Cleveland is Thinking Outside of the Box

06/12/2015 — Leah Palnik

As a Northeast Ohio based company, we’re full of hometown pride here at PartnerShip. Cleveland is experiencing what some might call a renaissance, and it’s great to see so many big things happening around our city. In the midst of this uprising, a few upcycle projects have caught our eye.

It appears that Cleveland is thinking outside of the box…or the shipping container, to be exact. This summer a seasonal nightclub is slated to open in the east bank of the Flats. What makes this club unique is that it's being constructed from - you guessed it - shipping containers. FWD Dayclub + Nightclub boasts on their facebook page that this interesting architecture pays homage to Cleveland’s industrial past, which was one of their major design goals.

Nightclubs aren’t the only place shipping container structures are popping up around our great city. This past holiday season, an initiative appropriately named Small Box launched in the heart of Cleveland’s Warehouse District. This marketplace features retail shops made of these versatile containers. The spaces are small, measuring 10 feet by 20 feet, but they have big style and make a great home for local retailers trying to expand their businesses.

Local companies like J. Evans Custom Home Construction and Cleveland Container Structures specialize in upcycling steel shipping containers for these types of projects, but these containers aren't just for businesses. Sustainable container homes are also becoming available in the area, helping to give life to shipping containers that would otherwise go unused. Shipping containers are airtight and built to withstand extreme weather and hard impacts, making them great for repurposing into housing. Whether you're looking for entertainment, shopping, or a place to call your own, the shipping container movement in Cleveland has you covered.