Bronx self-storage facility auction is rescheduled

Real Estate Weekly, Dec 8, 1999

Sheldon Good & Company Auctions Northeast has re-scheduled for Monday, December 13th its open outcry auction of an 80,000 square-foot industrial building in the centrally located Port Morris section of The Bronx.

The building is currently configured as a self-storage facility. The open public bid will be conducted at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at 42nd Street and Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. Registration begins at 2 p.m., with bidding commencing at 3 p.m. Suggested opening bid is $2 million, with a certified or cashier's check in the amount of $200,000 required to bid on day of auction.

Jeffrey Hubbard, managing director of Sheldon Good & Company Auctions Northeast, said "We moved this auction ahead from its original date of November 8th because a number of interested parties asked for more time to do their due diligence on the property. The owner elected to honor their request. We look forward to a spirited auction."

In initially announcing the auction, Steven L. Good, president and CEO of Sheldon Good & Company Auctions, said "In a sprawling city where location is everything, this location is fabulous for attracting a Manhattan clientele seeking storage area prices below those in Manhattan, but with safety and easy access. The self-storage building at 780 East 138th Street in the Bronx offers superior access via the network of highways to Westchester County, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. Located just 10 minutes from Midtown Manhattan on the FDR Drive and just one block from the Bruckner Expressway at the Triborough Bridge, the facility is sited just one block from the #6 line and minutes to the Major Deegan Expressway. Port Morris boasts excellent transportation access, being well served by rail, water and truck transportation.

The warehouse building at 780 East 138th Street is currently configured as a multiple use, self-storage facility, with the top two stories for self-storage, the middle three floors for a mini-storage warehouse and the first floor leased short-term to the moving company that is selling the building.

Since its renovation in 1994 and 1995, the building has been utilized by three separate businesses, all owned by the same owner.

The fifth and sixth floors are the newest business. The self-storage business was initiated in 1998, with the installation of self-storage partitions on the sixth floor and earlier in 1999 with the expansion to the fifth floor. The owner's long-term plan was to convert floors going down as floors filled up. The self-storage units are metal units of varying sizes, all with nine-foot ceilings. The customer has his own lock and key.

The mini-storage floors cater to small-storage customers similar to the customer base of the self-storage floors above. The customer base also provides an excellent opportunity to conversion to self-storage customers. If the purchaser wishes, the seller can continue to lease these floors in gross and manage this business for some period of time, and then deliver them vacant (if the purchaser desires) at the end of the lease.

The ground-floor moving and storage level is presently utilized by the seller's moving and storage company. The moving company will lease this space under a short-term lease, providing additional income for the purchaser. The purchaser will be provided with separate office space, exclusive use of one elevator and an adjacent loading dock until the short-term lease expires.

Total projected income for the year 2000 for the facility is $854,550, with projected expenses $87,090. Projected net operating income before personnel is therefore $767,460.