BETCO Announces Giveaway Winners
At the Texas Mini Storage Association (TMSA) Convention and Tradeshow, held in San Antonio in September, Kathleen and Eric Stanfill became the lucky winners of a giveaway hosted by BETCO Inc., a self-storage manufacturer. The couple has owned a facility in Jacksonville, Texas, for about a year, and in February, they added two new structures. Ready to expand again, they attended the TMSA show and registered to win BETCOs free building. Their prize was a 3,000-square-foot, 100-by-30, pre-painted metal building that includes a standing-seam roof, 20 roll-up doors, flush columns and headers, galvanized wall panels, interior partitions, gutters and downspouts. For more information, contact Steve Kuykendall, western-region sales manager, at 888.891.2335; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.betcoinc.com.
Hall of Fame Inaugural Class Inducted by SSA
On Sept. 8, as part of its 30th anniversary celebration, the Self Storage Association (SSA) inducted seven industry leaders into its Self Storage Hall of Fame. The honorees, considered pioneers of the industry, are:
- Frank Blumeyer Sr., founder, Storage Inns. Blumeyer opened his first self-storage facility in 1973 and made significant contributions to the industry in the areas of design and marketing. In the early years of the SSA, he went out of his way to work with novice operators to help establish an educated and efficient industry.
- Gordon Burnam, founder, Storage Mart. Burnam happened upon a self-storage facility in 1974 while vacationing with his family. He opened one facility in the college town of Columbia, Mo., and within a few years, he had 14 stores in eight states. Burnam was one of the first in the self-storage sector to take his company public.
- Daniel Curtis, founder, Door Systems Inc. Curtis was a fighter pilot and engineer who became an entrepreneur when he recognized the need to satisfy building demands in self-storage. His metal products and door designs have been used in facilities nationwide.
- Hardy Good, founder, MiniCo Inc. Over the past four decades, Good has filled many needs of the self-storage community, chief among them insurance and publishing. He has also been a supporter of and participant in SSA activities since its founding.
- Harold Leslie, founder, Leslie Industries Inc. Leslie is charter SSA member. He refined the standing-seam roof concept, now common in self-storage construction, while working for Piper Industries Inc. His own company has been a predominant industry builder for more than three decades.
- Edmund Olson, founder, A-American Self Storage Inc. Olson owned Gunite Construction in 1973 when he saw a mini-warehouse on a trip to Phoenix. His first self-storage facility soon followed in Canoga Park, Calif. A-American Self Storage is now the eighth-largest operator in the business, with 102 facilities in several states.
- Arthur Buzz Victor, founder, United Stor-All. Victor created the SSA after searching for other operators with whom to share ideas, establish standards and advocate pro-storage positions. He served as the associationís first president from 1975 to 1977. He also created the Mini Storage Alarm Co. after realizing fences and locks were not enough to satisfy the security demands of tenants.
For more information, visit www.selfstorage.org.
Centershift Opens Second Data Center
Salt Lake City-based Centershift Inc., which provides STORE rental-management software and point-of-sale solutions for the self-storage industry, opened a second data center in Denver to give customers increased performance and failover capability. The secondary hosting location is supported by ViaWest Interface Inc., a manufacturer and reseller of computer interfacing products and services. It includes unprecedented disaster protection; additional, faster servers for improved software speed; and redundancy on all levels: hardware, power source, fiber connections, contingency planning and services. For more information, call 877.927.4438; visit www.centershift.com.
CORRECTION
In the November issue of Inside Self-Storage, the column titled Evaluating Your Merchant Account by Ross Federgreen contained an editing error. The printed version claimed Wells Fargo settled a $34 million lawsuit in which it was found guilty of billing service-merchant clients without proper notice. In actuality, the company was only accused of imposing improper credit-card processing charges. Wells Fargo denied any wrongdoing, but agreed to pay anyway. ISS extends its apologies to Mr. Federgreen and its readership for any misunderstanding this may have caused.
REIT Industry Celebrates 45 Years
On Sept. 20, leaders of the real estate investment trust (REIT) industry rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange to commemorate 45 years in service. Taking part in the ceremony were several members of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the representative voice for U.S. REITs and publicly traded real estate companies worldwide:
- Steven A. Wechsler, president and CEO
- R. Scot Sellers, first vice chair (chairman and CEO of Archstone-Smith)
- Milton Cooper, past chair (chairman and CEO of Kimco Realty Corp.)
- Steven Roth, past chair (chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust)
- Glenn J. Rufrano, member of the Board of Governors Executive Committee (CEO of New Plan)
- Scott Rechler, member of the Board of Governors (chairman, president and CEO of Reckson Associates Realty Corp.)
To honor the milestone, NAREIT ran a special print advertisement in The Washington Post and several other D.C. publications. The ad featured a smiling President Dwight Eisenhower with a headline that read, Ike signed the law creating real estate investment trusts 45 years ago today. Now, REIT investors around the world are smiling. The ad was intended to remember the work of President Eisenhower and the 86th Congress, and express NAREITs interest in working with President Bush and the 109th Congress in a continuing effort to improve the worlds first REIT model. To view the ad, visit www.nareit.com/advertisement/45thad.pdf.
In addition, the cover story of the September/October edition of Real Estate Portfolio magazine was titled Forty-five @ 45, highlighting the 45 events that shaped the course of the REIT industry. To read the feature, visit www.realestateportfolio.com.
NAREIT members include REITs and other businesses that own, operate and finance income-producing real estate, as well as those firms and individuals who advise, study and service those businesses. For more information, call 1.800.3NAREIT; visit www.investinreits.com.
StorageMaxx Runs Katrina-Aid Promotion
Between Sept. 26 and Oct. 2, Canadian self-storage operator StorageMaxx raised a donation of $3,250 for the Salvation Army and its efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. A special promotion collected a percentage of proceeds from all new-lease transactions and the sale of moving and packing supplies at the companys seven facilities. For more information, call 905.634.9979.
