A Baltimore developer hopes to build a small steel stamping plant in Baltimore that would buy rolled steel coils from steel plants and convert the coil to light-gauge steel for housing.
Yonah Zahler, CEO of Y & M Development, said the steel plant in Baltimore would need about 10,000 square feet and employ 10 to 20 workers.
His company is currently building homes in the 110 to 120 block of South Register in Baltimore that use the type of steel frames he wants to come from the plant.
The homes are townhouses in Baltimore?s Fells Point neighborhood, part of a project called Ropewalk Village. Work began in earlier this month and the first three completed homes set to be ready in October.
“The pricing of steel is getting closer to the price of wood,” Zahler said.
Insurance companies are offering discounts to developers and homeowners because, with more steel than wood, the homes are less prone to spread fires.
“Steel doesn?t act as a fuel like wood,” Zahler said.
He added that because steel doesn?t stretch and bend over time like wood, it can cut energy costs by 40 percent over the life of home.
Steel won?t settle like wood and create plaster cracks or seal leakage around windows, Zahler said.
He added that steel is less prone to wind damage and that helps reduce insurance costs as well.
A steel plant in Baltimore would be located close to major highways, Zahler said. That would help make it easy for large tractor-trailers to bring steel coils into the plants.
“We are in discussions with the city about potential sites,” Zahler said.
The goal is that, as more developers learn about the efficiency and insurance costs related to using steel framing in new homes, that demand will soar for steel produced at the plant, Zahler said.
“This type of steel is more popular in Canada than the United States right now,” he said.
