SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Neighbor, the self storage marketplace disruptor, today announced they are inviting commercial property owners across New York City to list their vacant space as self storage on Neighbor's platform as an alternative way to cover mortgages and building expenses in lieu of traditional tenants. In light of surging consumer demand, Neighbor is quickly adding new square footage to its platform and offering commercial landlords a lifeline to keep their lights on.
In 2020, self storage became an essential business and service for Americans. The $40B industry opened doors for people who wanted to temporarily relocate and allowed people to clear out a room for an office, home gym, Zoom school or a millennial returning home for quarantine. With facilities in major cities like New York operating at well over 90% occupancy, the existing self-storage supply can't possibly meet the skyrocketing demand.
As a result, Neighbor continues to expand its partnerships with commercial landlords, who are struggling to secure tenants by converting their commercial space into self-storage. Opening today, Neighbor is rolling out its first commercial space in New York City. In partnership with Bridgeton Holdings and Stuf, the owner and operators of the building in Neighbor's debut NYC commercial property, the ground floor of the mixed-use building in Brooklyn's Navy Yard (15 Vanderbilt) has been transformed into a self-storage center. Across the country, Neighbor is inviting residential and commercial property owners the opportunity to cover their mortgage and expenses in a temporary or permanent capacity by renting space on the peer-to-peer self-storage platform.
"At a time when space is highly valued, we identified a perfect market opportunity to leverage underutilized space - in homes, garages, driveways or vacant offices, retail storefronts and even parking lots - as turn-key self storage solutions for consumers," said Joseph Woodbury, CEO and cofounder of Neighbor. "Both business owners and homeowners are making hundreds or thousands of dollars in monthly revenue with Neighbor, providing the much-needed stimulus funds they're not getting from the federal government."
Bridgeton Holdings CEO Atit Jariwala turned to Neighbor after a Brooklyn restaurant tenant vacated during the pandemic. "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. Upon experiencing the speed 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," said Jariwala.
The most recent property the investment firm listed on Neighbor's platform, a vacant floor of an office building in San Francisco's SoMA district, reached 85% occupancy in less than three months.
2020 has been a record-breaking year for Neighbor. The platform's traffic and reservations have skyrocketed more than 7X since 2019. To help account for the increased activity on the platform, Neighbor developed new features designed to help hosts price their space more effectively and improve speed time to rental.
Founded in 2017, Neighbor is a peer-to-peer self-storage company based in the Silicon Slopes of Lehi, Utah. The company connects people who have unused space in their garages, attics, basements and driveways to renters who are looking for affordable storage. Neighbor benefits renters by providing safer, more accessible storage for half the price of a traditional self-storage unit, while giving hosts the opportunity to earn thousands of dollars per year from their unused space. Neighbor's team helps keep the connection safe, easy and friendly and provides an unprecedented $25,000 renter guarantee for items stored and a $1 million host liability guarantee so that good neighbors everywhere can help each other out. In January 2020, Neighbor closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Thumbnail: Neighbor's first commercial conversion in Brooklyn NY.
