News

May 16, 2023

Brick Planning Board Approves ‘Boutique’ Self

by A self-storage facility planned for Route 88 and Jordan Road in Brick.

by

A self-storage facility planned for Route 88 and Jordan Road in Brick. (Planning Document)

The Brick Township planning board on Wednesday night approved what an owner described as a "boutique" self-storage facility in the township – aesthetically pleasing, with varying size units over three floors, though within the township's building height limit.

The facility will be located at the corner of Route 88 and Jordan Road, the site of a former Lukoil (prior Mobil) gas station that also featured a car wash and a mini McDonald's restaurant before closing about a decade ago. The site sat empty for years, and was the subject of proposals for new gas stations, but no plans panned out before Wednesday night with the board's unanimous approval of the self-storage building.

While historically one of the lesser-celebrated examples of creative architecture, the new storage center in Brick – across the street from a more traditional facility – will feature a glass exterior, pleasing colors, premium materials often used in higher-end residential projects and subdued lighting. The owner also not only consented to, but suggested, re-drawing old lot lines to give a sliver of land to a residential neighbor and increase the buffer between the properties. The application drew a good deal of praise from board members.

A self-storage facility planned for Route 88 and Jordan Road in Brick. (Planning Document)

"It's a tremendous improvement of a property I watched go from a gas station, to an empty lot that needed to be remediated, to this," said board member Eileen Della Volle.

The attorney representing the developer, John Jackson, said the building breaks the usual mold of the appearance of such facilities.

"What we’ve come up with is kind of like a boutique self-storage with exquisite materials as compared to other self-storages," said Jackson. "When we think of these facilities, we usually think of barracks with gates and bars, and that is not what this is at all."

The facility was proposed earlier this year, and scheduled to be heard as an application by the planning board in April, but was adjourned until Wednesday so the developer could make some minor changes, including reducing the height to comply with Brick's zoning ordinance and providing a greater buffer.

The facility will be constructed on a property approximately 1.73 acres in area and will include elevators so customers can bring items for storage from the ground floor to the two upper floors. The building will stand 35 feet tall, and the facility will include 16 parking spaces and two loading bays with access from Route 88 and an exit onto Jordan Road. Construction will last 10 to 12 months, planning documents said. The building will take up a 27,125 square foot footprint.

The storage units will come in various sizes, most commonly 10-by-10 feet and 20-by-10 feet, with some 5-foot units also included for mini-storage.

A self-storage facility planned for Route 88 and Jordan Road in Brick. (Planning Document)

Officials – both those representing the developer and those representing the township – agreed that a self-storage facility would generate the least amount of traffic of any type of business allowed in the B-2 business zone.

"The NJDOT considers this a minor access based on the number of trips on a daily basis," said Scott Kennel, a traffic engineer who testified for the applicant. "This is a less-intensive use than what was previously on the site, or according to the ordinance, what could be developed on the site."

While the former gas station and McDonald's combination site could generate between 120 and 120 trips per hour, the self-storage facility will generally produce just six per hour during peak times on weekdays and, perhaps, about 12 at peak usage times on weekends.

"This building is gorgeous," said John Taikina, the planner on the project. "I was stunned when I saw the renderings and stunned even more when the materials were shown. This probably the highest-quality material I’ve ever seen used in a self-storage facility."

The board unanimously voted to approve the facility.