I’ve been renting self-storage units on occasion for almost 40 years. ( Buying for the book business sometimes is feast or famine )
For most of this century prices were 75 cents to 1.00 per square foot per month. Then, after the pandemic, prices shot up, sometimes to over 2.00 per sq ft.
In the past year, there has been a correction. I have seen prices as low as 50 cents per sq ft ( although it was accessed only via an undersized elevator ) Most are back near 1.00 per sq ft.
IT IS A BUYER’S MARKET RIGHT NOW.
Storage companies are offering 2 or even 3 month free if you stay for a year.
Insurance is technically required, but managers are often looking the other way.
You can get really good deals if you ask.
I have not checked lately, but have rented storage units in Manhattan and in the boros over many years.
I do remember calculating that one in Long Island City, just across the 59th Street bridge, was charging on a per square foot basis, about as much as Class A office space on Park Avenue.
A recent online sale at one of my former storage facilities is offering a deal that puts the first month at what I paid pre-pandemic, but after that, market rate, AKA you are screwed. Sort of like garage spaces in Manhattan.
Near me, the U-Haul where I buy my boxes was having an intro sale; first month for $180 (I think something like $240 after). That was for a 5’x8’ unit, that didn’t seem to even be full height.
At least around here, it makes more sense to donate books than to pay to store them, even though I could fit a lot in that sort of space.
