Neighbor Inc., a national peer-to-peer self-storage marketplace, is expanding its commercial real estate footprint, targeting businesses that are looking to turn their unused space into revenue-generating storage areas. As part of this effort, the company recently partnered with Bridgeton Holdings and Stuf to convert the ground floor of a building at 15 Vanderbilt Ave. in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to a press release.

Neighbor believes its platform will allow commercial-property owners who are having difficulty finding and keeping tenants to quickly pivot and sell storage space to help cover their mortgages and other expenses. It intends to target additional commercial partners in New York City and other major markets. “With [traditional self-storage] facilities in major cities like New York operating at well over 90 percent occupancy, the existing self-storage supply can’t possibly meet the skyrocketing demand,” company officials said.

Bridgeton Holdings turned to Neighbor about its Brooklyn building after a restaurant had to close and vacate due to the pandemic. The company earlier listed a vacant floor in an office building in San Francisco and reached 85 percent storage occupancy in less than three months, according to the release.

“With an uncertain economy and a precipitous rise in commercial vacancies in New York City, it was highly possible this space could sit empty for the foreseeable future,” said Bridgeton CEO Atit Jariwala. “Upon experiencing the speed [at which] people snapped up our spaces listed on Neighbor in San Francisco, and with self-storage in such high demand, we determined it was a safe bet to repurpose the space and use that income to cover the building’s expenses.”

Site traffic and reservations on the Neighbor platform are seven times higher this year than in 2019, the release stated.

Based in Lehi, Utah, Neighbor primarily offers peer-to-peer storage in Utah, though its platform invites hosts to connect with storage seekers anywhere in the nation, according to its website. It closed a $10 million Series A funding round in January.

Source:
PR Newswire, Neighbor Expands Commercial Real Estate Footprint, Adds New Self-Storage Space to New York City