Philip Kafka’s Fort Worth Development Elevates Quonset Huts

A photo of quonset huts at a U.S. Army base in Germany after World War II inspired a Dallas native’s project in Fort Worth.

Philip Kafka’s PS1200 mixed-use development in Magnolia Village recently opened, and it “elevates the humble quonset hut,” the Dallas Morning News reported.

The $10 million project at 1200 Sixth Avenue was designed by Fayetteville, Arkansas-based architect Marlon Blackwell and includes eight apartments sitting above about 5,300 square feet of flexible office space. It has a couple of restaurants, an art gallery and a park that’s open to the public, according to its website.

Virginia-based D.I.R.T. Studio is the landscape architect.

Building with quonset huts is less expensive than working with shipping containers or pre-fab buildings.

“You get your walls, you get your roof, and you get your exterior waterproof shell all for one cost and all through one building trade,” Kafka told the outlet.

Kafka’s first quonset hut development was in Detroit, where his firm, Prince Concepts, is based. He also saved on costs for the Fort Worth project by partnering with his father, Terry Kafka, who already owned the parcel, the outlet reported.

Canadian firm SteelMaster manufactured the galvanized steel huts.

The 1,100-square-foot apartments each have one bedroom and one-and-a-half baths. They lease for about $3,000 a month, or $2.73 per square foot.