OceanSafe may build homes in Iraq

There is a need for some 250,000 new homes in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and a company in Greenport has already built some models and is in the running to build many more, according to the company and Iraqi business officials in Washington, D.C.

OceanSafe Building Systems, a manufacturer of steel structural insulated panels -- panels combined with polystyrene cores and assembled with a patented snap-together system that shortens building time by about 30 percent and are energy-efficient -- "is in talks" to build homes in the region, said Omar Al-Nidawli, a spokesman for Khalilzad Associates, an international business consulting firm in Washington.

OceanSafe is a 7-year-old company started by St. James eye surgeon Vincent Basilice; his brother, Joe Basilice, now living in New Orleans where he works on using OceanSafe technology to rebuild Katrina-damaged storms; and Robert Fusco of Dix Hills. OceanSafe is hardly a household name. But its products were selected by actor Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" project to rebuild the ruined Louisiana city.

The company's work in New Orleans gained it access to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She had Iraqi officials meet with U.S. companies to talk about re-construction of the country. "They [the Iraqis] told us they needed 250,000 homes over the next three years," said Basilice, OceanSafe's chief executive. OceanSafe's homes, made of a steel and aluminum mix, "snap together like an erector set" so that building time is also cut by about a third, Basilice said.

Basilice said he hopes OceanSafe builds all 250,000 homes in the Kurdish section. "We'll be giving back to the Iraqi people," Basilice said.

Al-Nidawli said several developers will be involved in the construction, which will take years. But of Basilice, he said, "he is making progress" toward becoming involved. "He is close to actually starting a business there."