Budget Self Storage in Brandon, Fla., is collecting donations of goods for Selah Freedom, a nonprofit organization that provides advocacy, training and help to victims of human trafficking. The facility kicked off its campaign during its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony, Oct. 22, which was attended by Selah Freedom President and CEO Elizabeth Fisher. Donations include personal-care items, toiletries, beauty products and gift cards.

Budget will also provide bins at its locations in Sarasota, Tampa and Valrico, Fla., to collect items for the charity year-round. The self-storage operator has 10 facilities in Florida and five in North Carolina.

The storage company also sponsored the Selah Freedom Run on Oct. 18 in Sarasota. The partnership evolved after a representative from the nonprofit was introduced at a Brandon Chamber of Commerce meeting, Robin Emanuel, Budget’s marketing, told the source.

“We met Molly Mishos, corporate development/ coach for Selah Freedom, at a chamber meeting. When we heard Florida was the No. 3 state in the country for sex trafficking and Tampa Bay is No. 2 in our state, we asked how can Budget help,” Emanuel said. “We wanted to help bring awareness to the issue and make it convenient for people to drop off donations and help.”

At the Budget grand opening, attendees were offered an interactive map and guided tours of nearby businesses. Essentials Massage and Facials provided chair massages, Pinot’s Palette led a painting group, Music on the Move provided entertainment, and Sweetie’s Delights offered refreshments.

Founded in 1985 and headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., Budget Self Storage is managed by Budget Management Inc., which was launched in 1987 to handle all operational aspects of the business. StorCon Development LLC, owned by the same entity, coordinates the site selection, research, development and construction of all new Budget facilities, according to the company website.

Midcoast Properties Inc., a commercial real estate firm with a focus on self-storage in the Southeast, recently hired Michael Morrison Jr. as a broker. Morrison has been a licensed agent in South Carolina since 2006. He’s a member of the Central Carolina Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.

Prior to joining Midcoast Properties, Morrison worked with RE/MAX Holdings Inc. in residential and commercial real estate. He was named “Rookie of the Year” for South Carolina agents and was among the top three in the nation in first-year sales in 2010.

Morrison grew up in Blythewood, S.C., and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of South Carolina. He owns two self-storage facilities.

Midcoast Properties offers brokerage services to self-storage owners and investors in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

By Brian Bland

Over the past few years, surveillance cameras have evolved from simple recording devices into powerful business and crime-fighting assets. High-quality, Internet protocol (IP) cameras watched remotely by in real time have become a must-have for self-storage operators seeking to reduce operational headaches and protect tenants’ belongings. In fact, live-video monitoring is forcing facility owners to rethink their business model and view their operation from an entirely new perspective.

The Problem With Analog

Traditional analog cameras once dominated the security market, but they’re quickly being replaced by IP cameras. Not only do analog cameras come with cloudy image quality and hefty costs, their maintenance is time-consuming and labor-intensive because remote troubleshooting isn’t possible. All service issues must be diagnosed and solved by a qualified technician during a physical site visit.

IP cameras, on the other hand, have image quality that can be six to 20 times clearer, depending on the number of megapixels. Monitoring companies almost exclusively use IP cameras because they require a higher-quality picture to see more details and increase the effectiveness of their service. They can also log into an IP-camera system remotely to resolve 50 percent of problems that arise, thus reducing onsite maintenance and saving camera owners money.

Monitoring Types

The ideal live-video monitoring service pairs security cameras with an appropriate Internet connection, then uploads the streaming footage into a control center where people watch it during scheduled hours. The other key dependencies are power and adequate lighting. The monitoring company’s goal is to identify and prevent crime before it happens by remotely blasting an onsite audio warning and running off trespassers. If that doesn’t work, it can communicate real-time information to local authorities.

This is the exact opposite of unmonitored cameras whose reactive nature is only useful for an after-the-fact evidence review. To stop crime, cameras must be monitored in real time by a company with expertise in the field. Unfortunately, some companies claim to monitor cameras in real time when they really don’t.

There are three types of video monitoring. Event-based monitoring typically has a lower cost but will be somewhat ineffective at reducing property damages. A company that does this kind of reactive monitoring will log into cameras and begin watching only after a break-in or similar event has been detected, for example, a perimeter beam is tripped. Depending on how quickly the monitoring company reacts, it may be able to prevent some damage, but generally, some loss has already occurred.

Video-analytics monitoring relies exclusively on automation to identify activity on your property and determine whether it’s legitimate. All reactive measures are entirely auto-generated, not verified by a human being, and the technology can’t tell the difference between a person walking in the distance and a bug on the camera lens. Many police departments have stopped dispatching officers to storage facilities with this type of monitoring because it generates too many false alarms.

Some video-surveillance companies use a combination of video analytics and human intelligence to watch all motion within the camera views on a property. This type of monitoring is essential for locations with outdoor assets and remote buildings.

Specifically within the self-storage industry, proactive, live-video monitoring has become an operational tool as much as a security one. Some of the benefits that help alleviate operational headaches while increasing facility safety include the prevention of perimeter breaches, the reduction of property damage, the reduction of vendor costs, and the avoidance of risk and liability issues. Some storage owners have even leveraged live-video monitoring as a marketing strategy by boasting the latest and greatest security at their facilities.

Self-storage operators can also customize their video-monitoring solutions to help manage their properties and reduce staff overhead. With all security standardized across a single enterprise platform, remote management of an entire portfolio becomes a matter of establishing clear business protocol. Owners can also take advantage of customized reports detailing possible follow-up items regarding security and operation.

The Future of Video

As some self-storage operators move toward a full property automation—with a kiosk that dispenses locks, opens gates and handles customer transactions—a live-video monitoring service can keep an eye on the property and ensure protocol alignment. As long as clear procedures are established and a user-friendly interface built into the kiosk, a younger generation of customers will appreciate the technology while storage owners will see a positive impact on their bottom line.

Brian Bland and his team at Stealth Monitoring have implemented more than 50 live-video monitoring designs at self-storage facilities in 17 states. These systems have responded to 850 incidents, setting off 600 speaker sound-offs and making 35 apprehensions. Stealth Monitoring designs, installs, services and provides live-video monitoring nationwide. For more information, call 214.341.0123, ext. 402; visit www.stealthmonitoring.com.

Update 10/22/14 – Judith Broughton, who prosecutors believe rented a Lexington, Ky., self-storage unit to conceal the death of her father and store his body, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing his Social Security benefits. Broughton must also repay $245,000 in benefits stolen after her father’s death in 1990, according to the source.

Broughton was sentenced in Pecos, Texas. She pleaded guilty in July to willfully and knowingly stealing Social Security benefits. She had been held without bail at the West Texas Detention Facility in Sierra Blanca, Texas.

The mummified remains of her father, Luther Broughton, were discovered in January. From 1997 to 2006, Luther Broughton's Social Security checks were mailed to a post office box owned by his daughter. Court documents say his benefits were later deposited directly into a bank account to which Judith Broughton had access.

Authorities are still trying to locate the offender’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Broughton, who has been missing since March. Mary Broughton also had benefit checks deposited directly into an account to which her daughter had access, the source reported. Those benefits have been suspended, prosecutors said.

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4/23/14 – The mummified remains found inside a unit at Econo-Self Storage in Lexington, Ky., in January have been identified as Luther Broughton. In addition, the man’s daughter, Judith Maria Broughton, has been indicted in Texas for stealing his Social Security benefits.

Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn has not provided a cause of death and did not speculate on how long Broughton’s body had been in storage, but he told the source the unit was probably rented specifically for that purpose.

U.S. Marshals arrested Judith Broughton, 49, on April 10 near Terlingua, Texas. She has been indicted on a federal felony charge of theft of public money, property or receipts, and is being held without bail at the West Texas Detention Facility in Sierra Blanca. She is accused of stealing more than $150,000 of her father’s Social Security retirement benefits between Nov. 10, 1997 and Aug. 31, 2011. She has pleaded not guilty.

Judith Broughton rented the storage unit in 1990 under her own and her father’s name and stayed current on its payments, according to testimony given by Social Security agent Bianca Mendez. Econo-Self Storage owner Bob Sigler told investigators that when Broughton signed the rental agreement, she asked never to be contacted by the storage business, according to court documents.

From 1997 to 2006, Luther Broughton's Social Security checks were mailed to a post office box owned by Judith Broughton. After that, court documents say his benefits were deposited directly into an account at Fort Davis State Bank in Texas. Although the account was in Luther Broughton's name, his daughter had access to it, according to the source.

Court documents indicate Judith Broughton earns $270 a month working for the National Psychic Network. A federal judge has ordered her to provide handwriting samples to see if she forged her father’s signature on endorsed Social Security checks sent to her address.

Investigators also believe Judith Broughton’s mother has been missing since early March and are conducting a search for her whereabouts.

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1/13/14 – The human remains found inside a unit at Econo-Self Storage in Lexington, Ky., last week belong to an elderly white male, but the cause of the man’s death and his identity are still unknown, authorities said. County officials believe they know who the man is but will use dental records and other information to make a confirmation, according to the source.

The man had been dead “for an extended period of time,” according to Lexington police spokesperson Sherelle Roberts.

Earlier reports said the man’s body was found by investigators from the Social Security Administration (SSA), but new reports say the remains were discovered by local detectives acting on a tip from the SSA.

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1/10/14 – A human body was discovered by federal investigators this week inside a unit at Econo-Self Storage in Lexington, Ky. Officials from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) were at the facility on Wednesday investigating a reported financial crime when they discovered the remains and alerted local police.

An autopsy conducted yesterday revealed the person was an adult, white male, but no cause of death or identity have been determined, according to Gary Ginn, the Fayette County coroner. The coroner’s office indicated dental records would be used to try to identify the man.

“Obviously we are aware that someone has concealed another person’s death because we believe that these are humans remains that were found in a storage unit,” Ginn said prior to performing the autopsy.

Police said they planned to interview the person who rented the storage unit, but so far no arrests have been made.

It is unclear what financial-crime allegations agents were looking into at the self-storage facility. The SSA’s Office of Investigations conducts investigative activity related to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement in SSA programs and operations including wrongdoing by individuals perpetrating criminal activity against the administration, according to the SSA website. The office also investigates allegations of employee misconduct in the performance of their official duties.

Store First, the self-storage brand of U.K.-based real estate developer Group First, announced its plans to open 75 self-storage facilities in the country by 2020. The company had previously said it would expand its storage footprint to 50 properties by that time.

“Moving the goalposts for expansion wasn't part of our original plan, but we've really hit the ground running with the newest Store First centers in Glasgow and Derby, with our more established outlets performing way above expectations, too,” Toby Whittaker, Group First’s managing director, told the source. “Hitting 75 centers in six years' time may seem idealistic to some, but we love a challenge, and we want to keep meeting demand.”

Store First recently opened its 11th and 12th facilities, and plans are underway to open 10 more in the near future. The company is developing properties in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Kidderminster, London, Northampton, Peterborough, the Ribble Valley and Sunderland, England. It’s also building in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Headquartered in Padiham, England, Store First has 11 facilities in Northwest England and one in Scotland. The company’s model blends traditional self-storage units with full business amenities for small enterprises, including use of P.O. boxes, free WiFi and private meeting rooms. Site amenities include office facilities, breakout areas, packaging and shipping services, complimentary moving services, and reception areas. Security includes closed-circuit television, coded electric gates and perimeter fencing.

Group First’s property portfolio includes residential, business, self-storage and vehicle-storage assets.

Urban Storage in Omaha, Neb., now under new ownership, has undergone a transformation and re-opened as The Storage Loft. The facility is the first of several businesses that will be operating out of the building at 1215 Leavenworth St.

New owner Tony Regier, an Omaha native and businessman who purchased the property in September, led the renovation of the 36,000-square-foot property on the corner of Leavenworth and 13th streets. “This building has an incredible story and history. We wanted to restore the building to its old glory while implementing the right businesses and even the right technology to bring it into the future of what Omaha is becoming. Self-storage is a huge need here, and we want to show the community how well that can be done,” Regier said.

The Storage Loft features climate-controlled wine storage, security cameras, an alarm system and individual unit locks. “People need to feel good about where their possessions are stored,” Regier said. “We want to be the place that they think of first when they need self-storage, and we want to support the needs of downtown Omaha as more people move this direction.”

The facility also offers modular storage that allows tenants to adapt their storage-space size as their needs change. “Modularized storage is the next evolution of storage,” Regier said. “Not only do people’s space needs change, they also need the ability to easily get in and out of their units. Modular storage gives them multiple points of access.”

The Storage Loft serves storage customers in Bellevue, Council Bluffs, Omaha, Papillion and Ralston, Neb., as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.

U.K. self-storage company Lok'nStore Group PLC has released the financial report for its 2014 fiscal year, which ended July 31. The company reported a 7.2 percent increase in revenue from 2013 to £13.9 million, but pre-tax profit fell 75 percent from £1.43 million to £367,000. The drop was attributed to a £1.6 million one-off impairment charge at the company’s Portsmouth North Harbour, England, development site.

The future of the Portsmouth project is apparently up in the air. “The group has no immediate plans to progress works at our site at Portsmouth North Harbour and may not ultimately develop the site as a purpose-built self-storage center,” Lok’nStore officials said in a strategic report accompanying the financial results. “Accordingly, the carrying cost of the site has been written down by £1.6 million to a level which reflects its alternative-use value.”

The loss in profit was otherwise tempered by a 17.5 percent increase in funds from operations (FFO), which finished at £3.97 million for the year. FFO per share was 16.1 pence, up from 14.1 pence in 2013.

Unit occupancy was up 12.4 percent for the year, reaching 69.5 percent across the company’s portfolio. Rental rates increased 5.8 percent in 2014, and ancillary sales increased 15.5 percent. Revenue from document storage was flat year over year, reaching £1.84 million.

Despite the impairment issued on the Portsmouth property, Lok’nStore still has U.K. development projects in Aldershot, Bristol, Reading and Southampton. All four self-storage facilities are expected to open in the next 18 months. The Reading property is scheduled to be completed this month, company officials said.

"Trading has been strong and accelerated through the second half of our financial year. Our new store pipeline is changing the balance of our portfolio, with new and purpose-built stores increasing from 39.6 percent of the portfolio to 58 percent of our lettable space,” said Andrew Jacobs, CEO. “The new flagship store in Maidenhead opened in December and is trading well, and the new stores in Reading, Aldershot, Southampton and Bristol opening over the coming 18 months will add further impetus to sales and earnings growth. These will all be purpose-built stores with our eye-catching modern design in highly prominent positions.”

The company declared an annual dividend of 7 pence per share, up 16.7 percent from 6 pence per share in 2013.

Lok’nStore builds, buys or leases large warehouses or industrial buildings and rents storage units to customers on a weekly basis. Around 60 percent of the company's 7,000 customers are residential and 40 percent are commercial. Lok’nStore has more than 920,000 square feet of net rentable space, which is evenly split between freehold and leasehold.

Tuxis Corp., which operates self-storage facilities in Connecticut and New York, reported its financial results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. The company recorded a net loss of $12,538, or $0.01 per share, for the quarter, compared to a net loss of $1,183, or $0.00 per share, during the same period in 2013.

Tuxis recorded a net loss of $73,001, or $0.06 per share, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared to a net loss of $78,067, or $0.07 per share, for the same period in 2013. Revenue from rental income was $362,978 for the first nine months of the year, which is slightly higher than the $357,708 the company reported during the same period in 2013.

The company had an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $30,028 for the first three quarters, compared to $17,132 during the same period in 2013. Its book value per share at Sept. 30 was $5.30 (shareholders' equity of $6,030,327 divided by 1,138,777 shares issued and outstanding). Its unaudited balance sheet, statements of income and statements of cash flows for the first three quarters included a reconciliation of net loss to adjusted EBITDA, which is available on its website.

The company’s primary source of revenue is unit rentals at its two Tuxis Self Storage facilities. Its location at Heritage Park in Clinton, Conn., is comprised of 184 units. The Millbrook Commons in Millbrook, N.Y., location is a mixed-use facility comprised of 141 climate-controlled units, wine storage and office/retail space.

An attempted murder suicide at Affordable Storage, a self-storage facility in Burbank, Calif., on Monday left a man dead and his wife injured. Police believe the 50-year-old man shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. The man died at the scene, while his wife, 47, was transported to a local hospital with gunshot wounds, according to news reports. Police did not release the names of the individuals involved.

Police at the scene were unaware of the circumstances behind the shooting, according to sources. Burbank police officer Joshua Kendrick said the woman was expected to survive, and there didn’t appear to be any outstanding suspects, according to the “Los Angeles Daily News.”

A “big rig” truck and SUV parked near each other were part of the crime scene, but investigators didn’t have details on who owned the vehicles, police Lt. Eddie Ruiz told the “Burbank Leader.” The man died inside the cab of a tractor trailer, according to MyNewsLA.com.

The facility at 3615 San Fernando Blvd. reportedly specializes in large truck and RV storage.

Detectives requested an Armenian translator to help them take a statement from the injured woman, who was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center, according to the “Burbank Leader.”

The investigation is ongoing.