Rent a Space self-storage business plans $8m rebuild at Brookvale fire site
It burnt down more than a year ago, now Rent a Space self-storage wants to rebuild at Brookvale for $8 million.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The company behind the Rent a Space self storage complex that was destroyed by fire more than 14 months ago has lodged $8 million plans to rebuild.
Motaland Land Pty Ltd has applied to Northern Beaches Council to replace the burnt out main storage building in Cross St, Brookvale, with a new four-storey facility.
The development application comes as the NSW Deputy State Coroner began a review of the fire that burned for four days from March 28 last year.
But it could still be weeks before the 550 customers who had treasured goods stored in the complex get answers to what caused the multimillion-dollar blaze.
A spokesman for the Coroner’s office said a file about the fire, which includes a Fire Report prepared by a detective attached to Northern Beaches Police, is being reviewed by Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame.
News of the plans prompted an angry response from former customers, commenting on the Families Affected by the Rent A Space Fire Facebook group.
“What a hide,” one former customer wrote. “I wonder if there’ll be any objections?”
Another person who lost property wrote: “Astounding that they will rebuild a storage facility where so many people lost all their belongings. It just doesn’t seem appropriate”.
The fire destroyed the main building, containing 290 lockers. The remainder of the building was demolished.
About 260 lockers were accommodated in three other buildings that were not impacted directly by fire, but the contents of many were damaged by heat, smoke and water.
Customers were told by Rent a Space management last year that they would have to pay up to $2000 to have their possessions — if they survived the fire — decontaminated because there was an asbestos roof on the premises.
Customers who did not pay to have items treated for mould, and cleaned of soot and char caused by the fire had their goods taken to a secure landfill site.
Customers were frustrated that they were not allowed to check their lockers to retrieve potentially undamaged family possessions.
Rent a Space said last year that as part of a council clean-up order, the stored items had to be decontaminated, for safety reasons, before they could be salvaged.
It said that much of the costs would be covered by customers’ insurance.
In documents lodged last month with the council the company proposed a four-level building, with three commercial levels for storage, on the 2450 sqm site.
The council’s environmental health response report said the site had been contaminated with friable asbestos, but confirmed the contamination was remediated and a clearance certificate provided.
The company wants to operate the facility seven days a week, from 8am to 6pm.
A Rent a Space spokesman told the Manly Daily in a statement that it was committed to continuing to serve and support the northern beaches community “of which we’ve been a part of for over 30 years”.
“We have plans before council for a new, purpose-built, world class self storage facility and look forward to the outcome of that application.”