What Downsizers Need Most

AS baby boomers help to reshape the New Jersey housing market by downsizing to condominiums and rental apartments, storage space is becoming increasingly valuable, housing specialists note.

SQUARED AWAY Alba Manasseri, a new condo owner who paid ,000 for this storage unit at One Hudson Park in Edgewater, is delighted with it, even though, she admits, “my Christmas decorations alone” might fill it up.

Most especially, the demand is for on-site storage, according to those who keep an eye on such things. This includes not only developers, builders and real estate sales agents, but also the national Self Storage Association, a trade group that describes the "self-storage" industry as the fastest-growing sector of commercial real estate over the last 30 years.

"I think a lot of people want to have their stuff close at hand, as close as possible," said Mary Boorman, a vice president at Pinnacle Communities, which is building Ladurée, a condo for people 55 and older in Franklin. "Moving down is a tough thing to do, especially when there can be years of accumulated things. Some parents even store things that their grown kids don't want to part with."

The storage is sometimes built in by developers as expensive condo buildings go up and sometimes added after the fact in unused common space by specialty contractors - a practice increasingly seen at rentals.

"Storage is becoming more and more of a gotta-have" in the suburbs, said one contractor, Josh Goldman of Bargold in Long Island, whose main turf used to be Manhattan's cramped confines.

The Rosevallé in Chatham offers extra storage space built into each individual home. Rosevallé's units have large windowless spaces under the eaves. At the Wesley Grove town homes in Asbury Park, "we put storage space under the stairwells, and every nook and cranny," said Samuel Gershwin of Westminster Properties, the builder. And at the Waterford at East Brunswick, a town house complex for people 55 and over, each unit was given a "storage garage," even though there is no garage parking for cars, Mr. Gershwin said.

The Ladurée has roomy individual laundry rooms with shelving by California Closets, as well as patio storage areas. Smaller units have access to extra space on each floor. But Ladurée is even going a step further and offering extra space for sale within the complex.

Storage units offering 50 to 75 square feet of space will be located in the vestibules between buildings and in the underground garages. They will be available for purchase at ,000 each, Ms. Boorman said.

"They will be a great option for boxed items, or furniture that home buyers don't want to let go of, but are not sure where to put in their new home," she said.

To retrofit a space, Mr. Goldman said, "We go into the basements of older buildings that may be dilapidated and in need of help, and we clear them out, customize the lighting, work around the weird shape of the building, or slanted ceilings, or whatever, and install steel storage units in areas that we inspect, maintain and keep secure."

In new buildings, installation is simpler, but the process is the same. The size of individual storage units is determined by the configuration of the basement, Mr. Goldman said, and both "large" and "small" units are offered, fully enclosed in steel or steel mesh, depending on the preference of buyers or renters, who ordinarily sign contracts for the storage before moving in.

The type of contract is likely to vary, depending on the building. In some cases, storage-space owners have the power to sell or sublease their space - as long as it is to another resident. In other cases, particularly with condominium buildings, the storage space is "attached" to the units, so that it may be sold only at the time a condo changes hands.

Such is the case at the One Hudson Park, the new condo tower on the riverfront in Edgewater. "That's great," said Alba Manasseri, who is moving into her 1,200-square-foot condo in the coming week. "I'm never going to want to give up my space."

Ms. Manasseri, who is moving from a 3,400-square-foot town house in Old Tappan, acknowledged that downsizing would involve a squeeze. "My Christmas decorations alone might fill that storage space," she said - even though she had bought a "large" unit, three feet square and seven and a half feet high, for ,000.

At rental buildings, noted Jonathan L. Moore of the Value Companies, tenants may not be settling in for as long a haul, or traveling with as much baggage. But then again they might.

At Value's Ten Sampson, a garden-style rental in Saddle Brook, which opened last year, the storage is provided by Bargold, in a basement inspected regularly and surveilled by camera. The bins are rented on a monthly basis, at an average price of . The first 16 were leased immediately, the company said.

Jules Berenberg, a businessman who moved in the last few years from California to Norway and then to Ten Sampson, said he had chosen the building because of the "phenomenal opportunity" for on-site storage. Mr. Berenberg keeps much of his art collection, business documents and other personal items in his large blue-metal bin in the basement.

The Ten Sampson basement area has sprinklers in case of fire, and local regulations require the storage units to have steel mesh tops so water could enter in an emergency, Mr. Goldman explained. But Mr. Berenberg said he was satisfied with the safety and security of the area, as well as thrilled with the convenience.

Mr. Goldman says his company operates the storage areas as a landlord does a building. If a tenant stops making payments, for instance, his or her possessions can be "evicted" and sold at auction to cover back rent.

Right now, the average building that builds in storage, or hires his company, offers only about 20 percent as many storage units as there are residential units in the building, Mr. Goldman said. But with demand ever on the increase, he added, "that's changing."