Post-Dispatch Brick City Features Our North St. Louis Housing Pilot
Module Building Systems
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's year-end Brick City newsletter included our North St. Louis housing pilot. In the Dec. 24, 2025 edition, the last of the year, reporter Steph Kukuljan wrote that the City of St. Louis has earmarked a few million dollars to build factory-built housing in North St. Louis, and that Module Building Systems (MBS) will build the homes.
Brick City is the paper's weekly newsletter on development across the St. Louis region. The year-end edition ran the pilot next to the sale of the St. Luke's site in Des Peres and the Opera Theatre's purchase of the Caleres campus in Clayton.
What did Brick City report about the housing pilot?
Under the heading "City to launch housing experiment," the newsletter reported that the city wants more housing, and more affordable housing, in North St. Louis. MBS will build on land owned by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and the city's land bank.
The newsletter reported $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $4 million in New Markets Tax Credits for the work. It described the homes as assembled offsite and delivered as a quick-install flat pack of panels and engineered wood.
The item follows the Post-Dispatch's report on the city board vote, which we shared in St. Louis approves MBS to build on city land.
How do factory-built panels work on city lots?
We cut and frame the wall, floor and roof panels in our 40,000 sq ft plant at 921 N 20th Street in North St. Louis. The panels ship flat on a standard flatbed and go up in order on a permanent, site-built foundation. Panelized homes are assembled on site in days, not weeks, compared with traditional construction. Results depend on scope, approvals, site readiness, materials and logistics.
The newsletter calls it modular housing. The homes are panelized: conventional wood framing built from factory-made panels. They are not manufactured homes and not volumetric modules trucked in on an oversize load, so inspection, financing and appraisal follow the same path as any site-built home.
How does a pilot home go from vacant lot to house?
Each home follows the same order. The lot starts as land held by the city. The drawings are approved and the permits are issued. Then two jobs run at once: the site crew prepares the lot and pours the foundation while our plant cuts and frames the panels.
When the foundation is ready, the panels ship from North 20th Street in the order they will be set. Floor panels go down first, then the walls, then the second floor and the roof. The general contractor completes the house on site, the same way it completes any site-built home: roofing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and finishes. MBS sets panels when that is part of the agreement.
Building the panels indoors means the cutting and framing happen on one line, out of the weather, instead of on every separate lot. One approved plan can repeat across many lots, which suits a pilot spread over city land.
Why build in North St. Louis?
Our plant sits in North St. Louis, a short drive from the lots. The city's land bank holds thousands of vacant lots, and our post on vacant lots in North St. Louis explains how they come back as homes. Building here keeps the work and the homes in the same part of town.
Update, October 2026
Our crew began setting the factory-built panels for the first home in the pilot in The Ville, near Sumner High School, on Oct. 27, 2026. Hoodline and the Post-Dispatch covered the raise. See the first home in The Ville, day by day.
About Module Building Systems
Module Building Systems (MBS) is a panelized offsite construction company founded in 2023 and based at 921 N 20th Street in St. Louis, Missouri. We build wall, floor and roof panel packages in a 40,000 sq ft CNC manufacturing facility and ship them flat-packed within 1,000 miles. Projects run up to 30% lower in cost and up to 50% faster, with up to 90% less waste. Actual schedules depend on project scope, approvals, site readiness, materials and logistics. Learn more about MBS.
Frequently asked questions
What is the North St. Louis housing pilot?
A City of St. Louis effort to build new homes on vacant land held by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and the city's land bank. Module Building Systems builds the homes from factory-made panels in its North St. Louis plant. The Post-Dispatch Brick City newsletter covered the pilot on Dec. 24, 2025.
Are the pilot homes modular homes?
News reports call them modular. They are panelized: wall, floor and roof panels built in our plant and set on a permanent, site-built foundation, finished as conventional wood framing. They are not HUD-code manufactured homes, so inspection, financing and appraisal follow the same path as any site-built home.
Where are the panels built?
In our 40,000 sq ft CNC plant at 921 N 20th Street in North St. Louis, a short drive from the pilot lots. CNC equipment cuts studs and plates to length and frames each panel to the approved drawings. Factory tours run Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, for anyone who wants to see the line.
Read the newsletter
Read Brick City at the Post-Dispatch: St. Louis-area developments to watch in 2026: Brick City newsletter, by Steph Kukuljan, Dec. 24, 2025.
See where the panels are built
Factory tours run Monday to Friday at our plant on North 20th Street. Book a factory tour, get an estimate or email info@modulebs.com.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's year-end Brick City newsletter included our North St. Louis housing pilot. In the Dec. 24, 2025 edition, the last of the year, reporter Steph Kukuljan wrote that the City of St. Louis has earmarked a few million dollars to build factory-built housing in North St. Louis, and that Module Building Systems (MBS) will build the homes.
Brick City is the paper's weekly newsletter on development across the St. Louis region. The year-end edition ran the pilot next to the sale of the St. Luke's site in Des Peres and the Opera Theatre's purchase of the Caleres campus in Clayton.
What did Brick City report about the housing pilot?
Under the heading "City to launch housing experiment," the newsletter reported that the city wants more housing, and more affordable housing, in North St. Louis. MBS will build on land owned by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and the city's land bank.
The newsletter reported $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $4 million in New Markets Tax Credits for the work. It described the homes as assembled offsite and delivered as a quick-install flat pack of panels and engineered wood.
The item follows the Post-Dispatch's report on the city board vote, which we shared in St. Louis approves MBS to build on city land.
How do factory-built panels work on city lots?
We cut and frame the wall, floor and roof panels in our 40,000 sq ft plant at 921 N 20th Street in North St. Louis. The panels ship flat on a standard flatbed and go up in order on a permanent, site-built foundation. Panelized homes are assembled on site in days, not weeks, compared with traditional construction. Results depend on scope, approvals, site readiness, materials and logistics.
The newsletter calls it modular housing. The homes are panelized: conventional wood framing built from factory-made panels. They are not manufactured homes and not volumetric modules trucked in on an oversize load, so inspection, financing and appraisal follow the same path as any site-built home.
How does a pilot home go from vacant lot to house?
Each home follows the same order. The lot starts as land held by the city. The drawings are approved and the permits are issued. Then two jobs run at once: the site crew prepares the lot and pours the foundation while our plant cuts and frames the panels.
When the foundation is ready, the panels ship from North 20th Street in the order they will be set. Floor panels go down first, then the walls, then the second floor and the roof. The general contractor completes the house on site, the same way it completes any site-built home: roofing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and finishes. MBS sets panels when that is part of the agreement.
Building the panels indoors means the cutting and framing happen on one line, out of the weather, instead of on every separate lot. One approved plan can repeat across many lots, which suits a pilot spread over city land.
Why build in North St. Louis?
Our plant sits in North St. Louis, a short drive from the lots. The city's land bank holds thousands of vacant lots, and our post on vacant lots in North St. Louis explains how they come back as homes. Building here keeps the work and the homes in the same part of town.
Update, October 2026
Our crew began setting the factory-built panels for the first home in the pilot in The Ville, near Sumner High School, on Oct. 27, 2026. Hoodline and the Post-Dispatch covered the raise. See the first home in The Ville, day by day.
About Module Building Systems
Module Building Systems (MBS) is a panelized offsite construction company founded in 2023 and based at 921 N 20th Street in St. Louis, Missouri. We build wall, floor and roof panel packages in a 40,000 sq ft CNC manufacturing facility and ship them flat-packed within 1,000 miles. Projects run up to 30% lower in cost and up to 50% faster, with up to 90% less waste. Actual schedules depend on project scope, approvals, site readiness, materials and logistics. Learn more about MBS.
Frequently asked questions
What is the North St. Louis housing pilot?
A City of St. Louis effort to build new homes on vacant land held by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and the city's land bank. Module Building Systems builds the homes from factory-made panels in its North St. Louis plant. The Post-Dispatch Brick City newsletter covered the pilot on Dec. 24, 2025.
Are the pilot homes modular homes?
News reports call them modular. They are panelized: wall, floor and roof panels built in our plant and set on a permanent, site-built foundation, finished as conventional wood framing. They are not HUD-code manufactured homes, so inspection, financing and appraisal follow the same path as any site-built home.
Where are the panels built?
In our 40,000 sq ft CNC plant at 921 N 20th Street in North St. Louis, a short drive from the pilot lots. CNC equipment cuts studs and plates to length and frames each panel to the approved drawings. Factory tours run Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, for anyone who wants to see the line.
Read the newsletter
Read Brick City at the Post-Dispatch: St. Louis-area developments to watch in 2026: Brick City newsletter, by Steph Kukuljan, Dec. 24, 2025.
See where the panels are built
Factory tours run Monday to Friday at our plant on North 20th Street. Book a factory tour, get an estimate or email info@modulebs.com.