Carlyle Group Picks Up Two Storage Properties in NYC for $68M

The Carlyle Group has locked up two storage properties in New York City from Storage Deluxe for a total of $68 million, according to city records made public last week.

In separate transactions, the private equity giant bought 74-16 Grand Avenue in Elmhurst, Queens, for $51 million and 302 Dyckman Street in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood for $17 million, records show. Both storage properties are operated by self-storage real estate investment trust CubeSmart.

Storage Deluxe co-founder Steven Novenstein signed both deals for the seller, while Carlyle’s Wonjoong Kim signed for the buyer in both deals, according to records.

It’s unclear who brokered the deals. Storage Deluxe declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Carlyle did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PincusCo first reported the news.

The two sales come after Carlyle acquired four self-storage facilities in the city’s outer boroughs for a total of $110.4 million in April, as Commercial Observer previously reported. Safe N Lock Self Storage developed those properties between 2018 and 2020, and all four are currently occupied by Life Storage, which also manages the sites.

Storage properties are a large part of Carlyle’s $20 billion real estate portfolio.

In 2022, the firm picked up a 180,000-square-foot self-storage retail condo in Long Island City, Queens, for $80 million, and in 2021 it secured a $32 million construction loan for a new storage site in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.