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Strategic Capital Holdings Buys Chicago Self-Storage Portfolio for $13.5M

Article-Strategic Capital Holdings Buys Chicago Self-Storage Portfolio for $13.5M

Strategic Capital Holdings LLC acquired a four-property portfolio of self-storage facilities in the Chicago area for $13.5 million from JP Morgan Asset Management. The facility will be rebranded SmartStop Self Storage.

The portfolio consists of approximately 321,000 square feet of rentable storage space and 2,285 storage units. Two of the self-storage properties are in Chicago at 1000 E. 95th St. and 2244 S. Western Ave.; and two are in Cicero, Ill., at 5701 W. Ogden Ave. and 5525 W. Roosevelt Road. The properties were previously managed by Metro Self Storage. They will be branded SmartStop Self Storage.

MJ Partners Real Estate Services principals Marc Boorstein and Jeff Jacobson represented both parties in the transaction.

Based in Ladera Ranch, Calif., Strategic Capital Holdings LLC is a public non-traded real estate investment trust specializing in self-storage. The company manages more than 50 self-storage facilities in 16 states.

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Self-Storage Customer Privacy and Policies

Article-Self-Storage Customer Privacy and Policies

Where do we draw the line between privacy and customer service? I dont know about you, but it seems self-storage managers struggle with this issue almost daily. Sure, we have a policy in place: Tell no one anything over the telephone! Simple, right? But then there are the customers Ive known for a decade or more, or the ones who call and share intimate things. This happened to me the other day. A lady called from out of state to pay the rent on her husbands unit. Ive never met her, and politely explained I couldnt give her information because I have no way of knowing who she is.

She replied, I can prove hes my husband. He has a tattoo on his backside in the shape of I responded (with laughter in my voice), Uh, OK,  maybe a bit too much info, but thanks! If I ever need to really ID him Ill ask him to show me.

The other day I spoke with the 83-year-old out-of-state mother of a horribly irresponsible 40-plus-year-old man whos in a custody battle with his soon-to-be ex. Mom yells at me because I wont tell her anything, then proceeds to tell me how our rent and late fees are insane. Maam, Im sorry, but a $10 late fee is not unreasonable. No, he cant get into the unit; hes in lien status. She retorts, I was in business for 32 years. You could work with him. I know he hasnt paid in almost three months. So, I explained our state lien law to her and she insisted he be given access. Apparently, he told her he couldnt get in. So, I did inform her that I wont break the law for anyone no matter how much I may feel for the person!

Oops, she then proceeds to tell me what she thinks of our state. Since I wouldnt accept a partial payment via credit card from a basically unknown person on a severely delinquent unit, I wouldnt tell her how much was owed. Then she really started to yell.

Sure, if her son had shown up and made a vacate deal with us, I wouldve happily waived some late fees so he could get out and get on his feet. Better to collect something on the unit than go to auction since, trust me, there wont be much bidding on what he has stored. All I needed was for him show up.

What do I do in these situations? I try as to be as helpful as possible in a generic way to each unknown caller. I say, Well, if this were the case and according to our lien laws Usually this suffices and the spouse or parent of our customer is gracious about the situation, realizes were trying to help and appreciates our efforts.

Sure, we could turn a blind eye and collect money from a credit card for a lien-status unit. We could tell anyone who phones in, Oh, hes in unit 123 and he owes us two months of rent, plus fees. But what can of worms would we open if we did?

The soon-to-be ex of the guy above in the custody battle could show up, pay up the account and clear out his unit. Good for us dollar-wise, but what about his protection and privacy, or the potential lawsuit we could face? Or I could take the credit card payment from the wife and mail the receipt to the out-of-state address as she requested. Yes, I could do it, but it sure wouldnt be the prudent thing to do.

We have several threads on Self-Storage Talk addressing customer privacy issues and facility policies. I wont share my policies here as mandate, but instead I invite you to join the discussion. Help yourself and others to determine where its best to draw the line in the proverbial sand. My only advice is that you put yourself in the customers shoes and ask yourself if you would really want that nice man or lady behind the counter sharing your financial data over the phone with anyone. Think on that, then log in and join us. Membership is free; all you have to do is perform a couple of mouse clicks.

Turner Farms Self Storage Joins Toys For Tots Campaign

Article-Turner Farms Self Storage Joins Toys For Tots Campaign

Turner Farms Self Storage in Garner, N.C., is a drop-off site for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots holiday drive.

New, unwrapped toys can be donated at the facility until Dec. 15. The facility is offering one free month of storage to new customers who donate a toy. 

Were proud to get involved with a holiday campaign that allows us to directly give back to the community, said facility owner Douglas Ball. A lot of people want to do something to help others in need, and we wanted to provide an easy opportunity to do that.

Donations can be made on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Creating a Disaster-Protection Plan for Self-Storage: Before, During and After

Article-Creating a Disaster-Protection Plan for Self-Storage: Before, During and After

In most cases, a business disaster plan collects dust on a shelf and is only taken out once a year to prove to the auditors that the company has one. Few plans, if any, actually work. Why? Most are too complex and become quickly outdated. Self-storage operators should take a simple approach to disaster planning, building a plan that doesnt interfere with day-to-day operation.

Disasters come in many flavorsnatural disaster, equipment malfunction, human malice, error or accident. The cause really doesnt matter. In all cases, your disaster plan should include three essential parts:

  • Preparation: The thoughtful process of identifying, assessing and grading potential hazards that could put business continuity in jeopardy.
  • Management: The activities put into practice during and immediately following a disaster.
  • Recovery: The activities assigned to management and staff to ensure an orderly resumption of business.

Preparation: Before the Disaster

While in the preparation stages of your disaster plan, take into consideration the following essential elements: employee training, a written checklist and annual auditing. Heres what should be included in each.

Employee training. Employees need to understand what to do so they can make sure disasters that can be avoidedemployee foul play or accidents, for exampledo not happen. If a disaster does occur, each employee should know immediately how to react. Even if the disaster happens at night, on a weekend or a holiday, everyone should be prepared and understand their role and activities.

Checklist. The written checklist should fit your facility and operation. Each company has a different building structure with particular security elements. Flood, wind and fire controls can, in many cases, be foreseen by an attentive employee. Your requirements and protocol may differ based on local building and fire codes, of course.

Audit program. Designed by you, or an accounting or insurance professional, an auditing program provides you with pre-designed review practices. These should include:

  • Facility protection of the exterior of the building, property and the perimeter fences or enclosures.
  • Physical security components such as keypad door entry, video cameras, door locks, alarm systems, motion detectors, etc.
  • Data backup of customer and company information from your computer system, including a data-recovery test to ensure the backup plan actually works.
  • Procedural document review for the three stages of the disaster-preparation plan focusing on any changes to facilities, equipment and operations over the past year.
  • Action plan with checklists must be kept up to date and redistributed to employees during the annual training session.
  • Defined and assigned roles and responsibilities, including any updates or changes to your expectations for all staff members.
  • An annual insurance review by a safety expert from your insurance company. In many cases, the insurance company will provide the safety engineer to assist in the writing and training process.
  • An annual disaster drill. If you dont test it, you cannot expect it to work.

Management: During the Disaster

Since disasters can come from many sources, you seldom receive advance notice. However, self-storage operators should know what to do and understand their role regardless of the type of calamity.

Its also critical that facility operators stick to their pre-assigned roles. For example, one person should be designated as the contact with the emergency responders such as police and fire departments. That same person may also be the media contact during the disaster. In an era of cell-phone video and YouTube, you can guarantee the event will be posted within hours, perhaps minutes. You can control any panic or bad public relations by being prepared with a written script highlighting just the facts.

Another person could be responsible for assessing the damage and coordinating a technology and an operational recovery. Another employee should be responsible for contacting investors and customers. Having predefined roles ensures tasks are completed in a timely manner, and helps the storage operation recover more quickly.

Recovery: After the Disaster

Once the immediacy of the situation is over, its time to move into triage mode and predefined disaster recovery. This includes:

  • An assessment of the damage to your facility.
  • Recovery of client and business data and information.
  • Quickly moving into a place to conduct temporary operations of your facility to service your customers.

You probably have concluded these tasks will take time to plan and implement. Perhaps those assumptions are true, but think of the cost of not doing it. Remember, each facility will have different needs when it comes to disaster preparedness. Checklists should be adapted to fit your facility and operation.

Cary F. McGovern has been in the commercial records-management industry for 32 years. He has assisted more than 500 companies in 23 countries enter and excel in this unique business. He is a member of ARMA International and PRISM International, and is a speaker at numerous industry tradeshows and conferences. For an outline of checklists and procedures discussed in this article, e-mail [email protected]; visit www.fileman.com .