A Yonkers dining relic that sat mostly quiet for more than a decade is officially back in business, just in a very different way. City officials and developers cut the ribbon on a five-story CubeSmart self-storage facility on Central Park Avenue, turning a long-vacant corner into a glass-fronted, climate-controlled storage center.
The project, led by Hampshire Management, replaces a building that had been largely idle and gives one of Yonkers' busiest corridors a fresh, modern façade. The new structure features a glass front and a two-level lobby atrium designed to blend into the streetscape, while CubeSmart steps in to operate the site as a climate-controlled storage hub.
The ribbon-cutting drew Yonkers officials and local dignitaries, according to Yonkers Times, which reported that CubeSmart will manage the facility. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano told the outlet, "To see this property redeveloped after being vacant for so many years is a win for everyone." The paper noted that the project capped a multi-year push to bring activity back to that stretch of Central Park Avenue.
About the new CubeSmart
The local listing from CubeSmart shows the Yonkers facility offers climate-controlled units along with app-based gate access and 24/7 video recording. Customers can rent on a month-to-month basis, and the site stocks on-site moving supplies. The page details office and access hours and pitches the location as a service-focused option aimed at both neighborhood residents and nearby businesses, positioning it as a more polished alternative to older, strictly utilitarian storage buildings.
From steakhouse to storage
Hampshire purchased the Central Park Avenue property in 2020 and moved to repurpose it after it had been vacant for more than 15 years, according to the Yonkers Times. The outlet reports this is Hampshire’s first self-storage project. The address carries some local history, with the paper tracing prior lives as Boulder Creek Steakhouse, Ground Round and the Tropical Acres nightclub, all former crowd-pleasers along the avenue. Hampshire's managing partner told the paper the goal was a building that would "make an impact" on the block.
City incentives helped close the deal
Documents from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency show that the agency approved sales tax and related incentive extensions tied to the Central Park Avenue redevelopment. The project appears in IDA materials among developments receiving approvals that helped support construction and conversion. Local officials credit those incentives with making the numbers work for bringing the long-empty property back into use.
Why this matters
The opening closes a persistent gap along Central Park Avenue and delivers a sizable, climate-controlled storage option in a part of Yonkers that sees heavy traffic. It also fits into a broader pattern of investors reworking aging or underused commercial buildings into something that can actually pay the bills.
CubeSmart has been building out its third-party management business nationally, adding 27 stores to that platform in 2025 and taking its third-party store count into the hundreds, according to the company’s public filings. For Yonkers residents, the shift from steakhouse to storage means a once-dormant corner is lit up again, even if the crowds are now rolling up in moving vans instead of lining up for dinner.
