New self-storage development underway in Rockville Centre amid high demand

A sixth self-storage facility is headed to Rockville Centre, as experts say Long Island continues to see a high demand for storage space.

Florida-based Basis Industrial is building a 121,500-square-foot facility with 957 storage units at 117 N. Long Beach Rd., said Anthony Scavo, president and managing partner of the company, which is developing the project. 

The facility will be branded and operated as a Public Storage, a California-based national chain. It is unlikely, however, to dampen demand or self-storage rents. 

The metropolitan area is seeing some of the highest rents for self-storage units in the nation, Newsday has reported. Demand for Long Island's fewer than 200 self-storage facilities is high, in part because of its proximity to New York City, its high population density and the limited amount of available space.

Basis Industrial chose Rockville Centre for its self-storage facility because of the area's high income and relatively lower supply of self-storage space in the area, Scavo said.

"Rockville Centre is a very strong market," Scavo said. "The supply is low there and all the existing [storage spaces] are basically 95% occupied, so we’re trying to add some needed storage to the area."

At the same time, some communities have opposed self-storage facilities in other Long Island towns, such as Deer Park, where some residents say the additional space is unnecessary.

Construction workers broke ground on the Rockville Centre development on Monday, after Basis Industrial secured a $27 million construction loan for the project. Dallas-based lenders NexBank and NexPoint provided the loan, Scavo said.

With the cash in hand, Basis Industrial can demolish the existing warehouse property, which Scavo said was used for storage and a gym. He expects the construction, which will cost around $20 million, to create around 25 to 30 construction jobs, plus three full-time positions once the facility is completed. The storage units will be priced at a few hundred dollars per month, Scavo added. 

A basis to build

Basis Industrial owns more than 3 million square feet of self-storage and industrial property nationwide, but the building in Rockville Centre is its first development on Long Island, according to Basis Industrial’s website.

The company purchased the lot near Rockville Centre’s Veterans Park in March 2022 for $5.5 million through a subsidiary company, according to property records and the company. A few months later, the owner applied for a variance from the Rockville Centre Zoning Board to build a facility up to 30 feet higher, but the board denied the application amid opposition from residents, the Long Island Herald reported at the time.

Scavo said Basis Industrial resubmitted plans to the town for an 18-foot-high facility, which was subsequently approved.

Scavo said Tuesday the project made sense for the community because it was redeveloping an existing self-storage property "that was falling apart." 

"We're taking a building that was already the same use, and making it into a better looking building, a higher functioning building, with all modern amenities," Scavo said.

A Rockville Centre Village spokesperson confirmed that Basis Industrial had secured a construction permit to move forward with the development but did not provide further details. 

Big rents, big battles

Rents for self-storage space on Long Island can run from $6 to $1,340 per month, and that demand has helped spur new projects in other communities, including the towns of Huntington, Oyster Bay and Smithtown, Newsday has reported. But more development has also led to a small wave of local opposition.

In Deer Park, around 2,000 residents protested the construction of a two-story, 17,000-square-foot storage facility, Newsday reported. And a similar project in Sayville also faced opposition in 2021, Patch reported at the time. 

Long Island already has at least 25 Public Storage facilities, including two in Rockville Centre, at 36 Merrick Rd. and 484 Sunrise Hwy., according to Public Storage’s website. Three other companies also operate self-storage facilities in the neighborhood: Storage Post, Extra Space and U-Haul.

But the construction of new storage sites remains a long process with many regulatory hurdles, something that’s benefited Public Storage’s bottom line. Fewer competing facilities means Public Storage can dominate the market and charge high rents.

Public Storage, a real estate investment trust, posted a revenue of $1.22 billion in the third quarter of this year, beating Wall Street expectations, according to Chicago-based stock analyst firm Zacks Equity Research. CEO Joseph D. Russell touted the company’s dominance in the self-storage market, the limited number of new developments in the pipeline and its focus on cost-cutting.

"The risk factors for any kind of developer out there are much higher today and they continue to go [in that] direction. That's actually very good for the industry as a whole, meaning there are going to be fewer and fewer deliveries even going into the next couple of years," Russell said.