The average American family has an incredible 300,000 items in their home, and if they live in a big city like Chicago, it can be a hassle to keep that many possessions under one roof.
But thankfully there are storage solutions for those families. Nearly 50,000 storage facilities exist in the United States today, and more are being built every year. Here in Chicago, developers are reusing old spaces to create new storage spaces for Chicagoland residents who have run out of room at home.
As of June 2, real estate developer Martin Taradejna purchased a former Lincoln Logs factory in Chicago and stated his intention to convert it into a self-storage facility. It was purchased at a price of $2.2 million.
The storage industry has been growing quickly since the Great Recession ended as Americans increasingly choose to rent their homes. And according to a market research report from Marcus and Millichap, Americans are simply buying more stuff than they used to.
“To date, the robust performance of self-storage properties is primarily driven by growing space demand,” reads the report. “After hunkering down during the recession, U.S. consumers are clearly back in an accumulation phase, buying new things that will inevitably relegate older possessions to self-storage spaces around the country.”
The property includes more than 1 acre, a 45,834-square-foot building, and an attached 23,380-square-foot warehouse.
According to the plans that Taradejna provided, the facility will be comprised of 600 units and will offer both outdoor and indoor parking. It’s expected to be fully renovated and opened early next year, in 2018.
Taradejna expressed excitement at the location and hopes that the fact that it is near the 606 means it could bring in a lot of local business.
“Being on The 606 is an attractive thing and [also] having the YMCA as a neighbor. It’s a nice dense population there, and not a lot of self-storage.”
The 606 is a part of a larger project, which is comprised of a system of parks and access points. The property itself is on the west end of the Bloomingdale Trail, a 2.7-mile elevated park and trail.
The factory itself is the former home of Playskool Manufacturing Co., which used it to produce Lincoln Logs from the 1940s to 1960s. It was purchased from Don Glisovich by Taradejna and a business partner.
Gilsovich was the sole owner of the property and purchased it in 2015 with the intent of turning it into a location to fit a brewery, cafe, and theater.
