Chicago, New York City Lead US in Volume of Self-Storage Conversions, According to StorageCafé ReportChicago, New York City Lead US in Volume of Self-Storage Conversions, According to StorageCafé Report

A new report from StorageCafé, an online self-storage marketplace for consumers, reveals that Chicago and New York City (NYC) lead the United States in volume of self-storage conversion projects over the last decade. NYC boroughs Brooklyn and Manhattan recorded the most converted spaces, according to the study.

StorageCafe gleaned the data from its sister division, Yardi Matrix. The company used it to rank 1,126 cities based on the total square footage of converted self-storage space. Nationally, these projects represent 9% of the total self-storage inventory, amounting to nearly 191 million square feet distributed across 2,300 buildings. More than half were built in the past decade, transformed from former industrial, office, retail spaces and warehouses, the study reported.

Chicago leads the nation with nearly 7.3 million square feet of real estate redeveloped into self-storage at 72 properties. These projects account for nearly half of the city’s total storage inventory.

Of the NYC boroughs, Brooklyn had the largest amount of converted space, with more than 4.6 million square feet across 42 properties. It’s followed by Manhattan, with 37 properties transformed to create 4.4 million square feet of storage space. The Bronx is third among the boroughs and sixth in the country, followed by Philadelphia. NYC has recorded 21 converted facilities comprising 2.1 million square feet. The report also shows 15 properties spanning 1.4 million square feet in Queens have been transformed into self-storage.

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Despite growth, self-storage is still undersupplied in NYC, the report shows. The per-capita inventories across the four boroughs range from 1 to 1.6 square feet.

St. Louis, Missouri, ranks fifth nationally, with 2.2 million square feet of converted self-storage space. It’s followed by Houston; Milwaukee; Portland, Oregon; and Kansas City, Missouri, respectively.

The study included other notable findings. About 191 million square feet of U.S. self-storage inventory comes from adaptive-reuse projects. Of this, 78% of buildings converted to self-storage were previously industrial facilities, while 16% were formerly retail spaces.

StorageCafé offers more than 30,000 self-storage facility listings. Customers can search for available units, pricing and amenities. This website and Yardi Matrix are produced by Yardi Systems Inc., a provider of software solutions for the real estate industry since 1984.

Source: Storage Café, Out With The Old, In With Self Storage: U.S. Cities Convert Industrial, Retail Spaces Into Storage Facilities

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