You guessed it... ANOTHER storage facility. Holy crap, we've got a lot of crap to store.
Empire blvd. deserves better IMO. Do the residents of Crown Heights and PLG really want these facilities here?
(note, we'll find out what Bedford and EP will be soon as well, these properties were dissolved from the same trust.)
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155 Empire
Empire and Atlantic seem to be in a race to see how many storage facilities can built.
In a prior era, they would have been built on 4th Ave, but new zoning allows residential.
That stretch of Empire would make a lovely Ave of condos if it were re zoned.
The nice ones have windows with 3 layers of glass.
-Storefronts store out of season merchandise in them.
- financial records in bankers boxes that must be kept for 7+ years.
Another factor is that some of the storage buildings are built in a way that they can be converted into offices.
Needless to say, at the moment, the trick is to buy commercial property that may someday be rezoned as residential.
...the trend is to rezone areas that are presently exclusively commercial, into mixed use.
The stuff stored comes from all over the city...
As for whether storage facilities are the best use, I think they'll go away when people stop storing goods. According to the Self Storage Association "The self storage industry has been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the United States commercial real estate industry over the period of the last 38 years. It took the self storage industry more than 25 years to build its first billion square feet of space; it added the second billion square feet in just 8 years (1998-2005)"
Given these numbers I don't see these facilities going away.
@lilern - I have no news re: Bedford and EP. If I get any, I'll awaken this thread: http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/38184/the-gulf-stationdunkin-donuts-at-ep-and-bedford-1550-bedford
It is one of the big developments I am watching:
http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/44634/links-to-the-big-16-developments-in-western-crown-heights/p1
I think a lot people don't realize that a lot of those routes need to remain, because The Belt Parkway does not accommodate trucks and the S Brooklyn area is dense with people needing deliveries from trucks.
This is in opposition to what I perceive to be the present trend in the city: Increase the height and density of commercial strips, while maintaining the present limits on residential areas.
Most people don't realize how dense and high NYC can be under the present code. As economics allow, NYC will become much denser, and the zoning code allows room for this growth.
rezoned for residential, there are plenty of commercial options. Why not a movie theater or bowling alley (there used to be one in that area when I was growing up), or kids' rec space like BounceU? With the park right there and the right commercial mix, it could become a leisure destination. Even hotels, nightclubs, or the big box chain stores that people seem to want in Crown Heights would be better than more storage spaces.
It's great to believe that we can push all of our less desirable needs (waste processing, warehousing, industrial uses, heavy transportation,etc) off to some other community that will service those of us living here, but there isn't any indication that is going to happen. We have to plan for ALL of our needs, and I just don't see any indication that anyone wants to talk about the bad stuff that we need to survive. Energy generation, trash processing, climate controlled storage, additional mass transportation options, all need to be accounted for. This is SimCity 101.
Community Boards have no authority to make any changes. They facilitate "discussion" and CB9 has done a good job of that, in fact it's done. They've hosted open public discussions with City Planning involved and they have sent a letter to City Planning demanding a re-zoning study be done immediately. From what I understand we're probably another 3 - 5 years away from actual broad zoning changes. However, individual zoning changes may be passed for specific projects.
Regarding storage facilities, they may be a way to "hold" a property while turning a profit, but that seems like a stretch. We're living in a consumer based economy and storage facilities will do well if the economy is chugging along (we buy more crap). And they do well if the economy slows (people downsize living spaces and need to store stuff. Some folks even "live" out of storage facilities).
I think these storage companies will find that their property is more valuable once zoning changes take place. However, that's no guarantee they will become residential or commercial.
I would love to see more creative zoning options or more creative use. It would not be difficult to design a building that included storage, residential and commercial uses. But that would require a developer that puts the development and community above profit.
http://goo.gl/maps/UHD8l
http://curbed.com/archives/2015/04/20/in-nation-of-hoarders-self-storage-spots-outnumber-mcdonalds.php