116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Firm turning shipping containers into 'cool stuff' expands in Manchester
Company plans to quadruple the size of its facility with the help of incentives
A Manchester business that converts shipping containers into mobile offices and bars — and, occasionally, secret bunkers — is quadrupling the size of its production facility as part of a $5.9 million expansion project.
"We have a real hard time saying 'no' to building some pretty cool stuff," said Marty Kelzer, co-owner of A-1 Mobile Storage Service.
The company obtains large shipping containers that arrive in the United States by boat and adds windows and doors, insulation, heating and cooling and wall paneling to them.
They most often are leased or purchased as offices for construction sites, but they also are commissioned for large gatherings such as music events, NASCAR races and, in June, a special professional baseball game in Birmingham, Ala., where they are used as ticket booths, Kelzer said.
The planned expansion will consolidate the business' office in Delhi with its production operation near Manchester into a new 60,000-square-foot facility in Manchester’s industrial park near U.S. Highway 20.
Construction might be complete next year. A farm field occupies the space for now.
"We are very ecstatic for this to be happening," said Donna Boss, director of Delaware County Economic Development. "Our No. 1 priority is retention and expansion of our industry."
The project is expected to result in at least eight new jobs that pay about $25 per hour, according to the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The agency recently approved tax refunds and credits of nearly $300,000 for the project because of those jobs. The company already employs 52.
A-1 also is poised to receive about $1.25 million of property tax relief through the city.
The core of the 25-year-old company's business is the mobile jobsite offices. A-1 has built them 10 containers wide and can stack them if space is tight, Kelzer said.
A-1 also builds so-called "tailgaters," which have a bar in the main storage area and a place to mingle on top of the container. And several people have requested bunkers from the company that they install under their new homes, Kelzer said.
The company also supplied four containers for an unorthodox house constructed in 2017 in Cedar Rapids’ southeast quadrant.
Comments: (319) 368-8541; jared.strong@thegazette.com
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