JLL secures sale of 73K square foot self-storage development site in North Bergen, NJ

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Jan. 22, 2026 –  JLL Capital Markets announced today the sale of 3131 Kennedy Boulevard, a self-storage conversion opportunity in North Bergen, New Jersey.

JLL represented the seller, Madison International Realty, in the sale of the 1.07-acre development site to the Safely Store platform.

The property features a vacant 73,398-square-foot two-story building that previously operated as a movie theater. Built in 1999 with steel frame and concrete masonry unit construction, the 57-foot-tall structure will be converted into a four story, 103,000 NRSF climate controlled self-storage facility. The building sits in shell condition with large open spaces and high ceilings well-suited for self-storage conversion.

Located within the C-2 Highway Commercial Zone with Residential Mixed-Use Overlay zoning, the property allows wholesale business, storage, distribution and warehousing as conditional uses. The site includes 346 parking spaces originally required for the theater operation.

The property commands exceptional visibility and frontage along Interstate 495, which carries 140,210 vehicles per day, and Kennedy Blvd., with 31,155 vehicles per day. The location provides direct access to major transportation networks including Route 3, the New Jersey Turnpike and Routes 1 and 9. The site sits 1.5 miles from the Lincoln Tunnel connecting to Manhattan, one mile from Weehawken and Union City and 2.5 miles from Hoboken.

Within a three-mile radius, the property serves a population exceeding 603,000 residents with an average household income of $161,184. The market demonstrates strong self-storage fundamentals with 72 percent renter-occupied housing units, more than 132,000 multifamily dwellings, and current supply of just 2.79 square feet of self-storage per capita, well below the national average of 6.1 square feet per capita.

The JLL Investment Sales and Advisory team was led by Senior Managing Directors Jose Cruz, Managing Directors Nicholas Stefans and Jason Lundy and Senior Analyst Luke Ceccoli.

"This represents a unique opportunity to convert a strategically located theater building into a best-in-class self-storage facility in an irreplaceable location with exceptional market fundamentals," Cruz said. "The combination of prime highway visibility along heavily travelled Interstate 495, proximity to Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel and a significantly under-supplied market with strong demographic drivers creates compelling investment potential."

JLL’s Capital Markets group is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The group’s in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients, including investment sales and advisory, debt advisory, M&A and corporate finance, loan sales, equity & fund placement, net lease, derivative advisory and energy & infrastructure advisory. The group has more than 3,000 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

For more news, videos and research resources, please visit JLL’s newsroom. 

For over 200 years, JLL (NYSE: JLL), a leading global commercial real estate and investment management company, has helped clients buy, build, occupy, manage and invest in a variety of commercial, industrial, hotel, residential and retail properties. A Fortune 500^® company with annual revenue of $23.4 billion and operations in over 80 countries around the world, our more than 113,000 employees bring the power of a global platform combined with local expertise. Driven by our purpose to shape the future of real estate for a better world, we help our clients, people and communities SEE A BRIGHTER WAY^SM. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com. 

Madison International Realty (www.madisonint.com) is a leading liquidity provider to real estate investors worldwide. Madison provides equity capital and customized liquidity solutions for global industry participants targeting properties, portfolios, and platforms. Madison has become a dominant player for real estate owners and investors seeking to monetize embedded equity, replace capital partners seeking an exit or to recapitalize balance sheets. The firm provides equity for recapitalizations, partner buyouts and capital infusions and acquires joint venture, limited partner and co-investment interests as principals. In addition, Madison provides strategic growth capital to established, middle-market real estate operating platforms, seeking to accelerate their growth and investment programs. Madison has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Singapore, and Seoul.  

To learn more about Madison International Realty, visit www.madisonint.com.  

Launched in 2023, Safely Store is a self-storage dedicated investment platform formed by the principals of Iron Point Partners, LLC and the self-storage platform of Taylor/Theus Holdings Inc. (“Taylor/Theus”), and is backed by La Caisse (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) and another global institutional investor. Safely Store is currently investing the initial tranche of US$400 million of equity, with the potential to scale up further over time.

Safely Store’s investment strategy is focused on Tier I and Tier II markets in the United States, and it is designed to cover the risk/return spectrum to blend to a value-add return with a mix of ground-up developments, conversions, and acquisitions of lease-up projects and undermanaged operational assets.