"Just as it is essential to know what business you're really in, it is equally important to be aware of what new business you might be in--of new directions and other opportunities which present themselves in the course of your doing business."

The above quote is taken from a book titled What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School. It very much applies to the concept of creating and sustaining an additional profit center through the sale of boxes and moving supplies at your self-storage facility. Taking advantage of complementary businesses to your own is simply a way to increase your value and expand your products and services to your existing market without losing sight of your primary objective: self-storage.

Get Them in the Door

The phone rings at your facility, and it is someone inquiring about renting storage space. One of the following scenarios may be true:

• The caller is remodeling his home and needs some additional room to store things for awhile.
• The caller sold his home and needs space to store his goods while waiting to move into his new home.
• The caller is selling his larger home and downsizing to a townhouse. He needs storage space.

In all of these instances, your potential customer will need boxes and moving supplies. As a storage manager, you have a captive market. Your client needs more than a storage unit--he needs boxes, tape, styrofoam peanuts, packing tips, etc. He needs a total moving and storage solution. It's in your best interest to provide it.

For this reason, you should always mention on the phone: "By the way, we sell a full line of moving boxes, tape, bubble wrap and packing paper right here." Mention specific products. It will help remind your customer of specific items he needs in order to pack. You may even want to say, "We will give you five small boxes for free just to come in and tour our facility." Once your prospect is in the door, the closing ratio reaches about 90 percent, plus he'll probably buy more boxes and supplies. This is a perfect example of using ancillary products as a promotional tool for your core business.

A simple banner that plainly states "We Sell Boxes," hung in front of your property and facing the road, can have a dramatic effect on sales. A manager once commented to me, "Even my mailman came back and bought boxes from me one day after he noticed my new banner."

The Retail Showroom

Most successful retailers will agree: The more products people see, the more they tend to buy. Customers don't like to see an empty shelf, and some are hesitant to take the last of an item. At the same time, you don't want to overpurchase stock.

The best approach is to purchase higher quantities of the most popular products. For example, small, medium and large boxes and tape are the most important items to offer. You will sell more of these products than any other. On the other hand, watch out for items like brown postal paper wrap--this generally doesn't move regardless how much of it people see. Stocking more of the most popular products will mean faster inventory turnover.

If you have room, display a sample of each size box you carry. People love to pick them up, examine the dimensions and see how it feels to carry as they visualize what they need to pack. Every step of this process helps facilitate the sale. You're not just selling customers a couple of boxes with tape and a roll of bubblewrap. You're offering them a solution to one of life's most stressful events--moving. Listen to your customers; guide them toward the right products to get the job done easily and correctly. Following is an example of a productive sales conversation:

Customer: "Just give me 20 of those large boxes."

Manager: "How large is your home? How much stuff do you have to pack?"

Customer: "It's a three-bedroom home and I have to pack everything: books, CDs, tools, dishes, kitchen appliances, etc."

Manager: "Then you'll probably need more than 20 boxes. Not only that, but you won't want to pack your books, CDs and tools in large boxes because they can get heavy real quick. I highly recommend small boxes for these items. As for your dishes, we offer the dish-pack box, which is double-walled, or the ProPacker^R, which allows you to easily pack dishes and glasses."

It's a particulary good idea to implement a buy-back policy, which can raise the average sale 20 percent to 30 percent. You simply tell customers, "Buy all the boxes you need, and we will buy back any unused boxes at full price." You'll instantly see a look of relief in your prospect's face on hearing that assurance; and nine out of 10 times, he will never bring anything back. One can always find a use for boxes, even if it's just to slide them under a bed for future use. If your prospect does return something, offer another size or ask if he needs any more tape or packing paper. At this point, you have completely gained the customer's trust and made him confident in listening to your advice.

Recommend a Moving Company

I am sure many of you have fliers or business cards from local moving companies sitting on your counter or posted on a bulletin board. That's a good start, but do you really know these companies or feel comfortable recommending their services?

Build a rapport with a local moving company in your neighborhood. Mention to your customers that you can recommend a moving company if they need one. Most people are apprehensive about selecting a moving company and like to have references. The benefits for you are threefold:

• You are again solving a problem for your customer.
• If you continue recommending the same moving company, it will be motivated to take special care of your customers.
• You can ask the moving company to refer storage customers to you.

What Problems Have You Solved?

If you take the above recommendations, you will potentially solve three different problems for your customers. First, you will present them with information on leasing a storage unit (your core business) and solve their storage dilemmas. You will then make it clear you offer a full line of moving boxes and storage supplies, so there is no need for them to go anywhere else for these items. By asking what your customers need to pack, making recommendations for supplies and offering a buyback policy, you make their move easier--as well as their decision to store with you. Finally, recommending a local moving company takes the guesswork out of shopping for these services. Creating the total moving and storage solution is the key to differentiating your facility from the competition and increasing your value to your customer.

Ken Van Slyke is president of NationWide Box Inc., which provides one-stop shopping for moving and storage boxes, security products and packing supplies. For more information, call 800.460.3252; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.nationwidebox.com.

We have all heard the saying, "Buy low and sell high." But if investing is this easy, why don't we always take advantage of economic cycles, interest rates, locations, etc., and make serious returns every time we sell? Self-storage owners, like those of other real estate and financial investments, seek to maximize the return on their investments. They evaluate the risk, take a position, make the acquisition, watch their investments mature, and decide whether to keep or sell them. Though the answer to the question of when to sell is not always simple, there are some obvious times an owner should list his property for sale.

Personal Reasons

Whenever we have an illness or personal problem that would prohibit us from active participation in our business, and we don't have a contingency plan for managing the business in our absence, we should consider selling. This would also apply when we seek to relocate or retire to another part of the country. Self-storage is not a passive investment like stocks. We need to be present at our stores often, using a hands-on approach to customers' needs and daily responsibilities.

Financial Reasons

Let's face it. In markets such as Atlanta, Las Vegas or Memphis, Tenn., there are more and more new facilities built every year. The national companies as well as inexperienced, first-time investor groups are building some of them.

If we have a 5-year-old store with occupancy that has consistently hovered around 90 percent, and we have maximized our rents and operated as efficiently as possible, we are making the most of our investment. The only effect another facility in our market area would have would be a negative one. It would likely reduce our annual income and increase vacancy. This would diminish our property value, and our ability to regain our position could take several years.

Another reason to consider facility sale would be if we made some mistakes developing our project. Perhaps we're in a poor location or have the wrong unit mix. Maybe our construction costs are too high, our fixed costs are higher than we imagined or our competitors' rents are drastically lower than ours. As a result of these and other faults, our store never achieved the occupancy we anticipated, and we have not maximized our investment. Instead, we have been suffering losses monthly. Unless a recovery plan has been implemented and our efforts are working, we should consider selling our storage facility to at least recover our initial investment rather than lose the entire property.

Losing a Marketing Advantage

It's possible for a competitor to build a new facility in a better location than ours and take away our consumer traffic. This can also occur by losing a Yellow Pages position to a competitor who then places an aggressive advertising and promotions package. This is more than a signal--it marks an increased cost of doing business, and we need to evaluate the long-term effects and cost.

Offer Too Good...

We may have received an unsolicited offer to purchase our facility or an expression of interest from a qualified buyer. They have made us an offer we can't refuse. The price they have offered is equal to or more than we could expect to receive if we had an orderly sale. We should perhaps consider a sale and reinvest the proceeds through a tax-free exchange.

Minimized Return

All of us are interested in making money through investing in self-storage properties. If we have a stabilized store with high occupancy, our rents are at the top of the market, and we have placed the best assumable financing, perhaps we have maximized our investment and should reap our profits while we can. Certainly no one will fault us for buying low and selling high.

Demographic or Physical Changes

The buildings we renovated or converted to self-storage may have been in the best location when we got into the business several years ago. They were on the main street, near neighborhoods and businesses. But now, the new freeway has been built and our visibility is totally or partially blocked. Or the demographics of the neighborhood have changed so much our customers have to travel through an area in which they do not feel safe. Selling the property before the real occupancy significantly decreases is a wise idea.

Permanent Financing

It is possible the time has come for us to renew our permanent loan, and we are looking at high interest rates or terms that are not attractive from the lending community. What if we can't refinance at acceptable terms? What if there are not enough proceeds, too many points, interest-rate challenges or personal liabilty? The alternative is to sell.

The future is full of uncertainty. There are probably more negatives than positives on the horizon. Some include economic slowdown or recession, increased competition, new investments from REITs, financial-liquidity problems, market volatility, lack of investor interest and a drop in consumer spending. It may have been easy to get into the self-storage business, but knowing when to sell may be difficult. The reality is a self-storage owner, like any investor, should keep his options open and time his transactions so he can indeed buy low and sell high.

Jack Guttman is the managing partner of Coldwell Banker Commercial, NERA, based in Fairfield, Conn. He has sold more than $100 million in self-storage facilities and has closed more than 14 sales in the last two years, mostly in the Northeast. He specializes in the sale of self-storage and retail properties and is also the owner of 25 self-storage facilities. Coldwell Banker, one of the largest commercial real estate brokerage companies in the country, has more than 400 offices throughout the United States. For more information, call 718.401.4700.

The essence of any good real estate transaction is due diligence, a "cat and mouse"-like game played between buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers that defines the risks in a transaction. Buyers and sellers alike can benefit from knowing more about the due-diligence process. Here are some key trade secrets.

The time to conduct due diligence is before you sign on the dotted line. Once you purchase the property, you own the mistakes and the genius. It amazes me that novices to this business would neglect to seek expert counsel when putting hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars at risk.

Last year, I had two opportunities to work on due-diligence assignments that had potentially tragic results. The first situation was one in which the purchaser did not conduct a thorough due-diligence effort, purchased the property, paid cash and then sought financing. I was performing due diligence for the lender and found the purchaser had been duped by the seller. The property did not generate nearly the income the purchaser had relied on from the seller's data. In fact, the actual performance of the property was less than 75 percent of what had been reported.

Note to buyers: Before you purchase a property, you must ask yourself, why has the property not sold to one of the major buyers of self-storage properties?

There are numerous large self-storage buyers who are ready, willing and able to close on transactions. If a property is the correct size and price, and located in a good market, you will never get a chance to buy it except for very few reasons. If an institution doesn't purchase it, the property or transaction may "have hair on it." If you decide to purchase it anyway, keep these points in mind:

• The same reasons the property did not sell to the institutions before will likely still exist to haunt you when it comes time for you to sell.
• Lenders may have the same beef with the property as the major self-storage buyers. In order to get it financed, you may have to find a lender who does not know enough about the property or industry to make a good lending decision.

The second situation I faced was a little less traumatic. The purchaser engaged our firm to conduct due diligence after he closed. We found there was a moratorium on building or expanding his property, which was regrettable considering one of the compelling reasons for purchasing it was to expand. He also discovered a new 80,000-square-foot property had been approved in his market and permits were ready to be issued. So not only could he not build, but he had a first-generation, state-of-the-art product about to become his competitor. He wished he had done due diligence before he closed.

Note to buyers: Never close on a property unless you have made a thorough due-diligence effort. If due diligence is not your core business, hire a professional. Do not risk the purchase without help.

The Due-Diligence Team

Who should be on your due-diligence team? First, you want to have an attorney review the legal documents and investigate pertinent issues:

• Purchase and sale agreement
• Entity documents (Does the seller have the right to sell the property? Are there partnership issues?)
• Title-insurance binder
• Noncompete clauses
• Zoning compliance
• Ability to replace improvements as grandfathered (on noncompliant sites)
• Environmental reports (particularly if there are issues)
• Personal-property purchase agreement
• Trade name and d.b.a documentation and rights
• Issue and opinion letter on lease document
• Reps and warrantees
• How are prorations handled at close?
• How are receivables handled at close?
• When does the close technically take place? On the day of escrow? When funds are sent? When funds are received? When deeds are filed?

An accountant or self-storage consultant should check:

• Bank statements compared to financial statements
• Cash to accrual-basis conversion
• Accounts-receivable and accounts payable reports
• Reconciliation of site-management reports to the documents originally submitted for making the purchase decision
• Physical inventory
• Retail-sales inventory

A self-storage due-diligence professional should:

• Audit lease documents
• Conduct verbal estoppels
• Conduct a market evaluation
• Examine the propensity for rental-rate improvements
• Interview and assess on-site personnel
• Interview and retain or hire a third-party management company
• Prepare three years of budgets
• Examine manager- and employee-incentive program
• Evaluate retail-sales program
• Conduct a software evaluation
• Archive integrity
• Make operational suggestions to enhance the property
• Inform you of ways to reduce operating expenses

The title-insurance agent will inform you of survey liabilities, such as:

• Easements
• Encroachments
• Setback violations
• Ownership issues
• Pending litigation
• General title flaws
• Construction or contractor liens

An environmental consultant will provide:

• A phase-I environmental site assessment
• Further testing as needed
• No-further-action letters
• Indemnification agreements
• "Bugs and bunnies, turtles and owls"
• Wetland delineation

Engineers will issue:

• Property-condition report
• Structural evaluation
• Permit compliance
• Code-violation exam
• Life-safety issues

Surveyors can provide:

• Boundaries
• "As-builts"

Insurance agents will discuss:

• Current insurance coverage
• Cost of new insurance

Property-tax consultants can predict:

• Special tax considerations from the past that will expire
• Future tax liabilities
• The likelihood of appealing tax billings and winning

Appeasing Your Lender

Conducting a thorough due-diligence effort will serve two purposes. It will determine if the information on which your original offer was made is accurate, and what the lender will discover when it conducts its own due diligence. For whatever the purpose, you soon begin to realize the complex nature of the due-diligence process and the difficulty that ensues when judging a property's ability to generate and sustain income.

The lender will be much more critical of the property. It will want to know what the demographics are like and how they play a role in the marketing, the strength and diversity of the local economic and employment market. It will also want information regarding declines in occupancy, rental rates and the impact of existing and emerging competition.

Many borrowers are hesitant to disclose the weaknesses of their property for fear the deal will fall through. This is usually the result of an emotional attachment to the site. Your lender should be a sounding board for your investment choice. Clearly, it should not be the pivotal opinion on which you base your decision, but should be taken into consideration. If the lender does not see the upside in a transaction, it is likely one of three circumstances are in play:

1. You have not properly documented the potential of the property.

2. The lender does not understand self-storage lending and operation.

3. You are operating on your own instincts.

The bottom line is, if the upside is genuine, you should easily be able to document it. Lenders are not born to be deal-killers. They are likely to be as disappointed as you are if a deal falls out because of discovery during due diligence. Lenders do not make money by analyzing deals, they make money making loans. Their threshold for risk just may be less than yours. Here is a simple formula to follow in working with lenders:

• Identify the risk.
• Understand the causes.
• Mitigate with solutions.

Many lenders are turning to professional due-diligence providers for expert assistance in identifying and analyzing the risks of a transaction. The due-diligence process gives lenders a clear picture not just of valuation, but also of cash flow and cash-flow preservation. It also creates a detailed analysis of each asset's ability to perform in expected and unexpected market and financial conditions. Most important, a complete due-diligence report provides solutions to mitigate potential concerns of a lender or rating agency.

There are several risk levels for a lender, which due-diligence should address:

• What are the circumstances regarding the property that could cause a default?
• What is the likelihood the borrower will default?
• To whom and how will the bank sell the asset if it is required to foreclose?
• How long will it take to sell the property?
• How much can the bank expect to net out of the sale, and will it be enough to recover its principal, interest and costs?

For the lender, the process of due diligence may be to satisfy any one or many of several criteria:

• Does the transaction meet the bank's lending parameters?
• Is the underwriting in conformity with bank policy?
• Does the loan meet FIRREA requirements?
• Will the loan meet the requirements of the rating agencies?
• Is the loan officer experienced enough in self-storage to recognize hidden risks?
• What might a prospective purchaser find wrong with the property?
• To whom can the bank sell the loan if it does not wish to hold it in its portfolio?

Due diligence means different things to different people. It is not an appraisal process. The result is not intended to establish a value, although that may be a byproduct of the process. The goal is more to disclose risks, not to offer an opinion as to whether the borrower can provide the solutions. If you have never owned and operated a self-storage property, what makes you think you are qualified to sustain profitable operations of a property, let alone turn around a distressed property?

So far, it sounds as if due diligence is a deal-killer. Is it ever a deal-maker? Here is a short list of how due diligence conducted by experts can enhance a transaction:

• Discovery of hidden income to immediately make the deal better.
• Discovery of potential income that will provide an upside to the transaction.
• Disclosure of expense savings of which the current owner is not taking advantage.
• Discovery of expenses that should have been capitalized.
• Discovery of expenses that were one-time-only and do not affect normal operations.
• Finding postings that were incorrect and added to net operating income.
• Discovering facts that make the market more attractive than it has been in the past.

In sum, the due-diligence process may not be one you want to conduct on your own. You may be a good operator, but that does not necessarily mean you are a good buyer of real estate. There is a very big difference. While you can expect to pay up to $10,000 for a thorough due-diligence effort (excluding title insurance and legal fees), that may be a small price to pay relative to how much you are putting at risk.

RK Kliebenstein is president of Coast-To-Coast Storage, with offices in Boca Raton, Fla., San Diego and the Washington, D.C., area. Coast-To-Coast is a self-storage consultancy business that assists developers and owners in operating more efficiently and profitably. If you have questions about the due-diligence process, Mr. Kliebenstein can be reached by phone at 561.367.9241; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.realestateinvestor.org.

Many people bemoan having to "work for a living" and simply dread waking to the alarm at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning. It is rare to encounter a person who exudes so much passion and excitement about his work it is contagious. But Mike Parham, founder and president of Noah's G.P. Inc., is one such person. His is a communicable enthusiasm for self-storage development and investment opportunities.

Noah's G.P. is the culmination of Parham's vision for providing a comprehensive self-storage investment vehicle to interested and qualified investors. It is a full-service self- storage development company that provides unique investment and joint-venture opportunities--primarily in the south central and southeastern United States--via its Noah's Ark Self Storage chain. The company currently has five Noah's Ark facilities in operation, with seven more in various stages of development.

"Although my involvement in the self-storage industry dates back to 1980, the first stage of my three-part strategy for a comprehensive investment vehicle really began with the founding of National Development Services [NDS] in 1987," says Parham. Since its inception, NDS has been involved in the design/build aspect of nearly 200 self- storage projects, including projects for institutional developers such as Shurgard, Public Storage, Storage USA, Storage Trust and Sovran.

NDS received the Facility of the Year award from the Self Storage Association and MiniCo Inc. in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1996, as well as the Design Excellence award from the Mini-Storage Institute in 1995. NDS President Victor Lopez says, "In the early years of NDS, we spent about 50 percent of our time redesigning every project we received from outside engineers and architects who had never worked on a self-storage project before. Their designs were simply too costly and didn't incorporate all of the features necessary to be cost-effective and user-friendly."

The second phase of Parham's strategy required the formation of Joshua Management Corp., a self-storage property-management company that supervises the Noah's Ark chain as well as other facilities owned by outside clients. "The role of Joshua Management is to completely analyze and understand the operations of every self-storage property in its care, with a view toward minimizing operating costs and maximizing lease-up rates, customer closing rates, overall occupancy rates and, ultimately, the bottom-line cash flow," says Parham.

Commenting on the company's first year of operation, President Donna May says, "Joshua Management reduced its portfolio's operating cost by more than 10 percent, which increased its fair market value and cash flow by the same amount. Properties in the leasing phase have had a net occupancy increase of 8.4 percent per month and a customer closing rate of more than 72 percent--both well above industry standards."

Building on the design/build experience of NDS and the property-management expertise of Joshua Management, the third and unifying phase of Parham's self-storage investment strategy is the implementation of the development role of Noah's G.P. This includes site selection, facilitation of zoning and entitlements, demand analysis, development budgeting, financial forecasting, and the preparation of bank and investor packages.

"Simply stated, the role of Noah's G.P. is to develop the Noah's Ark Self Storage chain," says Parham. "Each Noah's Ark facility is a separate limited partnership, which is typically 50 percent to 60 percent owned by Noah's G.P. and its partners/employees and 40 percent to 50 percent by other investors. These others are interested in the potential returns available in a self-storage project; however, they may lack either the experience or desire to deal with all of the development, design and management intricacies essential to success in this industry. By partnering with Noah's G.P., they can experience the excitement and potential of self-storage without the headaches and risks of starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel."

In a typical Noah's Ark project, investors contribute 20 percent to 25 percent of the cost in exchange for 40 percent to 50 percent of the limited partnership. Noah's G.P. handles all development issues, including financing and providing the personal guarantee to the lender for the construction loan. NDS designs and builds the project for a fee of 7 percent of the construction cost, and Joshua Management runs the property for a 5 percent management fee.

The typical project will involve six months of construction and 18 months of lease-up to 90 percent occupancy. After three to six months of stabilized occupancy, the project is typically refinanced at 70 percent to 75 percent of fair market value, which usually returns 70 percent to 100 percent of the investors' original contributions. Otherwise, the project is sold to an institutional buyer. Cash flows and proceeds from the sale of the project are split in accordance with relative ownership interests.

When asked about the exit strategy for his self-storage investments, Parham draws an analogy to the hotel/motel industry. "Years ago, the vast majority of motels were individually owned," Parham says. "Over the years, we have seen massive consolidation--the top 20 hotel/motel operators probably own more than 90 percent of such properties. The same thing is happening in the self-storage industry. We are definitely seeing growing consolidation, which provides a tremendous opportunity for the savvy private developer that can select the type of location and build the type of properties institutions will purchase."

Parham notes that as a pilot program, NDS developed facilities with a variety of investors between 1994 and 1998, most of whom were its own clients. "All of these facilities were sold in 1998 to two institutional buyers. The sales cap average was 10.2 percent, even with several of the properties having less than a six-month history of stabilized occupancy. The overall return on investment averaged at 36 percent annualized," says Parham.

"The success of this portfolio led to the launching of Noah's G.P. and the Noah's Ark Self Storage chain in late 1998. Our new focus on multiple locations within particular markets as well as our previous experience cause us to have tremendous expectations for both."

For more information about Noah's G.P. and Noah's Ark Self Storage, contact Mike Parham at 800. 847.4992; visit www.noahsgp.com.

The self-storage industry has undergone a series of tremendous changes over the past two decades, evolving from a core group of small, mom-and-pop facilities to a large, powerful organization of professional business people. The rapid growth of the industry has further created a variety of challenging new issues, many of which are just now being addressed.

When the self-storage industry was young, so were its buildings. Facility owners had secure new roofs that did not leak, factory-fresh doors and a much lower incidence of crime than today. These circumstances were very attractive to insurance companies, several of which developed products specifically for the industry. Specialty insurers provided better coverage than what was generally available at the time, and many offered significantly reduced premiums for substantial savings.

During the '80s, when self-storage was reaching a new level of activity, so were its insurance exposures. Due to various challenges the nation was experiencing at the time--primarily the recession--building maintenance and repair was deferred in many facilities, increasing the potential for damage to customer's stored goods. In addition, the criminal element discovered self-storage facilities were ideal places to conduct its activities. These developments caused insurance claims to increase dramatically in certain areas, and helped give rise to certain specialized insurance coverages, such as customers' goods legal liability, to help facility owners protect themselves adequately.

Customers' goods legal liability is an important coverage unique to the industry. The basic premise of self-storage is owners act as a landlords, not warehousemen; they never take possession of their tenant's goods. They are not responsible for those goods since they are simply renting space. However, there are certain situations that can create legal liability on your part for damage to your customers' goods. For example, by providing a building to store goods, you represent protection against the elements. If a customer's goods are damaged by water or some other form of the elements, he may feel you were somehow negligent in honoring that representation.

If you are found legally liable for damage to a tenant's goods, your customers' goods legal liability coverage will probably pay the claim. Just as important, it provides defense costs even if a claim is found to be groundless, false or fraudulent. It also includes coverage for damage done to customers' goods stored in the open, should you be found legally liable for that damage. This coverage is not normally available in the standard insurance market and cannot normally be added to the standard business-owner's package policy. It is coverage available through specialty markets for self-storage insurance.

These days, most facility owners have got their deferred maintenance schedules under control. This new emphasis on routine maintenance is helping to contain losses in the area of customers' goods. Aside from a complete re-roofing of your facility, there are many new products available for sealing aging roofs. There are also companies that sell maintenance products, such as unit-door threshold seals, that provide cost-effective alternatives to more expensive repairs. And facility operators have kept busy implementing new ideas of their own to help contain losses, such as providing pallets in each storage locker. The pallets keep their customers' belongings a few inches off the floor, helping to keep them dry in the event of surface-water accumulation.

Security is also a major concern, and a tremendous number of vendors are in the business of providing various types of security equipment. A growing number of facilities are equipped with door alarms, computer-controlled entry gates and high-tech surveillance equipment. These products, accompanied by a good resident manager, help control crime.

Sad to say, the days are long gone when an operator can rent a unit to new customer and turn his back on his tenant's activities. Many operators routinely photograph customers, and some even obtain their fingerprints. This may seem drastic, but it has become a necessary practice in some areas. Some operators argue this type of intrusion will chase off customers; however, if it is done in a manner that expresses concern for their property, very few honest people will mind the extra care taken for their security. The customer it does chase off just might be a criminal, and revenue saved from a criminal is really money in the bank.

New construction and proper maintenance of buildings, combined with hands-on management and attention to security are creating safer and more secure places for customers to store their goods. This is good news for those who wish to keep their insurance costs at an affordable level.

David Wilhite works for Universal Insurance Facilities Ltd., which offers a complete package of coverages specifically designed to meet the needs of the self-storage industry. For more information on Universal's coverages, or to get a quick, no-obligation quote, call 800.844.2101; fax 480.970.6240; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.vpico.com/universal.

It is once again time to look at prospects for the self-storage real estate market in the upcoming year. Obviously, the events of Sept. 11 added a great deal of uncertainty to all of the real estate markets and the economy in general. Those events, combined with an already weakened marketplace, should make all owners more wary. However, there are some very positive realities for self-storage. While it is not certain the industry is immune to economic slowdown, and individual properties may be relatively more affected than chains, the industry still appears to be attractive to investors.

The Real Estate Market

Generally speaking, the real estate market is in the "denial" phase of its valuation cycle. The next phase is often a difficult one--which makes us remember why we were in denial! You can be sure that with retail sales flat or declining, retail projects won't prosper. Likewise, the death of the dot-coms and layoffs in other industries will leave a hole in the income statements of many office buildings. This means many types of real estate will suffer in the coming months.

However, self-storage still appears to be experiencing increasing rates (albeit, at a little slower pace) and steady occupancies. This means a continuance of relatively consistent cash flow for most self-storage properties. With other sectors beginning to perform subpar, investors are looking for real estate with predictable cash flow and a possibility to improve. For example, in most types of real estate, foreclosures are beginning to appear. The following chart shows the relative performance of self-storage early in the economic slowdown. This information on conduit loans for October 2001 shows the default rates for different types of real estate.

As you can see, self-storage has a very impressive record--so far. These statistics are important for three reasons: First, the low numbers show the strength of the industry in light of the economy. They also prove self-storage demand is not born of a "boom and bust" cycle. While the demand was positive in the prosperous times, it was not excessive because people don't rent self-storage for the same reasons they would, say, buy a new car.

Second, the mere fact self-storage is even listed is very important. The industry has now earned its wings as a product type deserving of special consideration. It had not been that way in the past down-cycle, but investors are sure to take notice of self-storage's stability this time around.

Last, but not least, the comparison looks great. For example, office properties have a delinquency rate three times that of self-storage; multifamily properties have a rate at five times; industrial properties, eight times; and hotels, 16 times. With self-storage cap rates being about 20 percent higher than those on industrial properties, this information is sure to be an attention-getter for potential buyers. Combined with stock market challenges, a 10 percent unleveraged cash return looks good to an investor of any type.

Financing

When financing is cheap (and is it ever!), pricing for solid cash flow tends to be strong. The Federal Reserve has really given a bonus to self-storage owners and potential buyers this past year. While it appears rates will remain low in the short term, it is uncertain whether they will be higher by the end of 2002. Neal Gussis of Beacon Realty Capital has a study that shows it is a rare year that mortgage rates don't move 2 percent in one direction or another.

But for the time being, sellers can still get great rates. The bad news is lenders are getting much more selective about product quality, and this situation is unlikely to change in a period of uncertainty and generally rising delinquencies. Also, while many lenders still remain on the sidelines, banks are cautiously lending, particularly to known buyers and on local projects with conservative loan-to-value ratios. In sum, getting a loan has become more difficult but cheaper. This impacts the buyer market because the bankers want experience, net worth and quality projects.

Pricing

Despite the positive aspects of the self-storage industry, cap rates have not come down much, if at all, because of the general level of uncertainty in the economy--which means prices go up. Great properties in perfect locations still may have sub-10 cap rates. Simply good projects in good locations fall into the 10 cap-rate range, and all the others have cap rates of 11 or higher. The major impact on pricing in uncertain times is how speculative cash flow is viewed by potential investors.

Let's say a project is 80 percent occupied and has a good history of higher occupancy, i.e., 85 percent to 90 percent. In the past, many potential investors would have considered the lower occupancy as potential for future additional cash flow (the "glass is half full"). Today, many now look at this same situation as a "glass is half empty" scenario and are not willing to pay very much for potential income.

This same attitude applies to expansion ground, potential rent increases and other normally positive attributes. So while pricing is excellent as it relates to actual cash flow, potential cash flow is sharply discounted. Most buyers are now calling potential cash flow "blue sky" where, in the past, they talked about a property ready to "blossom." The general rule is to base pricing on 12 months of trailing income (the preceding 12 months), with no look toward income increases except in extreme circumstances. (For a primer on valuation, visit the Inside Self-Storage online archive or www.selfstorage.com.)

Conclusion

Although the 2002 real estate market may have significant challenges, self-storage will reveal itself to be a relatively safe haven in an otherwise choppy environment. Here are some other things to expect in the upcoming year:

• There will be fewer buyers, but they will be serious buyers.
• Potential buyers will be quite picky about the quality of projects and the certainty of cash flow.
• Every buyer will have several good options, so sellers must professionally market their properties with attractive, definitive and accurate information.
• Sellers will need to price their facilities in a reasonable range to attract serious buyers. They will not be successful in looking for the "greater fool" when investors are still licking their wounds from the dot-com fallout. This does not mean to sell at a bargain price, merely a fair market price.
• Sellers will have to be patient, as finding the right buyer can take time. Buyers are also taking more time to evaluate properties. They may have only recently become interested in self-storage because their former favorite real estate types--office, retail, etc.--are experiencing tough times. Thus, their move up the learning curve may be slower.

While 2002 may not be the greatest year for real estate, the self-storage industry has some real aspects that will keep it strong during the slowdown. The long-term benefit is more investors will finally see the value of self-storage.

Michael L. McCune has been actively involved in commerical real estate throughout the United States for more than 20 years. Since 1984, he has been owner and president of Argus Real Estate Inc., a real estate consulting, brokerage and development company based in Denver. In January 1994, he created the Argus Self Storage Real Estate Network, now the nation's largest network of independent commercial real estate brokers dedicated to buying and selling self-storage facilities. For more information, call 800.55.STORE or visit www.selfstorage.com.

Selling and providing records- management services creates a unique revenue opportunity for entrepreneurs and developers. Once you have earned a client, you will likely retain that company for its lifetime. However, there are several important issues that need attention to ensure this.

In last month's column, I discussed the value of a typical 1,000-box account in records management. That account generates more than $43,000 in revenue over the first five years of service. This is not the end of the revenue stream but just the beginning. Records are typically retained for an average of seven to 10 years.

It is also true to say most clients do not manage their destruction process until volume becomes very large. As companies grow, their volume also grows between a low of 5 percent and a high of 25 percent annually, depending on the age of the business. Newer businesses tend to grow at higher rates, while more mature businesses grow at a slower pace. The three common circumstances that generate growth in storage from the base account volume are:

1. Client businesses tend to grow as they mature, which stimulates more volume in records storage.

2. As documents undergo the destruction process, they are replaced with larger volumes of the same.

3. Most businesses lack a retention schedule. Clients tend to keep records longer than required.

Ensuring a Lifetime Relationship

There are several absolutes for the retention of records-management clients. These are:

Absolute 1: The right contract form. There is only one "right" contract form in the records-management industry. PRISM International is the trade association that has promulgated this contract. It (or a modified form of it) is in use in most commercial record centers around the world. It has been built through years of experience in the records-management industry.

Absolute 2: Contract term. Be specific about the term of your agreement. It is common for a contract term to be initially set for a number of years--perhaps two or three years at a fixed rate and then on an annual basis with a price escalation thereafter.

Absolute 3: Automatic contract renewal. The contract should include an automatic renewal clause after its initial term. The automatic renewal terms should be clear and require no action by the records-storage center or the client.

Absolute 4: Periodic price escalation. Price escalation clauses should be tied to the term of the contract. You should tie the increase to something reasonable, i.e., the regional cost-of- living index. Price escalation could be annual, biannual or follow any other specific time period.

Absolute 5: Limitation of liability. The limitation of liability is one item in your contract that should never be altered. The industry generally prefers $2 per unit (box) or a fixed rate, such as the cost of replacing the box. Never accept responsibility for the contents of the box. It is possible the client may ask for excess valuation insurance. You may choose to offer this insurance through a third party or suggest the client purchase it as an addendum to his own insurance.

Absolute 6: Permanent-withdrawal fee. One of the most common practices in the industry is the inclusion of a permanent-retrieval fee in the price schedule. The purpose of this is to offset the cost of racks and general overhead, as well as the cost of the final retrieval and data entry. It is usually priced at a fixed rate per box. It guarantees you will not lose money on any box that you bring into storage, since an immediate retrieval will pay for the expenses of your rack and overhead. It is also the most important deterrent to losing business because the cost is generally prohibitive.

Absolute 7: Failure-to-pay penalty. The penalty should be covered in the contract so you can take appropriate action and recover your costs of collection and rental fees past due. This clause usually contains wording that withholds access to any records when a payment is past due.

Absolute 8: Rate schedule that sets pricing levels. Schedule A is the price list. Prices may vary across the board from client to client. The rate schedule should list every cost to the client. It is recommended the reverse side of the Schedule A have a very clear description of each service and its basis of charge. This will support your position on service and activity pricing.

Absolute 9: Rate schedule that sets initial charges. Schedule B should detail all of the one-time charges that will be incurred for the initial collection of records. It should cover when these fees will be charged and define each charge specifically.

Absolute 9: Excellent client service. In the end, there is only one way to ensure a client will never leave. He must be continually delighted. You must have a client-care program that ensures clients regularly receive value-added services.

Regular columnist Cary McGovern, CRM, is the principal of FileMan and FIRMS (FileMan Internet Records Management Services), which offer full-service records-management assistance for commercial records-storage start-ups in self-storage operations. For assistance in feasibility determination, operational implementation or marketing support, or for questions on the FIRMS Sales Manager, call 877.FILEMAN, e-mail [email protected]; visit www.fileman.com. 

This is the true story of a self-storage property placed under contract not once, not twice, but three times within 12 months before it finally closed. It is a case study where everyone had the best of intentions and the property continued to lease up according to the industry norm during the entire period.

This sale was a true test of character for the seller and his listing broker. It was September 2000, and the owner had developed a 37,000-square-foot, single-story self-storage facility, which was a carbon copy of another he developed and sold two years earlier. The owner called and asked his broker's opinion as to the viability of selling this facility during lease-up. The property was renting at the same monthly rate as the one that sold previously, and rental rates had been raised in month five of operation from those that were 5 percent to 10 percent below market up to current rents.

His broker reworked his operating statement on a pro forma basis to reflect the new rents and confirm the expenses prepared for the original appraisal of the project. The pro forma indicated the new project could be listed for sale at an acceptable price for the owner, while still leaving room for a buyer to have good upside potential. The broker's opinion of value was close to the owner's expectations of a sales price.

Marketing packages were prepared and sent out simultaneously to a targeted list of 12 to 15 potential buyers. The broker explained the project would probably not attract the attention of the top four industry players because of certain parameters in which they were working, but packages were sent to them anyway. This was a second-tier location/market, and it was the broker's opinion the facility should sell to a buyer whose base of operation was within a one- to three-hour drive of the property for sale.

No one was more surprised than the broker when one of the REITs expressed a strong interest in the property and made an offer after visiting the site. The owner made a counteroffer, which was ultimately accepted through a letter of intent with terms and conditions acceptable to all parties. The buyer's due-diligence process was to take 60 days and was unconditional in his right to cancel the agreement for any reason. The buyer proceeded with his due diligence but cancelled his contract on day 59. The reason given was "the facility was not continuing to lease up at the rate anticipated." Translation: The buyer needed to purchase "stabilized" properties instead of properties in lease-up.

Second Attempt

The winter holidays came and went, and the owner and broker again teamed to list the property for sale at the same original price. Marketing packages were prepared and distributed with updated materials, including actual financials for the 2000 calendar year. These new packages were sent to some of the original potential buyers as well as several new ones--some of whom had seen the facility listed on the Internet.

This time, the broker was able to create a sense of urgency in the solicitation, which produced three bona fide written offers by the posted deadline. All three offers were within $125,000 of the owner's asking price, and he decided to accept an offer from the largest of the competing companies. Although the offer was for $50,000 less than one of the others, it was not subject to any financing. The owner now had to wait 60 days for the buyer's due-diligence process, and the property continued to improve its occupancy to 75 percent after being open for 15 months.

The broker sensed the second buyer might run into some trouble, as due- diligence requires approval from the financial partner. He kept the other potential buyers informed of the process to keep their interest in making another offer should this contract fail. This time, the buyer cancelled his contract after only 30 days, stating his financial partner didn't like the second-tier market in which the facility was located. The facility also did not meet their minimum criteria for acquisition, i.e., traffic count, population, etc.

Third Time's a Charm

Of the two other potential buyers, the owner now chose the one who appeared to be better qualified and able to close. The facility was placed under contract--again--at the same price as the earlier contracts. The next 60-day period saw the buyer moving quickly to perform his own due diligence, including bringing his own banker to the property right away. The current manager was interested in remaining at the facility as she lived 10 minutes from the site. The owner even agreed to rent the vacant upstairs office from the buyer for six months. Finally, success! The property closed on time and everyone was quite pleased.

Could this sale have been handled differently? Should the owner have executed contracts with smaller buyers instead of large operators? The answer to these questions is no. The first two buyers were legitimate and qualified, and came to the transaction with a very significant difference in their contracts from those of smaller, local buyers: no finance contingency. This facility was a second-tier property still in rent-up, and its current income could not carry a 75 percent loan-to-value mortgage with all of the operating expenses, let alone begin to yield a profit.

The owner was kept informed of the marketing process during the listing period, with all prospective buyers being registered with the owner and their comments relayed back to him. The broker worked his hardest to get two local owner/operators to purchase the facility, as it made more sense because of their proximity and the potential increase in coverage and market share within the county. It was their lost opportunity, as these types of properties don't become available for sale that often.

This facility did not sell earlier for a lack of interested buyers, not because of its location, age, competition, traffic count or demographics. It was a classic case of finding the right buyer at the right time. While "location, location, location" is still very important, timing is, too. The owner and broker concluded a successful sale to a ready, willing and capable buyer. And in this particular case, the third time was the charm.

Nick Malagisi is president of Storage Realty Advisors, a commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in the sale of self-storage facilities, primarily in the Northeast. Malagisi has participated in the sale of more than $93 million worth of self-storage properties since 1993. He also prepares feasibility studies for new projects. For more information, call 716.633.9601; e-mail [email protected].

In the course of my business, I attend a lot of office and vendor meetings, during which the various attendees generally brandish their organizational "toys"--their PDAs, or personal data assistants. A few years ago, a PDA was little more than an electronic address book. Today, these battery-powered, pocket-sized computers connect us to the wireless Internet or our office files. We can use them to schedule appointments, answer e-mails and collaborate on projects, all while roaming about the nation. The PDA has become indispensable to the business executive.

The medical field has embraced PDAs as an effective method to research patient records and access reference libraries. Soon, emergency medical technicians will have instant access to your health records while en route to the hospital. Doctors will access patient information at the touch of a button, enter symptoms to update records, and retrieve a recommended diagnosis in minutes.

Soon, retail outlets will equip employees with PDAs so they may retrieve product specifications, check stock and even perform checkout without ever leaving a customer's side. Customers will be free of long register lines, and stores will gain valuable inventory space that was previously used for checkout stations.

Self-storage managers can take advantage of these same conveniences as they do rounds at their facilities. They will be able to answer questions, update records and process reservations via their PDAs and a cordless phone, allowing them to provide full service to prospective tenants without having to be in the office. When the PDA is later plugged into a computer, the records will be automatically transferred and updated. "District managers can use their PDAs to connect with others and share company information and task lists," says Jim Chiswell, president of Chiswell & Associates LLC. Chiswell recently introduced LockCheck, a PDA program managers use to verify unit status during their walk-arounds.

PDAs also make it easy for you to record the highlights of your business conversations. Just think how this can help you sort through the facts accumulated during your next industry tradeshow. You can instantly record the product specifications and pricing that appeals to you, schedule which seminars to attend, and track your travel expenses to ensure full credit on your income taxes.

Purchasing a PDA

If you don't already own a PDA, you now have several excellent models from which to choose. You can try hundreds of creative PDA developments at "Planet PDA," a new conference and exhibition focused on educating business owners about the productivity increase they can realize using handheld computers. The show is attended by MIS and executive decision-makers, operating-system developers and vendors, software suppliers, resellers, field sales and service personnel, handheld-computer users and others. For more information, visit www.tmcnet.com/planetpda.

The PDA market was defined in the mid-'90s by the Palm Pilot^TM, which evolves each year into a more powerful business tool. More than 100,000 developers have used the straightforward design of the Palm Pilot to create a dazzling array of applications. The full-featured Palm model is the M505. It sells for about $349 at most discount outlets. If you can live with a black and white screen, you can spend only $129 for the M105 model.

Handspring offers Palm power plus options for storage cards, wireless modems, cell phones, etc. Its Visor Prism model sports a colorful screen and plenty of memory--all for a street price of $249. Or, if you use AOL e-mail and require an always-on, portable Internet connection, I recommend the Blackberry 850 by Motion for $399.

Recently, Microsoft introduced a new solution: the Pocket PC platform. This is a scaled-down computer that includes thin versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and Internet Explorer, plus dozens of other Microsoft applications. Other industry players such as Casio, Compaq, HP and Toshiba also offer near-laptop-grade pocket PCs. I am particularly impressed with the $569 Toshiba Pocket PC E570. It has a large, colorful screen and an amazing level of computing power. This unit also includes an electronic-book reader, voice recorder and MP3 player. Equally impressive is the similarly priced Compaq iPAC 3870. It includes handwriting recognition and voice dictation.

However convenient, portability does require serious design compromises. For example, all of these units have front-lit displays. Front-lit screens are easy to read in sunlight and dark rooms, but readability suffers under normal indoor lighting.

I have listed only the highlights of a few select PDAs. No single unit will satisfy everyone's needs. As with any business tool, first decide what you want to accomplish, then buy the device that fulfills that need. Carry your PDA with you always. Use it at your next industry tradeshow. It has been said that time is money. If this is true, a good PDA provides a fantastic return on investment.

Doug Carner is the vice president of marketing for QuikStor Security & Software, a Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based company specializing in security, software and management for the self-storage industry. For more information, call 800.321.1987; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.quikstor.com.

Shurgard of Colonialtown is an example of what can happen when organizations work together toward a common goal. Liberty Investment Properties Inc. and affiliate partner Shurgard Storage Centers Inc., along with the Colonialtown and Park/Lake Highland neighborhood associations and staff from the city of Orlando, Fla., collaborated to ensure this facility would provide an aesthetically pleasing architectural design while capturing its namesake's neo-traditional style. To make it all work, help was requested from The Rabco Corp., the law firm of Holland & Knight, Oden-Hardy Construction, U.S. Door & Building Components and Lundberg Properties.

Building a facility convenient for local residents and businesses was Liberty's main goal. It had targeted north downtown Orlando nearly five years before locating the ideal self-storage site. This trade area had the highest population-to-storage-supply ratio in the metro area, and a three-mile radius that had been served by only two self-storage facilities. The older area near downtown was densely developed with few vacant parcels. In fact, nearly all new developments were conversion efforts. The area is part of a "traditional" city-zoning overlay district and most commercial parcels are no larger than 1.5 acres.

During the search for the ideal location, Liberty discovered a 1.44-acre site that contained two buildings. The property had been previously under contract for more than a year and proposed for redevelopment with a troubled-youth rehabilitation facility. The two neighborhood associations strongly opposed the use and spent $10,000 fighting the deal, which ultimately fell through. When Liberty found the property relisted, it was shocked to learn one of its largest competitors had already inquired about the building's availability and met with the city planning and zoning staff.

At the time, zoning and land-use codes would not allow for self-storage development of an economically feasible size on this particular site. Still, Liberty felt it could sell city officials and neighbors on the concept. Coming off an exhaustive battle with the previous buyer, they were willing to listen. More important, they wanted to be involved.

Zoning Issues

The zoning of the site was split with a commercial zoning in front and residential in the back. The commercial mixed-use traditional zoning allowed self-storage as a conditional use. The residential zoning allowed parking to serve adjacent commercial uses, but could not be developed with a commercial building of any sort. A rezoning of the residential area was unlikely and later confirmed by the local residents who said they would fight any further encroachment of commercial zonings into their neighborhoods.

Although the residential area of the site could be used in calculating the floor-area ratio (FAR), this would allow only 31,000-plus square feet of building area. More than twice that amount was needed for the project to be feasible.

The city also had a land-development code for self-storage facilities requiring either a 3-acre site minimum or 65,000 square feet of building area. Obviously, Liberty could not meet the minimum with 1.4 acres, and because of the existing FAR, the company could not build the required square footage. However, the city staff recognized that when the land-development code was written, a multistory facility in urban areas had not even been conceptualized.

The major point of discussion with the city centered around bulk intensity of development. Liberty pointed out it could build a one-story commercial structure of approximately 25,000 square feet. This structure would be 35 feet high and contain a total of 875,000 cubic feet of space. The company argued a three-story facility wouldn't include any more bulk intensity, but couldn't be developed under the existing code because it would be viewed as a 75,000-square-foot building, which would exceed the FAR maximum.

Liberty went on to describe how this facility wouldn't generate a fraction of the traffic other commercial uses would. It would require few parking spaces and could still bring a significant tax base to the community. The city staff concurred and agreed to amend the land-use code by counting only the first floor in FAR calculations. The city also took the opportunity to add a requirement that at least 1,500 square feet of space had to be dedicated to light retail or personal-service use, since this amendment was occurring in the mixed-use zoning category.

City officials made it clear they would work on resolving the code issues, allowing the company to present the project for a conditional-use permit. But even that by itself wasn't nearly enough to take this project from concept to reality. City officials also wanted the neighborhood to back the project.

Gaining Acceptance

Still without a contract to purchase the property, Liberty met with the Colonialtown and Park/Lake Highland associations. The company was not very well received; but after presenting some factual information and lending a sympathetic ear, it gained some acceptance.

The associations approved the formation of a neighborhood committee to discuss with the developer issues such as site and building design, style, access and hours of operation. Nearly 15 residents attended the first meeting, including both association presidents. They discussed ways to build a facility that would fit into the community, protect existing trees on the site and limit access to the property. At a follow-up meeting, Liberty presented three different front elevations with distinctly different design styles. By the third meeting, momentum began to build. The associations felt represented and influential in the development of its commercial corridor.

The Approvals

As part of the processes for land-development code and conditional-use approval, Liberty had to overcome concerns from municipal-planning board members regarding scale and size. The company used creative exhibits including computerized renderings of the front and back of the site. Developers even photographed the front elevations of a stretch of two city blocks in each direction of the site by taking photos directly across the street every 20 yards. These photos were attached side by side and mounted on an exhibit board. The rendering was inserted into the photo to show how the proposed building would fit into the existing streetscape design and scale of the neighborhood. Liberty also used other exhibits including graphs and charts showing impacts of other uses, as well as heights, buffer yards and setbacks for existing buildings near the site.

At the public hearing, only two residents from the neighborhood opposed the project. Unfortunately, the vote was tabled due to time constraints and rescheduled for the following month. After the meeting, developers met with one of the opposed residents, who happened to own rental properties adjacent to the proposed site. The site plan was reconfigured to address his particular concerns. At the next meeting, without opposition and with support from both HOA presidents, the board approved the project with a vote of 5-4.

Building the Facility

Building design and structure were the next major issue. Four floors within a typical three-story, 35-foot-high building meant reduced floor-to-floor heights of only 8 feet, 8 inches. This resulted in a number of challenges including hallway-system conflicts with beam locations, air-circulation problems as a result of minimal spaces for ductwork, and conflicts in placing mechanical equipment, fire-exit signs and sprinkler piping. Numerous construction meetings were held at the site to work through issues envisioned during the design stages.

In the End

Physical-property challenges, split zonings, code interpretations, existing structures, traditional neighborhoods and homeowners associations were just a few issues to contend with in completion of the project. Planning boards, public hearings and building design were others. These descriptions are only a very small part of what actually took place. There were other plots and subplots, and one meeting after another just to keep hope of the development alive. In the end, no obstacle could slow progress on this unique storage center.

As many developers can attest, surrounding residents to a project can be your best ally--or your worst enemy. How Shurgard of Colonialtown came to be is a tribute to the hard work of all parties involved. Liberty Investment and Shurgard Storage Centers are proud to be a part of this neighborhood that was able to see past the challenges to the end result.

For more information, contact Shurgard-Colonial Town Joint Venture at 407.774.8818.