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RBB Self-Storage Facility Project Could Break Ground As Early As March


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The empty lot at 106-02 Rockaway Beach Blvd. Photo by John Schilling.

The empty lot sandwiched between Walgreens and the St. John’s Medical Arts Complex on Rockaway Beach Boulevard may be getting a new lease on life within the coming months. 

Pending approval, the lot, which sits at 106-02 Rockaway Beach Blvd., will be home to the previously announced Storage Fox six-story self-storage facility.

“The building plans are currently being reviewed by the NYC Buildings Department and the MTA,” Dino Tomassetti Jr., the managing partner of Storage Fox and president and CEO of Asset Realty & Construction Group, told The Wave.  “Once they sign off on the drawings, we will be able to pull permits and begin construction, which we are anticipating to take place in March,” he added. 

As previously announced, the 135,719-square-foot-space is set to include self-storage spaces on all six floors, as well as seven accessory parking spaces on the first floor, three loading docks located on Beach 106th Street, and 83 attended public parking spaces.

In order for the facility to be built, the lot at 106-02 Rockaway Beach Blvd. needed to be rezoned from an R5D/C2-3 zoning district to a M1-3 zoning district, something that usually goes through the local Community Board 14.

The plans for the facility, which came before the Rockaway Civic Association in late 2015, appeared before CB14 at least twice with the first time around resulting in “positive feedback,” according to Richard Lobel, a Zoning and Land Use Attorney from Sheldon Lobel, P.C. This feedback included allowing for parking in the facility to alleviate crowding during the summer months.

Aerial rendering of the self-storage facility at 106-02 Rockaway Beach Blvd. Photo courtesy of RBB II LLC.

Lobel and Tomassetti next appeared before CB14’s Housing and Land Use Committee with the updated plans for the project in June 2021. The Committee’s response to the plans, however, was mixed with four members voting in favor of supporting the project proposal, two members voting against supporting the proposal, and two members abstaining from the vote. This prevented a majority from being reached, and the motion to support the proposal could not carry.

The following week, Lobel and Tomassetti appeared before CB14, and despite mixed reactions from board members and the public, the motion to approve the rezoning proposal carried with 20 votes in favor, seven votes in opposition, and three abstentions.

Among the concerns from some board members regarding the proposal was the fear that the rezoning of the lot could potentially allow for a hotel or something similar to be built there if the property ended up being sold to someone else in the future. Tomassetti, however, responded to this concern by emphasizing the firm’s investment in the project and bringing something to Rockaway that there is a “demand” for.

“There is a zero percent chance that would happen,” said Tomassetti during the 2021 Housing and Land Use Committee meeting. “We are in the process of building self-storage facilities in a number of other areas. We’re firmly in this business, and we intend to be in this business for a long time.”

“I think that’s something that the community needs and something that we’re very interested in providing,” he added.

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