Real estate developer and property owner Rosenblum Cos. this week opened ValuSpace in Albany, N.Y., the company’s first self-storage facility. More than 50 people, including community members and local government officials, attended a grand opening on Tuesday. The $7M property at  40 N. Russell Road will be managed by Storage Asset Management Inc. (SAM), a property-management and consulting company specializing in self-storage. Camila D’Orazio-Diaz, who previously worked in guest relations for the Hilton Albany, is the property manager.

Located between The Home Depot and Westgate Plaza Price Chopper, the three-story facility comprises 88,000 square feet of storage space in 630 units. It includes a retail office that sells moving and packing supplies as well as code-controlled gate access, individually alarmed unit doors and video cameras.

Rosenblum purchased the property in June 2016. The project included removal of a blighted single-story building from the 1950s. The existing easement road was also repaired and repaved, the website stated.

“While ‘class-A’ is a description typically associated with office space, the high quality of condition, location and client experience it connotes is the goal for all of our properties,” said CEO Seth Rosenblum. “We created ValuSpace to provide a class-A self-storage experience at a competitive price that benefits our customers while contributing to the city’s positive momentum.”

The company chose the site due to the multi-family residences that have been recently developed or are under construction within three miles of the property. “With the growth of new residential development across the city, especially in Downtown Albany, the need for personal storage space has increased,” said Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan. “This added amenity is a prime example of how underutilized spaces can be repurposed to fit the needs of our community.”

Rosenblum Cos. began construction this month on a second ValuSpace facility at 850 Hoosick Road in Brunswick, N.Y. Founded in 1979, the firm develops, manages and owns commercial real estate properties in the Capital Region of New York. Its portfolio includes industrial, retail, self-storage, mixed-use and commercial office properties totaling more than 1 million square feet of space. It also provides property-management and related services.

Founded in 2010 and based in York, Pa., SAM oversees more than 90 self-storage facilities as well as three UPS Stores in 18 states, primarily along the East Coast.

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