2 Years After Fire, Storage Facility Renters Still Can't Access Their Belongings
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's been sealed off for two years, but a vacant storage facility in the Bronx is still causing a lot of issues for previous renters.
Alpha Bah used to run a portion of his company out of the Tuck-It-Away storage facility in Mott Haven, but in April of 2017, it caught fire and closed.
"This was a terrible, terrible situation," he said.
What came next, however, is even worse.
"We couldn't get contact with none of these guys that was in charge," Bah said.
That meant he couldn't get inside the building to collect what was left of his things, and he still can't. He had to bribe workers to let him get just the basics.
"We'd give them $100 or $150 or $50 to let us just sneak in," Bah said.
Bah says he lost close to $150,000 in supplies.
Antonio Robinson, of Washington Heights, says still trying to get back family mementos.
"I had my old childhood toys. I had my DJ equipment," Robinson said.
He doesn't even know if the items are salvageable, but he at least wants to get the chance to see.
"You call. The number's disconnected. Now, if you go on the website, they send you to Extra Space Storage," Robinson said.
CBS2 also tried to get to the bottom of it. Phone calls to Tuck-It-Away went unanswered, and emails to Extra Space Storage were no help.
Robinson says the company's apparent disappearance has left him "aggravated, sad, upset."
The Better Business Bureau had given Tuck-It-Away an F before it closed. The Department of Buildings says due to unsafe conditions, a full vacate order still remains in effect, but the property owner has not submitted permit applications for work to repair the conditions. The neighborhood believes it will eventually become another building that transforms the area.
"I think they're really trying to gentrify this area," one woman said.
"Tear down the building and make it a condo," one man said.
The possible redevelopment strategy leaves the previous storage facility renters in limbo.
The renters say insurance didn't cover most of the lost items.
The Department of Buildings tells CBS2 they'll track down the property owner and try to work something out to see if there's a safe way for renters to retrieve their property, but they did not provide a time frame for their plans.
