Why did an apartment complex pay for this ammonium nitrate storage?

A developer planned to build an apartment complex near this retail fertilizer plant in Whitewright, Texas. The plant stores ammonium nitrate. With memories of the explosion in West, Texas, the bank wouldn’t finance the apartments. The developer needed the plant to build a new storage building with greater fire and blast resistance.

Constructing a wood building requires flame retardant treatments along with an expensive deluge fire sprinkler system, water tower, and containment basin. None of which improves the blast resistance of the structure.

Monolithic Dome construction utilizes an inflatable Airform, polyurethane foam, reinforcing steel rebar, and spray-in-place concrete. This efficient process naturally creates a structure that meets — or exceeds — fire and blast requirements without a sprinkler system, tower, or basin.

The affordability of the Monolithic Dome enabled the developer to pay El Dorado Chemical Company to build this 1,000-ton ammonium nitrate storage, to get financing, and to finish the apartment complex.