Bike storage is the hottest building amenity. (The Brooklyn Roosevelt)
Alex Abarbanel-Grossman, a PR director, knows firsthand how important bike storage in NYC can be. He currently keeps two in his Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, apartment, and had to get creative since his landlord doesn’t allow tenants to drill into walls. His solution was to plunk down roughly $100 on a freestanding gravity bike rack built for two. No screws or anchoring are needed. The one he purchased occupies a depth of only a foot or so. However, he says, “the big issue here is that you need a bike’s length worth of wall space.”
Welcome to the challenge of storing a bike in a New York City apartment. Once upon a time, public transit was the go-to way to get around town. In this pandemic atmosphere, though, bikes have become the new must-have. But bike storage in NYC isn’t easy when you don’t have the extra square footage.
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It’s the Hottest Building Amenity
A building in Hell’s Kitchen takes bike storage to the next level. (From a listing at 505 W. 43rd St. #11A)
It’s worth noting that many buildings have set aside rooms to accommodate two-wheelers. Such is the case at The Brooklyn-Roosevelt, a Beaux-Arts former bank building located at the border of Bed-Stuy and Bushwick. It has one of the most glorious bike storage rooms in town. Housed in the bank’s former vault, it’s now home to many bike varieties, from tandems to cargos, says Joe Peretore, associate broker at Level Group, who is the building’s exclusive broker. It’s also completely full. “We had to open an additional bicycle parking area, which is also almost full now,” he says. “And it’s two times the size of the vault.”
Clearly, bike storage in NYC is an appealing amenity for apartment seekers, says Domingo Perez Jr., a licensed real estate salesperson at Warburg Realty. “When I show people a rack of bicycles in a building’s bike room, I watch as their eyes widen,” he says. “This has become a top amenity for many people.”
Perez himself is a bike aficionado and is thankful that he has a bike room in his Greenwich Village building, especially since he’s not using Citi Bike as much as he did before shelter-in-place rules became the norm. “Early on in the pandemic, the last thing I wanted to do was get on a bike that thousands of other people have touched,” he says. “I’m so happy to have such a clean bike room in my building.”
Other buildings are repurposing existing storage rooms to meet the demand.
“Our building is a walkup, so bike storage is valuable, especially for residents on the higher floors,” says James McGrath, co-founder of Yoreevo, a real estate brokerage in New York City. He sits on the board of his West Village co-op. “We discovered a room in the basement that had been earmarked for general storage a long time ago, but it was never utilized. It wasn’t huge, so it could fit only a few bikes, but it was better than nothing.”
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Many private and public garages offer bike storage. (From a listing at 500 Waverly Ave. #3G)
Bike Storage NYC: More Parking Options
If your building doesn’t have a bike room, there are other options — and good ones at that. For example, per NYC’s Shelter Bike Parking regulations, parking lots that accommodate 100 or more vehicles must also offer bicycle parking. (FYI: No garage can refuse a bicycle unless there’s no room to store it.) Garage rates range from $60 to $100 per month, and cyclists should expect to find devices such as racks and hooks to secure bicycles.
Storage companies also offer bike storage, but it’s a bit pricey. Rates can range from $190 to $699 per month, depending on location and room size.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has set up CityRacks, BikeCorrals, and Bike Parking Shelters throughout the five boroughs. These sidewalk racks are best suited for pit stops and not for overnight parking.
In the end, installing a bike rack in your apartment might be the best way to rest assured knowing that your bike is safe. And that’s essential, given that bike thefts were up 64 percent in July compared to 2019, according to the NYPD.
If you’re allowed to drill into your walls, one popular option is to hang your bike from the ceiling or on a wall.
“This is a very space-efficient strategy if you have a room with some depth since the bikes will project out from the wall by at least two to three feet,” Abarbanel-Grossman says.
You could even try hanging your bike over your sofa like a piece of art. There may be no better way to show off the love you have for your two-wheeler.
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