Compass Self Storage, a member of the Amsdell family of companies, has acquired McDonough-Henry Self-Storage in McDonough, Ga. It’s the company’s 12th location in the Greater Atlanta market, according to a press release. The site was purchased by separate affiliates of Amsdell Group LLC and Compass Self Storage LLC and will be rebranded under the Compass name.

The property at 230 McDonough Parkway comprises more than 72,000 net rentable square feet, some of which is climate-controlled. Compass plans to expand the property with additional drive-up units. It’ll also upgrade the security system with the installation of individual access control. The facility offers truck rentals, and a retail center that sells moving and packing supplies.

“This well-maintained, single-story property in an upscale and growing submarket is a great addition to our Compass footprint in Atlanta. Compass Self Storage will proudly offer our new customers top-notch product and customer service to make moving and storing as pleasant as possible,” said Todd Amsdell, president.

Compass was represented in the transaction by J.L. “Chip” Mack III, a partner with real estate firm McWhirter Realty Partners LLC.

Compass completed 13 purchases and developments last year, the release stated. Last month, it acquired American Storage Center in Snellville, Ga., which is also in the Greater Atlanta market.

Headquartered in Cleveland, the Amsdell Cos. draws its roots from the family-owned construction company founded in 1928. Since its inception, the company has been active in several billions of dollars of real estate ventures, with a primary focus on self-storage. It has owned and operated more than 500 storage centers under various trade names in more than 27 states. It currently owns and operates properties in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.

Someone once told me that if a business owner isn’t getting sued, he must not be very successful. There’s some truth to this. If your business is around long enough and grows big enough, the risk of facing a lawsuit does increase. This is certainly true in an industry like self-storage.

So, if it happens, what do you do? Here are some simple steps to increase your success rate, lower your heart rate and, hopefully, cut down a little on your attorney's billing rate.

You Got Served

It's 3:30 p.m. and you’re looking forward to wrapping up another successful day of renting units, collecting payments and satisfying tenants with your amazing customer service. Suddenly, a constable or other unknown individual walks in and says these horrifying words as he hands you a stack of papers: “You’ve been served.” Don't reach for the whiskey immediately; it’s not the end of the world.

First, don’t ignore the summons, as it won’t go away. The moment those papers hit your hand, a clock starts ticking, marching toward the time when your response is due to the court to avoid a default judgment. There may also be some very important motions—such one to dismiss the case—that are on a short timetable.

Notify Your Attorney and/or Insurance Agent

It’s vital that you immediately scan and e-mail or fax the documents to your attorney and insurance agent. Don’t delay even five minutes. Do it while it’s fresh and hot in your hands. This will give your lawyer or agent the most time to strategize the next legal move. Send it to your attorney even if you have insurance because it’s possible the nature of the suit is excluded from your policy (like a mold claim).

Save Everything

"There is a legal duty to preserve evidence when a party knows, or reasonably should know, that (1) there is a substantial chance that a claim will be filed, and that (2) evidence in its possession or control will be material and relevant to that claim." What does that mean? Simple: Save your stuff and don’t fire up the shredders. Send out an e-mail, letter or memorandum to everyone in your organization and let them know a lawsuit has been filed. Everyone should preserve all e-mails, documents, notes, files and evidence of any nature that relates to the person or entity that has filed suit.

In the self-storage context, make sure you save all e-mails, notices, letters, ledger notes, physical files, electronic files and documents, photographs, broken locks, videos, and anything else related to the tenant and the unit. If you want to really make your attorney happy, create a neat copy of everything and send it to him right away. Don't filter the pile, sifting out things you think are irrelevant; let your attorney decide that.

Destroying documents and evidence after a lawsuit has been filed, even unintentionally, can result in a horrible situation at trial. You don’t want to have to defend the facts of the case and your “destruction” of evidence as a simple mistake or normal document or e-mail purging. Best practice: Keep it all and send it to your lawyer.

Keep It Quiet

Now that you’ve entrusted the legal outcome of this controversy to your attorney, inform your staff and anyone else connected with the case that it’s time for them to stop talking about it. Do not write a Facebook post that reads, "Just got sued today by some crazy @#$%. WTF?" There should be no internal e-mails between your staff discussing how this tenant is a drug addict or crazy or anything else. Send all inquiries about the case from third parties to your attorney. Only talk about the case in the presence of your lawyer and let him handle it.

Whatever you do, don’t discuss the case with the plaintiff under any circumstances. If he shows up to "talk," let him know he needs to have his attorney call your attorney and politely end the conversation. Again: Don’t talk about it!

Be Responsive and Helpful

When your attorney calls with questions or needs other documents, be responsive and cooperative. This helps the case move forward. If circumstances change, let your attorney know. For example, if you need to fire the only employee with knowledge of the facts, maybe call your lawyer first to strategize around that decision.

Remember, most businesses face legal action of some type during their existence. We’re all human and occasionally make mistakes. Sometimes you’ll have a tenant who’s just plain crazy. Either way, our legal system—although it can be expensive and time-consuming—is the best in the world.

Your lawyer should also be your risk manager on the case. Discuss the pros and cons as well as the facts, and determine what’s in the best interest of your operation. Sometimes the best move is to settle, and sometimes it’s to push forward to trial. But the smartest thing you can do is to keep doing a great job running the business and making it successful. The fact is 95 percent of lawsuits settle and many are resolved for pennies on the dollar, so it’s not worthy of a freakout. Rather, learn from the first one to hopefully avoid a second.

Murphy Klasing is a partner with Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber P.C. He has a wide range of appellate, arbitration and trial experience, successfully handling numerous litigation matters. With more than a decade of experience in the self-storage industry, he serves as counsel for Public Storage Inc. in Oklahoma and Texas, and has defended matters involving allegations of breach of contract, code violations, employment issues, fraud, negligence, personal injury, premises liability and theft. To reach him, call 713.961.9045; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.wkpz.com.

David Johnston, owner of Downtown Self Storage in Huntsville, Ala., was recently named 2018 Downtown Advocate of the Year by Downtown Huntsville Inc., a company that specializes in city revitalization through events, promotions and redevelopment initiatives. Johnston received his award on Jan. 12 during a breakfast ceremony in the atrium of Propst Arena, according to the source.

Johnston was honored for tailoring his storage business to host retail-business incubators on the first floor of the multi-story facility at 100 Jefferson St. N. Launched in 2014 as part of an initiative known as the Clinton Row Project, Johnston designated six storage units to serve as business incubators.

"David has been doing downtown redevelopment and downtown advocacy for a long, long time," Chad Emerson, CEO of Downtown Huntsville, said during the ceremony. "But what's been really exciting is David's support in this newest effort, including the Clinton Row Project. That was a really out-of-the-box thing to do. We won an International Downtown Award because of that. That type of stuff only happens when you have partners with open minds and embrace creativity."

Awards were also presented for Downtown Event of the Year and Downtown Project of the Year. Winners were selected through an online poll conducted on new website AL.com.

Downtown Self Storage was founded 19 years ago in a building that previously housed a furniture store and a dealership for farm equipment.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed an update to the state’s self-storage lien law yesterday that allows facility operators to charge late fees and conduct their lien sales online. Assembly Bill 3293 went into effect with the governor’s signature. First introduced in February 2016, the measure unanimously passed both houses (71-0) on Jan. 8.

The law enables operators to assess monthly late fees to delinquent tenants of up to $20 or 18 percent of their rent, whichever is greater. The percentage was reduced from 20 percent during the legislation process. “Operators currently assessing this amount or less as a late fee are already in compliance,” national Self Storage Association officials said in a Jan. 15 e-mail newsletter to SSA members. “Others will need to adjust their late-fee practices.”

The bill signing was among the last measures enacted by Christie, who concluded his tenure on Monday.

 The update is the second in less than four years. A 2013 update allows self-storage facility operators to assess storage-value limitations, tow defaulted vehicles and notify tenants about impending lien procedures via e-mail.

Value Store It Inc., which operates 14 properties on the East Coast under the Value Store It Self Storage brand, has purchased Extra Secure Self Storage in Pompano Beach, Fla., for $10 million. The property at 2250 North Powerline Road comprises 110,690 square feet of storage space in 680 climate-controlled units.

The seller was GT Development LLC, led by Thomas P. Richerson. GT purchased the land in 2006 for $1.6 million and completed the building in 2010, according to the source.

Value Store It also recently opened a six-story facility in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. The climate-controlled property comprises more than 800 units, and includes an upscale reception area, covered parking and retail space.

Based in Miami, Value Store It is owned by Todd Ruderman. It operates self-storage in Florida and Massachusetts, with most of its portfolio concentrated in South Florida. Its facilities offer commercial and residential storage, truck rentals, and moving and packing supplies.

Amazing Spaces Storage Centers, which operates five self-storage facilities in Houston, is celebrating 20 years in business. To commemorate the anniversary, the company will offer a “birthday” surprise each month to past, present and future customers, according to a press release. The prizes will be announced on its Facebook, Instagram and Facebook pages.

"We thought the best and most amazing way to celebrate our 20th birthday is to invite everyone to a year-long celebration with free treats and prizes," said Kathy Tautenhahn, who co-founded the company in 1998 with her husband, Scott Tautenhahn. "Our clients are more like friends and family. Because of this, we knew we couldn't celebrate our birthday without including them."

The Tautenhahns launched the business after finding themselves in need of personal storage. “We couldn't find our ideal storage environment, and we knew we weren't the only ones who encountered this issue," Scott Tautenhahn said.

As the self-storage industry has evolved, Amazing Spaces has stayed true to its vision of providing “the most remarkable” self-storage experience, the release stated. "We're constantly looking for ways we can be more amazing. People typically need storage during extremely stressful life events. We believe in providing our clients with the most exceptional service and to help them in every possible way," said Missy Colgin, manager of Amazing Spaces Medical Center/West University Self-Storage. "We're a close-knit team. We work hard, but we have a lot of fun in the process.”

Since opening, Amazing Spaces has received multiple awards and national recognition. The company also supports charitable efforts by collecting donations for local organizations. In addition, it participates in the Texas Self Storage Association’s “Make a Difference” campaign, which raises funds for Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas. Since 2004, the operator has donated more than $42,000 to the cause, according to its website.  

In addition to self-storage, the company offers wine storage and moving and packing supplies. Amazing Spaces operates facilities in Houston, Magnolia, Spring and The Woodlands, Texas. It will open a second location in Spring next month.

Update 1/15/18 – The Curry County Sheriff's Office has arrested Robert Kris Stanley of Brookings, Ore., in connection with the self-storage shooting incident that injured Terebesi. Authorities arrested Stanley, 27, on Jan. 5 in Shelton, Wash. He was booked into the Curry County Jail on Jan. 10.

Terebesi is expected to recover from his injuries. He is recovering at an undisclosed medical facility, the source reported.

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1/2/18 – A 46-year-old man was shot twice on Dec. 28 while visiting a self-storage facility in Brookings, Ore. William Terebesi was inside a unit he rented at Strahm’s Storage, located at 15441 Oceanview Drive, around 8 p.m. when an unknown assailant opened fire, according to the Curry County Sheriff's Office.

Police believe the incident was a targeted attack due to the location of the unit, which is in an isolated area and accessed by a long driveway. “Someone walked up, engaged in a little conversation, [and] he turned around and the guy just started shooting. I think they were after [Terebisi],” said Curry County Sheriff John Ward.

Following the shooting, Terebesi called 911 as he drove himself to a sheriff’s substation on Lower Harbor Road. When he arrived, he offered deputies a description of the suspect before he was transported by helicopter to Sutter Coast Hospital. He was later flown to a trauma center. Police declined to give the hospital name, fearing the shooter might pursue the victim, a source reported.

After securing a search warrant, police inspected the storage unit and found evidence that corroborated Terebesi’s story. The county’s major-crime team is still investigating the shooting, and doesn’t yet have a suspect or motive, a source reported.

Sources:
Curry Coastal Pilot, Brookings Man Shot in Harbor
KTVL, Sheriff: 1 Man Arrested in Harbor Self-Storage Shooting
The World, Brookings Man Shot by Unknown Suspect at a Storage Unit in Harbor

Update 1/15/18 – The planning commission voted unanimously this week to recommend Kolb’s self-storage facility for approval. The project would combine 13 lots, comprising most of a city block and wrapping around a cluster of homes, according to the source.

Planning staff recommended approval along with 13 “standard” operating conditions, all of which Kolb was in agreement. “We thoroughly support the staff report as well as the complete 13 provisos outlined in the staff report, and we will work with the staff to address any technical issues that they may have,” he said.

No one spoke in opposition to the project during the planning meeting.

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12/22/17 – Real estate developer Gordon H. Kolb, CEO of GHK Developments Inc., is seeking permission to build a three-story self-storage facility in New Orleans called Superior Storage. The property at 4866 Tchoupitoulas St. houses an existing building that formerly housed Guillot’s Sanitary Supplies. The site is zoned mixed-use development, which doesn’t include self-storage use. The planning commission will review the proposal on Jan. 9, according to the source.

The storage facility will encompass much of the block, which is bordered by Lyons, South Front, Tchoupitoulas and Upperline Streets at the rear. The property is also near homes on the Tchoupitoulas/Lyons corner. It has enough parking spaces to meet city requirements, the source reported.

GHK Developments is a commercial real estate developer serving the southeast United States. Since 1972, it has developed 3 million square feet of gross leasable area.

Sources:
Uptown Messenger, Self-Storage Facility on Tchoupitoulas Gets City Planning Approval
Uptown Messenger, Three-Story Self-Storage Facility Planned for Tchoupitoulas at Upperline

Imagine this nightmare: You own a successful and profitable self-storage facility. Thanks to the exceptional manager you hired, you've never experienced a major headache or problem. One morning, however, you receive a call from a tenant demanding to know why your facility isn’t open. You soon learn your manager has been in a car accident and can’t make it to work. You try not to panic, but you've never spent a full day in the office. You don’t even remember where you put the key to the front door or the code for the security system. What do you do?

Some variation of this scenario has played out many times in our industry at facilities all over the world. Don't let it happen to you.

At a minimum, every storage operation should maintain a basic policies and procedures manual that outlines day-to-day operation. It can be invaluable every day, but most particularly in an emergency. If you don't have a manual, you need to create one. In fact, you need at least two copies: one to keep in your management office, and one for yourself.

Why You Need a Manual

Imagine you've just purchased an amazing, state-of-the-art TV with every bell and whistle imaginable. You open the box and discover your new marvel has no owner's manual of any kind. Unless you’re technically savvy, you're not going to get the most from your purchase. You may not even be able to turn it on.

That new TV represents an investment of less than $5,000. Your storage facility, on the other hand, could be worth millions. Think of a policies and procedures guide as the indispensable owner's manual for your facility.

In the worst of times, a thorough, well-written manual will go a long way toward protecting your business. In the best of times, it’ll keep your facility on track, protect your interests, and provide a source of continuity when a manager resigns or must be replaced.

Writing the Manual

In its simplest form, your policies and procedures manual should be a practical, step-by-step guide to the daily operation of your storage facility. Every guide will be different, of course, because no two properties are the same.

In general, start with a brief introduction to the industry, and then dive into specifics. Whatever you do, solicit input from your manager. In fact, your best bet is to have him write the first draft! Don’t worry, you can easily guide things along and make any modifications you feel necessary. Just remember that your staff is the best source for understanding the nuts and bolts operation of your site.

At a minimum, every manual should cover:

• Opening and closing procedures
• Renting a storage unit
• Vacating a storage unit
• Unit transfers
• Emergency protocol
• Contact information
• Reporting processes
• Maintenance procedures
• Dress code
• Basic marketing
• Employee benefits
• Holidays

Important note: Never list potentially sensitive information in any copy of your manual that will be stored digitally. Doing so leaves your facility open to cyber-attack. I’ve heard horror stories of managers leaving lists of bank accounts, passwords, etc., on a facility’s computer only to have the information stolen by hackers.

Make a Daily Checklist

Creating a checklist that must be filled out every day can be vital to your facility’s long-term success. This list should always be kept in the same place and filled out daily by the manager(s) on duty. If you have more than one employee, the checklist is also a good place for your team to communicate important information to one another. One of the most stringent requirements in facilities I oversee is completion of this form. I feel so strongly about it that repeated failure can lead to disciplinary action.

Some items to include are:

• Picking up any trash or debris
• Cleaning the restroom(s)
• Removing or placing overlocks on delinquent units
• Processing invoices
• Following up on leads
• Checking unit locks
• Cleaning vacant units
• Conducting unit inventories
• Checking units rented and/or vacated for the day
• Closing out management software for the day
• Completing bank deposits

An Unexpected Advantage

While writing your manual, you may find yourself recognizing hidden flaws in your operation. For example, your manager might be perfectly comfortable flying by the seat of his pants—and even find it empowering—but the potential for disaster is enormous. It’s possible, however, to create the same calm, relaxed and even fun atmosphere within a set of practical rules, especially when the manager participates in writing the guide. In fact, having a clear set of rules can significantly lower a manager’s stress level.

Accountability

Many facilities do have policies and procedures in place, but they’re routinely ignored by employees. The situation in which rules are broken but no one is held accountable is even worse than having no rules at all! Every employee should be made aware that these rules aren’t meant to be broken, and there will be consequences if they’re disregarded. To promote this understanding, your procedures should include a quarterly audit, which may be conducted and acted upon either by you or an independent third party.

A Living Document

Keep in mind your manual should be a living document. Times change. Have your manager keep a digital copy on the facility computer—sans sensitive information, of course—and submit changes or additions for your approval. It’s also important to remember that policies relating to human resources should be in line with your state’s employment laws. It’s a good idea to have a legal professional review anything applicable.

If your facility doesn’t already have a working policies and procedures manual, take some time from your busy schedule to work with your manager and put one together. Doing so will place you in a much better position if you ever face an unexpected crisis.

Sean Landry is owner and president of Expert Storage Management LLC, which offers third-party management services for self-storage, including staff hiring and training, revenue management, pricing, unit-mix optimization, marketing strategies, and more. He founded the company in 2016 after a successful career as a facility manager and consultant. For more information, call 504.251.1260; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.expertstoragemanagement.com.