Hundreds of residents who rented space from a Carroll Gardens storage facility could be in danger of losing their most prized possessions, city officials said this week.
After changing ownership a number of times, the current owners of All City Storage, 253 Bond Street near Douglass Street, on the western side of the Gowanus Canal, were evicted from the property recently for not paying their rent.
By law, once a tenant is evicted, the landlord takes possession of everything left in the building.
In this case, that means floors of locked vaults, self-storage gates and cordoned-off areas filled with furniture, commercial equipment, and other pricey items.
“The building is filled with the contents of people’s houses and apartments,” said Department of Consumer Affairs spokesperson Tali Aronsky. “It’s filled with bedrooms, dining rooms and living rooms.”
One section of the facility is teeming with cases filled with thousands of books, officials said. A college professor reportedly put the books in storage.
“It’s a huge facility with a lot of stuff,” Aronsky said, explaining hat the landlord of the Bond Street building has done his “due diligence” to contact the people who rented space from All City Storage and informed them that they have to move their property somewhere else.
So far, the landlord has reached out to people as far as Arizona to inform them that they only have a week to get their property out of his building.
But All City Storage’s customer lists aren’t entirely complete, she said.
“It’s tricky,” she said. “We’re working off a half-baked list.”
That’s why the Department of Consumer Affairs set up three dates for All City Storage customers to come and claim their property.
As this paper went to press, one of the dates had already passed.
The next two dates have been scheduled to take place on Wednesday, July 23, and July 30, both from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Those who rented a storage space from All City Storage must use a licensed and insured moving company to transport the items out of the building, officials said.
After that, the landlord has the right to either throw away or auction off anything left behind, Aronsky said.
Anyone wishing to learn more about how they can claim their property from the shuttered storage facility can contact 311 or go online to www.nyc.gov/consumers.
