New Modular Apartments Built in Mill Valley
October 2016 Update: Blithedale Commons in Mill Valley has opened. Watch this video for highlights of the modular multifamily construction project.
Project Description
Bill Love, a Kentfield resident and renewable energy and housing developer, worked with Santa Rosa-based general contractor and manufacturer JL Modular, Inc., and Larkspur based Polsky Perlstein Architects to build Blithedale Commons.
Four separate, nearly complete, modular sections were trucked down from JL Modular’s facility in Windsor, CA and assembled by crane over two days into two townhomes in December 2015. After assembly, the project was 90 percent complete with only exterior finishes, utility hookups and landscaping left to do.
The upscale rental townhomes have three bedrooms, two and a half baths and feature a wide-open loft style layout with 9′ ceilings. The week between Christmas and New Years was chosen for deployment so as to minimize traffic impact since schools are closed.
Benefits of Modular Construction
- • Traffic reduction by performing the majority of the construction at JL Modular’s modular manufacturing facility in Windsor, CA.
- • Time-saving of at least six months construction by simultaneously prepping and building the foundation on-site and fabricating the modular sections offsite.
- • Cost savings by building the modular sections under one roof with experienced carpenters and craftsmen.
- • Efficient use of construction material since manufacturing takes place in a controlled factory setting.