Life Storage Picks Up Queens Self-Storage Site for $36M
By Nicholas Rizzi March 15, 2021 4:07 pm
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Real estate investment trust Life Storage picked up a Queens self-storage site, where it currently operates a location, for $36.4 million, property records show.
Life Storage bought 134-31 Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica from storage company SNL Development Group in a deal that closed last week, Crain’s New York Business first reported.
The New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based SNL bought the lot at 134-31 Merrick in 2016 for $7.3 million and built a 70,000 square-foot, self-storage facility in 2017, according to property records and SNL’s website.
Self-storage — which thrives on death, divorce, disaster and displacement — has been winning during the coronavirus pandemic as college students have had to move out of dorms, rental evictions increased, and people stuck working remotely cleared out space for home offices.
The United States is expected to get another 43.6 million square feet of self-storage space in 2021, with the New York area leading the country with some 4.4 million square feet of new facilities.
Last month, Ramrock Real Estate and self-storage development firm Mequity Companies secured a $35.1 million loan to convert a four-storage parking facility at 41-47 East 21st Street in the Flatiron District into a self-storage facility, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
Representatives for SNL and Life Storage did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It’s unclear who brokered the deal.
