Self-storage developer LSC Development LLC is in the process of acquiring a former commercial laundry facility in Oceanside, N.Y., with the intent to convert it into a Life Storage Inc. facility. The two-story, 76,000-square-foot Oceanside Institutional Industries (OII) plant at 2525 Long Beach Road will comprise 42,252 square feet of storage space in 716 storage units, according to a source. The Town of Hempstead last month granted a special-use permit for the project.

The plant once cleaned 60 million pounds of laundry annually but closed in June for economic reasons, a source reported. Commercial laundry company Unitex acquired the OII business in July.

Neighboring residents had previously complained about chemical smells and traffic noise caused by laundry delivery trucks, according to Christian Browne, an attorney with Sahn Ward Coschignano PLLC, which represented LSC Development in obtaining the special-use permit. The developer will remediate the property for any environmental contamination as part of the project, Browne said in a press release.

“This new project is a home run for the developers and the community,” Browne said in the release. “It will reduce the amount of traffic in front of the facility along Long Beach Road and the impacts on the neighbors. The building will be repurposed, so it won’t be torn down, and it won’t place any further encumbrances on the residents.”

Based in Barrington, Ill., LSC Development specializes in industrial parks, office complexes and self-storage facilities. It also owns and leases nearly 700,000 square feet of industrial and office space in Aurora, Barrington, Chicago, Elgin, Harwood Heights and Libertyville, Ill., according to the company website.

Life Storage Inc. is the real estate investment trust formerly known as Sovran Self Storage Inc. Based in Buffalo, N.Y., it operates more than 650 self-storage facilities in 29 states under the Life Storage and Uncle Bob’s brands. Its portfolio of owned and managed facilities comprises more than 45 million square feet.

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