the 30,000, but I can do one," said Gibellina.

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