UK Self-Storage Operator Lok'nStore to Develop 4 New Facilities in England

Update 8/7/17 – Lok'nStore has added two more self-storage development projects to its pipeline. A proposal submitted in Bedford, England, would build a wholly owned location, while the project planned for Dover, England, would only be managed by the company, according to the source. Together the properties would add 84,800 rentable square feet to the Lok’nStore operating portfolio. Both are expected to open sometime next year.

“These excellent new locations add to the stores announced last week and our recent rapid growth in our pipeline of stores,” Jacobs said. The seven projects now under development will grow the Lok’nStore portfolio by 26.1 percent, he noted.

7/31/17 – U.K. company Lok'nStore Group PLC, which operates self-storage and records-storage facilities, has signed contracts to develop and manage two new properties in Exeter and Ipswich, England. In both cases, development will be funded by the land owners. Scheduled to open sometime next year, the sites will add 100,200 square feet to the Lok’nStore operating portfolio, according to the source.

In April, the company announced it had four self-storage projects under development in England. Its project in Broadstairs opened in May, while the Gillingham, Hemel Hempstead and Wellingborough developments are on pace to open within the next three quarters, the source reported. At the time of the announcement, the projects were projected to grow the company’s total rentable space by 30 percent. “New and purpose-built” facilities account for 64 percent of the Lok’nStore portfolio, according to CEO Andrew Jacobs.

"These excellent new locations add to the recent rapid growth in our pipeline of stores,” Jacobs told the source. “Our objective remains to grow by both acquiring more sites to build new landmark stores for Lok'nStore's own balance sheet and to increase the number of stores we manage under the Lok'nStore brand for third parties.”

Founded in 1995, Lok’nStore builds, buys or leases large warehouses or industrial buildings and rents storage units to customers on a weekly basis. It operates 25 self-storage facilities and two records-storage locations in Southern England. The self-storage portfolio is comprised of 12 freehold or long-leasehold properties, seven leasehold sites and six locations under management.