U-Haul to Convert Former Dick's Sporting Goods to Self-Storage in Dayton, Ohio

U-Haul International Inc. has purchased a former shopping center in Dayton, Ohio, which it plans to convert to a self-storage facility. The property at 234 and 240 N. Springboro Pike once housed Dick’s Sporting Goods and an h.h. gregg  Inc. appliance store. U-Haul purchased the 9-acre property and 87,000-square-foot building for $3.4 million.

The shopping center was recently identified as a pivotal piece of a larger Dayton Mall-area improvement plan, according to the source. It’s considered one of four “catalytic sites” for re-development in the region. The sites were targeted last month following public input.

The U-Haul project “represents an opportunity to fill a rather large building with a strong company that will be a good steward of the site,” according to Chris Fine, economic development director for Miamisburg, Ohio.

Dick’s Sporting Goods left the mall in November 2012, and h.h. gregg followed six months later. Costume-retailer Halloween Express currently occupies a portion of the h.h. gregg  building. It wasn’t clear if or when the retailer would relocate, the source reported.

Shortly after the transaction closed on April 2, U-Haul opened a truck-and-trailer rental office. The self-storage conversion will take about a year to complete and employ 10 to 15 staff members, company officials said.

The facility will include interior, climate-controlled self-storage and a retail showroom for truck and trailer rentals, Drew Case, marketing president of U-Haul Co. of Southwest Ohio, told the source. In addition, a few free-standing storage, non-climate-controlled units will be built off the main building. The property will also feature U-Box moving and storage rentals.

U-Haul is working on a similar project in Huber Heights, Ohio. The company purchased a former Big Lots store at 6550 Brandt Pike in August 2104. The acquisitions and conversions of existing structures is being driven by U-Haul’s corporate sustainability initiatives, which support infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint.

“We have a long and proud history of taking unused commercial and industrial properties and turning them into productive businesses [that] generate tax revenue, provide jobs, and help to promote in-fill development to meet community members’ needs while preserving the natural resources and land normally required for new construction,” Parul Butala, planning and zoning manager for U-Haul parent company AMERICO Real Estate Co., told Miamisburg city officials in a proposed site plan for the property.

Established in 1945, U-Haul International Inc. has more than 40 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,000 owned and managed facilities throughout North America.