New York City leads the United States in formerly industrial and retail spaces being converted into self storage over the last decade, according to a report by the self storage listing site Storage Cafe.
In addition to having an abundance of industrial, commercial and office buildings that have outlived the companies that inhabited them, New York City also has plenty of port warehouses from its history as a major shipping port, providing plenty of opportunities to convert these areas into storage facilities.
Brooklyn leads the boroughs and is second in the entire country in terms of how much space has been converted into self-storage use. In total, over 4.6 million square feet of space have been created across 42 Brooklyn properties. This amount of space accounts for more than half of the borough’s total of 8.9 million square feet of storage space. Only Chicago, Illinois, has seen more properties and space converted, with 72 properties adding up to 7.2 million square feet.
Manhattan is ranked right behind Brooklyn, with 37 facilities being converted to create an additional 4.4 million square feet of storage space. Even with this factoring as three-quarters of all self-storage in the borough, there is still a premium when it comes to self-storage availability. There is just one square foot of space per capita. As a result, the storage market is very competitive there, with a standard unit costing an average of $241 a month, significantly higher than the national average of $136.
The Bronx is third among the New York City boroughs and fifth in the country in terms of self-storage space, finishing behind Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 21 converted facilities add up to 2.1 million square feet of space. There is also a cost advantage for these facilities, which make up one-third of the total number in the borough. The average price per square foot is $6 for the converted facilities, which is four times cheaper than that of the facilities already functioning. This has also translated to a 17% decrease in the cost of rent, $165 in the converted facilities compared to $199 in the purpose-built properties.
Queens has also contributed a lot to New York City, leading the nation in facilities being converted for self-storage. A total of 15 facilities spanning 1.4 million square feet have been converted in the World’s Borough. However, there are still a lot more purpose-built buildings, as the converted facilities only account for 18% of the total. Converted facilities are still much cheaper in the borough than those built for storage, at $5 per square foot compared to $37.
Despite New York City experiencing a growth in adaptive reuse projects, the city’s self-storage market is still undersupplied. The per capita inventories across each of the four boroughs included in the report range from 1 to 1.6 square feet. Consequently, the limited space has kept storage prices high, averaging $185-$241 monthly. These mark some of the priciest rates in the country.
