Storing in Style : Warehouse in West L.A. Offers Wines and Art a Comfortable Space

Just dropped a few million on a Monet or a Picasso and not sure where to hang it? Does that Bordeaux you just purchased need a little more aging and the wine cellar is not quite finished?

Well, now there’s someplace to store your fine art and wine--as well as your furs, antiques and other collectibles. The Los Angeles Fine Arts & Wine Storage Co. in West Los Angeles--naturally--is an $8-million, 45,000-square-foot complex, which its owners claim is the first facility in Southern California designed to house both wine and fine collectibles under one roof.

The facility has 24-hour security--with motion detectors, personal code and card-key access--and a computerized climate-control system that keeps art compartments at an ideal 68 to 72 degrees with a relative humidity of 48% to 52%, and wine compartments at 50 to 55 degrees with relative humidity at 65% to 75%.

“Many families have the expendable income to invest in art and good wines,” said Robert Zarnegin, who with his brother, Bo, owns the storage facility through their development company, Probity International Corp. “So, it seems foolish to risk losing the appreciable value of art and wine collections by storing them under improper home conditions or trusting them to a warehouse without the proper security and climate controls.”

Wine storage fees for small compartments (maximum of 28 cases) are $325 and $350 a year. For large walk-in compartments (175 to 490 cases), monthly fees range from $175 to $500. Art storage compartments have monthly fees ranging from $100 to $450, depending on size.

By comparison, at Self Storage in Santa Monica, for example, monthly fees are $68 for a 5-foot-by-10-foot compartment and $124 for 10-foot-by-10-foot space.

Zarnegin said he expects both private collectors and art galleries and museums to use the facility, which is located at 2290 Centinela Ave. Zarnegin said he also expects restaurants and wine merchants to store their inventory.

Zarnegin, who is also developing a 200-room luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, said the idea for the storage facility came from frustration at not being able to find an adequate facility for his family’s growing post-Impressionist and contemporary art collection.

“Believing that many other local collectors shared the same concern for a secure home for their valuable collections when not on display, we decided to build our own facility, based on the highest standards of security and service,” said Zarnegin, who lives in Beverly Hills. “Our research indicated that many fine art collectors were also oenophiles (wine connoisseurs), so we decided to give the facility the dual capability of storing both wine and art in separate wings.”

Experts say such a facility could be valuable in a city such as Los Angeles because of the warm temperatures, smog, fluctuating humidity, and a shortage of adequate basements or cellars.

Rachel Kaminsky of Christie’s Auction House in New York said fluctuating temperatures and humidity can cause colors to fade or become brittle, corrode metals, decompose paper and parchment, and accelerate the aging of art objects.

“Frequent changes in temperature and humidity are the worst enemies when it comes to long-term storage of art,” Kaminsky said.

Michael Davis, vice president of Christie’s Wine Inc. in Chicago, said changes in temperature that occur in unsecured wine cellars can traumatize the development of wine, and improper humidity levels and direct sunlight can deteriorate wines.

“It’s really silly how many would-be wine collectors invest in wines and then don’t subscribe to the proper storage techniques,” Davis said.