As the holidays near, self-storage operators around the world continue to help several charitable organizations. Here’s a summary of how they’re giving back to their communities.

• Edison Properties, the parent company of Manhattan Mini Storage, is reaching out to several organizations this season. In lieu of decorating one of its office buildings, the company made a $20,000 donation to the Wounded Warrior Project. Manhattan Mini Storage also donated boxes to The Partnership for the Homeless’ annual toy drive and FeedingNYC. Manhattan Mini Storage operates 17 facilities throughout New York City. 
   
• Access Self Storage of the United Kingdom collected holiday decorations through Dec. 7 to benefit Trinity Hospice in Clapham, London. The operator set up donation boxes at its facility on Merton Road in Southfields, London, to collect new or like-new Christmas decorations such as trees, lights, baubles, bells and stockings. The drive is part of the company’s annual Christmas Charity Appeal. Access Self Storage operates more than 50 facilities in the U.K., with a large concentration in Greater London.
   
• Westy Self Storage is supporting the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. The company’s facilities in Stamford, Conn., and Chatham and Norwood, N.J., are serving as collection sites as well as storing donations until they’re delivered. Donations can be made at the storage properties at 80 Brownhouse Road in Stamford, 15 River Road in Chatham and 95 Hudson Ave. in Norwood until Dec. 17. The company's portfolio of facilities spans Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.
   
• Access Self Storage in New Jersey partnered with radio station NJ101.5 to collect money and gifts for its Family Adoption 2014 charity drive. The donations benefit families living in transitional and domestic-violence shelters. New, unwrapped gifts were accepted at the storage company’s 15 facilities.

Managing facility expenses from the perspective of a self-storage owner or investor is a different experience from managing them at the facility level. Site managers are concerned with the 10,000-foot view of the property, focusing on items such as office supplies, maintenance equipment and vendor quality. As an owner, you’re concerned with the 50,000-foot view, with the ability to dive to the 10,000-foot level as needed. You’re focused on net operating income (NOI), real estate taxes, capitalization (cap) rates, interest rates, property insurance, exit strategies and debt service, to name a few items on your list.

Unfortunately, you can’t control most of these. A few jesters in your municipality will set the property-tax rates. The Federal Reserve will take care of interest rates, which will then impact cap rates and debt service. Mother Nature will be more than happy to conjure up a natural disaster, at just the right time, to help with your insurance costs.

The goal moving forward is not necessarily to cut expenses but to allocate them in the right categories and look for opportunities to increase revenue. Self-storage owners who understand where their market is going and capitalize on that knowledge will be the victor in the next economic downturn. The time to plan for that event is now, and it starts with a smart expense strategy.

Protect Your NOI

Facility NOI is one of the most critical—if not the most important—metrics of self-storage ownership. Every decision the owner makes will affect NOI in one way or another. Hire that manager with poor people and organizational skills? Well, just go ahead and light a pile of cash on fire. Invest in manager salaries, training and education? Then maybe you can fill out an exceptional deposit slip in the future. Provide a quality customer experience, and you’ll have happy customers. Provide a horrible experience, and you can figure out the next “highest and best use” for your property.

To keep the self-storage engine running smoothly, you need to treat your expenses as investments and expect a return. First, invest in your operational team. Your management company, head of operation and office manager need to be compensated appropriately. If you’re planning on cutting expenses, look elsewhere.

Consistency and stability are the traits of successful organizations, so strive for those qualities when hiring staff. A solid management team will install processes that create constancy and gauge the correct performance metrics. There’s a reason the best coaches, attorneys, accountants, doctors, marketers and managers are compensated on a different level than the average person. These individuals bring a game plan to keep your business safe and profitable while increasing customer satisfaction.

Review Sales and Marketing

As a self-storage owner, you should be aware of the sales-training and marketing plans that have been implemented at your facility. You need to know what’s happening and why, but not necessarily all the technical details.

Are you tracking the number of leads being produced by a specific marketing campaign? Of those leads, how many are being converted to paying customers? What’s the lifetime value of each customer? Are your managers offering up the farm to get a rental, or are they holding steady on unit rates?

There must be a marketing plan that gets the phone to ring, a process to get a customer from the phone to the facility, and a continuation to not only rent that customer a unit but at the highest price per square foot. Don’t forget to sell him ancillary items such as packing supplies and tenant insurance! As a self-storage owner, how you invest in the sales and marketing process will dictate a large part of your facility’s revenue stream.

Cultivate Curb Appeal

Finally, make sure your team is keeping your self-storage facility clean and providing the best possible curb appeal. The exterior of your site should be fresh and welcoming. The driveways, doors, hallways, units, gates, cameras, fire extinguishers, lawn, signage, etc., should be clean and in good working order. The office should be warm, inviting and organized. It should also smell nice and offer a number of retail items customers can purchase at a high markup.

Also make sure your management team has a solid set of vendors to assist with any maintenance issues. Again, this is not necessarily something you need to do yourself, but be aware of how your asset is managed.

Invest for Success

The thing about self-storage expenses is you can’t typically “cut” your way to profitability. You must invest in your business. Today’s economy is based on value. If customers and employees feel there’s value in your facility, then it will be successful. If they don’t perceive the value, your asset will be treated as such.

If your facility is operating with a solid plan and providing great service, then revenue, expenses and NOI will be on target. This will allow you, the owner, to address your short- and long-term investment goals.

The owner of an NFL team is not coaching the team, selling tickets or managing concessions, but he knows exactly how each of those divisions is performing. It’s the same for a self-storage owner. You may not be renting units or cleaning the facility, but you should be aware of how those functions are performing.

Matthew Van Horn is vice president of Cutting Edge Self-Storage Management, which specializes in facility management, feasibility studies, consulting and joint ventures. He’s also president of 3-Mile Domination, a full-service self-storage marketing and strategy company. For more information, visit www.cuttingedgeselfstorage.com and www.3miledomination.com, where you can download a free e-book.

Update 12/10/14 – The Vallejo City Council has overturned the planning commission’s rejection of a self-storage development proposed for the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Solano Avenue in the city’s South Vallejo Industrial Park. The council voted 6-1 in favor of the project, after the developers appealed the commission’s October decision.

The project proposed by developers Cubix Construction Co. and Veneto West LLC, along with property owner Jack Anthony, was rejected by the commission despite early support from city officials and a revised plan submitted by the applicants at the request of the commission. The council had allowed the project to move forward in April before the commission’s actions.

The city attorney’s office had warned against possible litigation if the project was rejected without proper findings, the source reported.

“It’s about fairness and not leading people down a path and then changing the path when they get to the end,” said Mayor Osby Davis, who was critical of the commission’s proceedings and suggested a joint session to make clear the role of the planning commission. “That role is not to go outside the policies established by the council.”

The council’s decision paves the way for the self-storage development, which will comprise about 925 storage units on 3.9 acres.

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10/23/14 – The Vallejo, Calif., Planning Commission has rejected the revised self-storage plan proposed for the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Solano Avenue in the South Vallejo Industrial Park. The commission’s 4-3 vote against the facility surprised the developers and even some city officials who had supported the project.

"It's shocking and a bit of an embarrassment for the city," said Ed Boersma, president of Cubix Construction Co., who is one of the developers along with George Huff, owner of Veneto West LLC. Jack Anthony, whose family owns the land, said he was disappointed and vowed to appeal the decision, according to the source.

An appeal hearing is expected to be scheduled for next month.

The commissioners who voted against the revised plan argued the self-storage facility would diminish the city’s downtown entrance and fail to produce a large number of jobs or significant revenue, according to the source.

The developers raised questions about whether the commission was overstepping its bounds. The city council approved the zoning in April, and a majority of commissioners appeared to support the project during a public study session last month. Andrea Ouse, Vallejo planning manager, said the commission has “broad discretion” when it comes to land-use decisions, the source reported.

Commissioner Roberto Cortez said planners should not have asked the developers to revise their plans if they never intended to support the project. “There's no reason to have the developer jumping [through] hoops just to tell him no," he said. "We're playing with someone else's checkbook. That's not right.”

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7/24/14 – Developers of a Vallejo, Calif., self-storage facility have agreed to revise their plans after neighboring business owners continued to raise concerns about potential traffic, crime, and economic and aesthetic impact, according to the source. The city council approved zoning for the facility in April.

The proposed facility was designed to include 925 storage units on a 3.9-acre lot at the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Solano Avenue in the South Vallejo Industrial Park. The layout includes three single-story buildings and a two-story structure. The city’s planning commission reviewed the project design earlier this week and said it wasn’t adequate for the visibility of the location.

"I think what we should be getting is a building that makes a statement as people start to enter the downtown," Commissioner Robert Schussel said. "And I think what the applicant has shown doesn't exemplify what Vallejo deserves."

As a compromise, the commission agreed to allow developers George Huff, owner of Veneto West LLC, and Ed Boersma, president of Cubix Construction Co., to use Sonoma Boulevard for the facility’s main entrance if they address landscaping, architectural and drainage issues.

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4/24/14 – A self-storage developer in Vallejo, Calif., was granted zoning approval on April 22 to build in a business park once slated for research and development companies. The Vallejo City Council voted 4-to-3 to allow the facility to be constructed in the South Vallejo Industrial Park, which was built in 1980 and has access to Sonoma Boulevard and Interstate 780. The project faced opposition from nearby business owners and city council members who questioned how the park would benefit from storage.

Jack Anthony and his family purchased the land on the southeast corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Solano Avenue, the industrial park’s last large vacant lot, in 2004 specifically to develop self-storage, according to the source. The following year, the city council approved permits for the facility to be built; but due to financing struggles, the project was halted and the permits lapsed.

Shortly thereafter, the city’s planning commission approved a zoning change that barred self-storage in the industrial park. Last year, however, after Anthony approached city officials to resurrect the project, they discovered the change was never approved by council members.

City officials told the council they recommended approving the development, despite the planning commission’s recommendation last month to move forward with the ban. The mayor and three members voted in favor of the zoning change, while three others supported prohibiting storage in the industrial park because it wouldn’t create new jobs in the area. Council members also debated whether storage was the right purpose for the land, noting the city already has more than 10 storage facilities.

Several business owners also asked the council to reject the zoning change. Alex McDonald, principal of Envelope Products Co., said storage would not benefit the businesses already operating in the park. Tom Arie Donch, whose business Interplay Design is adjacent to the proposed storage site, told the council it would “tarnish the park's image.”

Council members also noted that the property’s proximity to a wastewater-treatment plant could deter other types of development.

                                                                                               

Stock N Lock Self Storage of Worcester, England, recently celebrated a couple of milestones. Not only did the company rent a unit to its 1,000^th customer, it celebrated its second anniversary in November. To mark the occasion, it gave customers tickets for the Sixways Stadium in Worcester, home of the Worcester Rugby Football Club.

Stor N Lock also hired Robert Tonks, who began an apprenticeship with the company in 2013 at the age of 17, to a full-time position as a customer-services advisor.

"I’m really excited about the recent developments at Stock N Lock. We’ve gone from strength to strength this past year and are already seeing positive figures heading into our third year,” Anne Hutson, business manager, told the source. “In fact, we are seeing such higher demand than usual at this time of year that we installed extra storage units on site last month."

Stock N Lock has approximately 680 units ranging from 10 to 300 square feet, and offers bulk and archival storage services in addition to traditional self-storage. Facility amenities include free WiFi, a conferencing suite, reception-area refreshments, and the sale of moving and packing supplies.

The U-Haul Co. of Eastern Quebec recently opened U-Haul Moving and Storage of Lachine in Quebec, Canada. Built in 1972, the property at 2100 Norman St. is the former home of Humpty Dumpty Snack Foods Inc., a company that packaged and sold snack foods. It encompasses 214,999 square feet of storage space on 16 acres. The facility currently only offers truck, trailer and U-Box pod rentals, but self-storage and a showroom will be added in the future.

“We are excited to offer U-Haul products and services to the people southwest of Montreal," said Joe Pierfelice, general manager of the U-Haul Co. of Eastern Quebec. "This is a very large facility, and when construction is complete, it will offer many self-storage solutions and size options to residents."

The opening of the Lachine store is being driven by U-Haul’s corporate sustainability initiatives, which support infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint, according to a company press release. U-Haul’s adaptive reuse of existing buildings eliminates the amount of energy and resources required for new-construction materials and helps local cities diminish their unwanted inventory of unused buildings, U-Haul officials said.

Established in 1945, U-Haul International Inc. has more than 40 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,000 owned and managed facilities throughout North America.

Update 12/10/14 – Key Equipment Finance, a bank-held equipment-finance company and affiliate of KeyCorp, provided $6.5 million in solar-equipment financing for Safeguard Self Storage. The solar installations will generate more than 2.6 megawatt hours of clean, renewable electricity, according to a Key Equipment Finance press release. The investment is expected to yield about $8.4 million (present value) in energy savings and $14.7 million cumulatively over the 25-year life of the systems, the release stated.

Key Equipment Finance offers equipment financing and business-leasing solutions to a range of industries. The company provides tailored equipment lease and finance solutions for commercial clients and government entities.

KeyCorp was organized more than 160 years ago and is headquartered in Cleveland. The company has assets of approximately $89.8 billion. KeyCorp provides deposit, lending, cash-management and investment services to individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses under the name of KeyBank N.A.

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Update 10/22/14 – Safeguard Self Storage has completed the first of 25 solar-power system installations underway at its facilities in New Jersey and New York. Its facility at 140 Spring St. in Elizabeth, N.J., is the first to come online with a system designed to produce 129.6 kW of electricity. It is expected to handle approximately 80 percent of the facility’s power needs, company officials said in a press release.

The Elizabeth system was expected to begin producing solar power on Oct. 17, according to the release. The installation is part of a $6.7 million agreement Safeguard signed with Trinity Solar Systems in May. The other 24 solar projects are expected to come online later this year and early 2015, Safeguard officials said.

Founded in 1989, Safeguard operates a portfolio of 65 self-storage locations in six states, with 28 facilities in New Jersey and New York.

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5/30/14 – Safeguard Self Storage, which operates 28 facilities in New Jersey and New York, has entered a $6.7 million agreement with Trinity Solar Systems to install solar panels at 25 of its properties. The panels are expected to generate 2 million kWh of electricity, meeting 95 percent of the storage facilities’ energy needs. The first installations should be operational by late summer, with all systems functional by mid-autumn.

"New York and New Jersey are great first markets for Safeguard Self Storage to invest in solar-panel systems because it’s cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Electricity costs are high, and there are meaningful government incentive programs there to entice us to invest," said Allan Sweet, CEO.

Three of the company’s properties will not be receiving solar panels at this time. The facility in Thornwood, N.Y., acquired by Safeguard in 2013, already has a solar-panel system. The roof of the Baldwin, N.Y., facility was not deemed conducive to panel installation, according to a press release. The company’s Bronx II site, which was recently opened, will undergo installation at a later date.

Safeguard also has a facility under construction in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx and two under construction in Brooklyn (one on Albany Avenue and another in Bedford Stuyvesant). All three will receive solar panels in the future.

“These systems will enable Safeguard Self Storage to breakthrough yet another higher hurdle of profitability for its investor, while at the same time doing something good for the environment and the communities we serve,” said executive vice president and chief financial officer Mark Rinder. “We will continue to investigate other markets for which this product might make sense.”

After their completion in October, the solar installations will save the company more than $50,000 per month and shield Safeguard from the inevitable rate increases the utilities will pass on in the future, according to Ken Finlay, senior vice president of operations.

Trinity Solar Systems has installed more than 6,000 systems in the Northeast, which currently generate more than 85 million kWh of electricity. The company recently installed solar panels on 23 New Jersey self-storage facilities owned by another independent operator.

This week, supervisors in Warrington, Pa., unanimously voted to amend the township’s office-industrial ordinance to include self-storage facilities as a limited-access use. The move will enable Manley Storage Ventures Inc. to proceed with its proposal to build a three-story self-storage facility on Easton Road, replacing a deteriorating Malcolm’s gas station on the site, according to the source.

Manley Storage principal Jonathon Manley intends to build a 30,000-square-foot structure offering climate-controlled units. All but 12 units will be accessible from the interior of the building, the source reported. The storage business will also include rentable office space and a retail space for the sale of moving supplies.

The gas station was closed in April 2002 after failing to comply with reporting requirements and regulations concerning its underground storage tanks, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Petroleum from the tanks allegedly caused an area of contaminated soil, which was removed, the source reported.

A land-development plan is expected to be submitted within 45 days, according to Robert Gundlach Jr., an attorney with Fox Rothschild LLP, which represents Manley. The developer plans to begin construction in the spring, the source reported.

After eight years as resident manager at Sno-Cap Mini Storage in Sisters, Ore., Rich Barrell has begun to live his dream of living in a cabin in the woods. Barrell, 67, recently retired from the storage business and moved into the Sunriver, Ore., cabin he built with his wife, Nancy.

The Barrells owned the property for several years with the goal of building the cabin for their retirement years. While Rich completed work on the cabin, Nancy filled in for him part-time at the storage facility. "I just turned 67 on [Nov.] 28th," Rich told the source. "We've paid for our cabin. We finished it and paid for it in August. It's ours. My wife said, ‘You’re done. You don’t need to work no more.’”

Nancy still maintains her job at Mid-Oregon Credit Union but told the source she “has retired from working Saturdays.”

The Barrells said one of the things they most enjoyed about managing the self-storage property was meeting people who had just moved to town and sharing their love of the Sisters Country region.

Rich Barrell also had high praise for John and Peggy Tehan, who own Sno-Cap Mini Storage. "I've had a lot of employers in my life," he said. "It was a real pleasure to have the best employers be the last people you worked for. I don't think I could have worked for better people than those two. They're absolutely fantastic people."

Prior to managing the self-storage facility, Rich served in the U.S. Navy and worked as a contractor and truck driver, according to the source. He was drawn to the Sisters region as a place to retire because he had fond childhood memories of swimming at Suttle Lake.

Now that he’s retired, Rich said he has plenty of cabin projects to complete, and he and his wife plan to explore the Northwest in an RV. "We're just going to kind of enjoy life," he told the source.

Store Here LLC, a joint venture between property-management company Store Here Management LLC and affiliates of real estate investment firm Westport Capital Partners LLC, recently purchased a three-property self-storage portfolio in Kansas City and Shawnee, Kan. The portfolio will be managed by Store Here Self Storage Property Management, which is based in Orange, Calif.

The acquisition encompasses more than 269,000 rentable square feet of storage space and had an average economic occupancy of 90 percent at the time of the sale, according to a press release from the Argus Self Storage Sales Network, which brokered the transaction. Larry Goldman of RE/MAX Commercial represented the seller. Goldman is the Argus broker affiliate for Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and South Illinois.

Last month, Store Here acquired 13 facilities in Georgia, Kansas and Texas for $48 million. The properties comprised of more than 855,000 rentable square feet in more than 6,100 units.

Westport Capital Partners provides domestic and international investment opportunities to institutional and private clients. The firm invests in a wide variety of real estate assets through its various funds. It has offices in Los Angeles, London and Wilton, Conn.

Store Here Management is a division of RHW Capital Management Group. Its acquisition and analysis division focuses on the self-storage industry. The Store Here portfolio of 20-plus facilities comprises more than 1.4 million rentable square feet. RHW plans to expand the brand through property acquisitions and management contracts, company officials said in a press release.

Argus is a Denver-based network of real estate brokers who specialize in storage properties. Formed in 1994, the company has 36 broker affiliates covering nearly 40 markets.