Developers to convert Class C office to self-storage

If New Yorkers have too much stuff and too much aging office stock, a conversion project planned for the Garment District makes perfect sense.

Two developers snapped up a Class C office building with plans to add eight stories and convert it to self-storage.

A joint venture between Fred Leffel’s Flatiron Equities and self-storage developer Mequity Companies snapped up 152 West 36th Street for $23.8 million from Falcon Properties. The developers landed a $50 million construction loan from Elsee Partners, and a family office chipped in $17 million in equity.

The joint venture plans to convert the eight-story building built in 1900 into a 16-story facility operated by Manhattan Mini Storage.

A Colliers team including Dylan Kane and Zach Redding arranged the financing. A B6 Real Estate Advisors team including Alex Woodlief and Dylan Kane represented the seller and procured the buyer.

The 46,004-square-foot property sits in M1-6 zoning — a manufacturing designation that traces back to the Garment District’s textile industry days —  and includes 28,500 square feet of development rights. The completed project will have 1,500 climate-controlled storage units across 75,000 square feet.

The quest to fill up empty office buildings has led landlords to repurpose them as apartments, storage units, gyms and film studios, among other uses.

Self-storage – especially in the outer boroughs – has been a hot ticket in recent years. The asset class tends to be a strong performer in cities with a high share of renters (New York City has the highest at 69 percent) and a tight housing market (the city’s vacancy rate is 1.4 percent).

Atlanta-based Mequity, led by Bill Marsh and Robert Holly, redeveloped a former parking garage at 41-47 East 21st Street into a self-storage facility that opened last year. The West 36th Street storage business, between Seventh Avenue and Broadway, is expected to open in spring 2026.

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Flatiron Equities’ projects include the repositioning of an 87,000-square-foot office loft building at 309 East 94th Street and 324 East 95th Street into a life science property, in a partnership with Taconic Investment Properties and Nuveen.

Flatiron, according to its website, also upgraded a century-old Class C office building at 100 Fifth Avenue to Class A.