Old South Philly factory building finds new life

A developer has converted the former Dubin Paper building in South Philadelphia into a self-storage facility that will have more than 2,000 units once completed.

Gary Ott of Philly Self-Storage of Glenmoore, Pa., bought the abandoned building at 1910 S. Columbus Blvd. in March in what he described as a complicated two-year transaction.

The three-story, 230,000-square-foot property had been used by Dubin Paper for decades but the company closed the facility in 2012 and the 70-year-old building sat vacant. Ott closed on buying the property in February for $3.25 million, according to Philadelphia property records.

When Ott purchased the building, it was in severe disrepair and plagued with city code violations.

“The biggest problem was that the sprinkler system was inoperable and it was filled with trash and graffiti,” Ott said. “It was a hot house for bad things to happen."

In spite of its dilapidated states, the property appeared it might work as a self-storage facility. It is well located and near a vibrant retail strip that includes several big box stores and adjacent to Columbus Commons Shopping Center.

It also has other things going for it.

“Everyone is moving back to Philly now, so if you combine the population increase with the retail nature of this location, it’s going to provide a service that the neighborhood really does need,” Ott said.

Ott wouldn’t disclose how much he spent converting the building but the renovations were extensive. He had a new concrete floor poured on the first floor for support and to level it out. A new roof was installed and an outdated sprinkler system upgraded to protect items that will be stored in the facility.

The size of the structure posed its own set of challenges as Ott started to design how the storage units would lay out.

But he found a clever way to overcome that issue – designing the storage space with a Philadelphia theme. The layout replicates the city’s grid plan with each hallway named after a city street.

“The building is so big that you can’t just tell a customer the number of their unit,” Ott said. “They still get a number, but this way we can tell them to go down Vine and take a right on Chestnut to find their unit.”

The units will be rolled out in phases. The first 300 units will open this week and another 340 units will come online next month. In three years, it will be completely built out.

The facility will initially create four full-time positions and eventually grow to employ eight people.

Ott was previously involved in four similar projects in Germantown, Kensington, West Philadelphia and South Philadelphia. He sold these properties in 2007, but said he now wants to return to the self-storage industry.

Ott said he plans to continue developing in Philadelphia by purchasing buildings that can be restored and build up a new portfolio of self-storage properties.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal