a large vacant colorado springs retail space to be repurposed as self-storage facility

A 47,000 square foot building that was once the home to a Toys “R” Us outlet will soon have a new life as a self-storage facility in Colorado Springs.

Located at 3730 Citadel Drive on the east side of the city, the one-story building was for years a popular Toys “R” Us outlet, but was emptied when the company underwent bankruptcy proceedings that included the closing of more than 800 of its locations nationally.

Now. the Denver-based In Self Storage has paid $1.5 million for the structure, which was built in 1990, with plans to repurpose it as a multi-use facility.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the projects marks the first time the company will repurpose an existing structure rather than build a new one.

In Self Storage currently operates nearly a dozen facilities in six Western states, including Colorado and Arizona. All of its buildings are climate controlled, with storage spaces generally varying in size from 50 square feet to 300 square feet.

While most of the former Toys “R” Us stores, at an average size of 45,000 square feet, remain vacant, many others have been reconverted for other retail and other purposes.
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In Racine, Wisconsin, a Toys “R” Us site is now a Burlington clothing store location; while in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, plans have been announced to reconvert another one of the chain’s former stores into an outpatient clinic for Penn State Health.

​By Garry Boulard

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