UOVO, a collector-founded art storage facility in the U.S., is seeking approval in New York to build a second location in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The proposed seven-story, 240,000 sq. ft building would be located at 74 Bogart Street, currently a parking lot, and would expand the company’s footprint near its existing 150,000 sq. ft Bushwick facility, which the company opened before the pandemic in 2020.
Founded in 2013 by Steven Guttman, a Miami-based real estate developer, UOVO operates 30 locations across the U.S., with a large-scale headquarters facility in Queens.
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The company, which stores and manages collections for museums, galleries, and high-net-worth individuals, is aiming to convert the Bushwick lot into a storage space for private and corporate owners of artworks, collections of wine, and fashion archives.
The developer, who built an adjacent CubeSmart facility, acquired the undeveloped site for $45.5 million in 2019, according to local records. Architecture firm S9 will oversee the design if the plan is approved by the city.
There are signs of community pushback online to UOVO’s proposed plan, with a circulating open letter addressed to a Brooklyn zoning board raising concern over the affects of developing such a large commercial area that isn’t being used for residents there.
The lot is located in the District 34, an area that city officials have said has experienced some of the most extensive residential displacement in New York City.
Scrutiny over the company’s expansion has in the past been heightened by issues with its labor record. During the pandemic, when many art handler jobs lost employment due to the temporary shuttering of public and commercial art institutions, UOVO was accused of retaliating against employees attempting to unionize. The company has denied the allegations.
In prior statements, UOVO has maintained that is it committed to the public benefit in New York, citing a $25,000 annual artist prize it distributes in tandem with the Brooklyn Museum and forthcoming plans to help renovate Bushwick’s Maria Hernandez Park.