As more people choose to live and work in the Columbus Region, so does the opportunity to expand and evolve the area’s housing landscape in thoughtful, forward-looking ways. Local developers are exploring new approaches to deliver high-quality housing efficiently and at scale. One company helping lead that evolution is Connect Housing Blocks, a Columbus-based innovator in modular construction. By manufacturing apartment units off-site and assembling them with speed and precision, the company is introducing a smarter, more flexible model for building housing—one designed to keep pace with the Region’s growth while improving cost, sustainability and delivery timelines.
Connect Housing Blocks builds fully-equipped modular apartment units in its 630,000-square-foot Columbus factory, one of the largest of its kind. These complete modular units—already fitted with plumbing, electrical systems and finishes—are then installed directly into existing buildings or stacked to create new buildings. The factory produces about four full units daily.
Benefits of modular housing include construction timelines up to 50% shorter than traditional projects, up to 70% less on-site construction waste, reduced carbon usage, and minimal disruption to infrastructure. Further, these modular units cost about $90,000 less per unit than units built in a traditional way, as Connect Housing Blocks Founder and CEO Brad DeHays told The New York Times.
“Our goal is to challenge the way housing gets built,” said DeHays. “By moving most of the construction process into a controlled factory environment, we’re fundamentally changing the economics and scalability of housing. It’s a more efficient, more predictable and ultimately more accessible way to quickly deliver the kind of housing that growing cities like Columbus need.”
A Game-Changing Approach
In 2025, the company’s first modular project came to fruition with the opening of The Station at Trolley District apartments, located in Columbus’ Franklin Park neighborhood. The building offers one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and boasts a fitness center and rooftop patio. Columbus Business First’s Building Columbus Awards named The Station at Trolley District its 2025 Project of the Year, citing its “significant innovation in how multifamily housing can be delivered.”
Now, Connect Housing Blocks is setting its sights on office-to-residential conversions, which has the potential to alleviate housing shortages and revitalize urban centers by bringing in new residents. When built traditionally, office-to-residential conversions are notorious for being complex and expensive, often requiring extensive plumbing and structural reconfiguration in dense downtown environments.
Connect Housing Block’s modular approach changes the game. In what is believed to be a global first for this type of adaptive reuse, the company is integrating its modular units into a historic former state office building at 145. S. Front Street in Downtown Columbus along the Scioto River. The project, called The Civic, will feature 115 apartments, retail and commercial space, and a rooftop pool. By using modular units rather than a traditional office-to-residential conversion, the building will retain more of its historic architectural elements and keep more of its original exterior facade.
Strengthening Columbus’ Workforce
Connect Housing Blocks’ impact also extends to workforce development and neighborhood investment. Its modular manufacturing facility, located just north of Linden, has been on a sustained hiring trajectory and now has 180 employees, creating new opportunities for residents.
By making housing more attainable, development more efficient, and Downtown more vibrant, the company is proving that innovation extends beyond ideas to real-world impact. And in Columbus, that impact is already taking shape, one modular unit at a time.
