Update 2/28/17 – National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSAT), a Maryland REIT specializing in self-storage, has released its financial statement for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2016, showing gains in key areas including core FFO, NOI and occupancy. "2016 was an exceptional year on all fronts for NSAT, reflecting the continued execution of our strategic internal and external growth initiatives,” said CEO Arlen Nordhagen.

The REIT reported core FFO per share of $0.30 during the third quarter, a 25 percent year-over-year increase. Its net income was $6.1 million during the quarter, a 12.96 percent gain compared to the $5.4 million it reported for the same period in 2015. Same-store NOI was $22.2 million, up 9.2 percent.

Same-store revenue was $32.3 million during the quarter, a 6.3 percent increase from a year ago. This was driven by a 6.7 percent increase in average annualized rental revenue per occupied square foot and partially offset by a decrease of 30 basis points in average occupancy, according to the release. Average occupancy was 89.1 percent as of Dec. 31, down from 89.4 percent last year. For all of 2016, average occupancy was 90 percent, an increase from 87.9 percent in 2015.

The company acquired 31 self-storage properties during the quarter for $228 million. The facilities are in eight states and comprise about 2.1 million rentable square feet in more than 16,600 units. In addition, NSAT’s joint venture with a state pension fund completed its acquisition of the iStorage portfolio and property-management platform for $630 million.

NSAT also announced it has agreed to add Personal Mini Storage of Orlando, Fla., as its latest participating regional operator (PRO). “The mark of adding our eighth PRO combined with our recently completed iStorage joint venture enhances NSAT’s competitive advantage in the public self-storage space,” Nordhagen said. “As we move forward into 2017, we look to further expand our platform, drive strong core FFO growth and create value for our shareholders over the long-term.”

On Feb. 23, the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per common share, which will be paid on March 30 to holders of record on March 15.

Headquartered in Greenwood, Colo., NSAT is a self-administered and -managed REIT focused on the acquisition, operation and ownership of self-storage properties within the top 100 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas throughout the United States. The company has ownership interest in 453 storage facilities in 23 states. Its portfolio comprises approximately 28 million net rentable square feet. It's owned by its affiliate operators, who are contributing their interests in their self-storage assets over the next few years as their current mortgage debt matures.

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2/23/17 – The four largest publicly traded, U.S.-based self-storage real estate investment trusts (REITs)—CubeSmart, Extra Space Storage Inc., Life Storage Inc. and Public Storage Inc.—have released financial statements for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2016. In general, all four entities showed gains in key areas, particularly funds from operations (FFO) and net operating income (NOI), while also achieving increases in occupancy.

“2016 was another strong year for Extra Space,” said Joseph D. Margolis, CEO of Extra Space Storage. “Same-store revenue and NOI growth for the year were among the highest in our history, and earnings and FFO per share increases were among the best of all public real estate companies. We continued to grow our national portfolio with over $1 billion in acquisitions and the addition of over 60 third-party managed stores. Industry fundamentals continue to be sound, and while growth rates have moderated from all-time highs, we anticipate solid revenue, NOI and FFO growth in 2017.”

Christopher P. Marr, CEO of CubeSmart, expressed similar sentiments regarding the REIT’s performance. “Our strong 2016 performance marks the fourth consecutive year of FFO growth exceeding 15 percent and same-store NOI growth exceeding 9 percent, demonstrating the strength of our operating platform, the dedication and daily focus of our teammates across the country, and the benefit of owning one of the highest-quality portfolios in the industry," he said. “Demand for storage continues to be steady and broad-based, and the impact from new supply is in line with our expectations. Looking forward to 2017, we remain focused on executing our internal and external growth strategies and generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for shareholders by maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation.”

CubeSmart

CubeSmart reported FFO per share of $0.38 during the quarter, a 15.2 percent year-over-year increase. Same-store NOI at its 407 facilities grew 8.1 percent year over year. The company attributed this to a 5.8 percent growth in revenue and a 0.2 percent increase in property operating expenses. Same-store locations contributed 89.2 percent of the REIT’s property NOI during the quarter.

The operation gained 20 basis points in physical occupancy compared with the same quarter the previous year. The same-store physical occupancy was 91.8 percent as of Dec. 31. The company’s total-owned portfolio, representing 475 facilities and comprising 32.9 million square feet of rentable space, had a physical occupancy of 89.7 percent at the end of the fourth quarter.

CubeSmart acquired four storage facilities for $52.8 million during the quarter. The properties are spread across three states, with two in Nevada and one each in Arizona and North Carolina. On Dec. 15, the company also established a 10 percent ownership stake in a joint venture that acquired 13 facilities comprising 700,000 square feet for $87.5 million. The properties will be managed under the CubeSmart brand.

At the end of the quarter, the REIT also had four facilities under certificate-of-occupancy agreements for a total price of $61.1 million. Two of the facilities are in Illinois and two are in Florida. The REIT also has five joint-venture and two wholly owned projects under development.

On Dec. 15, the company declared a dividend of 27 cents per common share, which was a 28.6 percent increase compared to the dividend issued the previous quarter. The dividend was paid on Jan. 17 to common shareholders of record on Jan. 3.

CubeSmart owns or manages 791 self-storage facilities across the United States. Its operating portfolio comprises 52.6 million square feet.

Extra Space Storage Inc.

Same-store revenue increased 5.2 percent and NOI rose 7.9 percent compared to the same period in 2015. FFO was $1.03 per diluted share, resulting in 18.4 percent growth compared to the fourth quarter the previous year.

Same-store occupancy was 92 percent as of Dec. 31, which was a 0.86 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2015.

During the quarter, the company acquired 24 wholly owned facilities and three properties at the completion of construction for approximately $316 million. It also acquired two facilities at the completion of construction through a joint venture for about $19 million.

The company paid a quarterly dividend of 78 cents per common share, which was equal to the previous quarter. It was paid on Dec. 31 to common shareholders of record on Dec. 15.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 1,427 self-storage properties in 38 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The company’s properties comprise approximately 960,000 units and 107 million square feet of rentable space.

Life Storage Inc. (Formerly Sovran Self Storage Inc.)

Total revenue increased 35.4 percent over the previous year, while operating costs increased 39.9 percent, resulting in an NOI increase of 33.3 percent. Same-store NOI increased 3.7 percent year over year. FFO for the quarter was $1.28 per fully diluted common share, compared to $1.26 for the same period in 2015. Adjusted FFO was $1.31, a 2.3 percent increase.

Net income attributable to common shareholders for the fourth quarter was $18.2 million, or $0.39 per fully diluted share. For the same period in 2015, net income attributable to common shareholders was $30 million, or 83 cents per fully diluted common share.

Revenue for the company’s 417 wholly owned facilities increased 4 percent year over year, helped by an increase in average occupancy of 50 basis points and a 2.9 percent increase in rental rates and other income. Average overall occupancy for the full year was 90.9 percent, with units renting for an average of $13.31 per square foot.

The REIT acquired two properties during the quarter comprising 139,000 square feet for $18.55 million. One of the properties is in Chicago and was acquired at certificate of occupancy. The other is in Orlando, Fla. and was previously managed by Life Storage.

Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the company approved a quarterly dividend of 95 cents per common share, which is equal to the previous quarter.

Based in Buffalo, N.Y., Life Storage operates more than 650 self-storage facilities in 29 states under the Life Storage and Uncle Bob’s brands. Its portfolio of owned and managed facilities comprises more than 45 million square feet.

Public Storage Inc.

Revenue for same-store facilities increased 4.6 percent, or $23.5 million, in the quarter, as compared to the same period in 2015, primarily because of higher realized annual rent per occupied square foot. Cost of operations for the same-store facilities increased 2.7 percent, or $2.9 million, during the period compared to the previous year.

FFO was $2.77 per diluted common share, compared to $2.46 for the same period the previous year. NOI increased $32 million compared to the same period in 2015, including $20.6 million for same-store facilities.

The company acquired 23 self-storage facilities during the quarter for $159 million. Thirteen of the properties are in Oklahoma, with four each in Ohio and Tennessee, and one each in California and Texas. Together they comprise 1.8 million net rentable square feet. It also completed six new development and various expansion projects that added 800,000 net rentable square feet to its portfolio for $107 million.

The company reported a regular common quarterly dividend of $2 per common share, which was equal to the previous quarter. It also declared dividends with respect to various series of preferred shares. All the dividends are payable on March 30 to shareholders of record as of March 15.

Based in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage has interests in 2,348 self-storage facilities in 38 states, with approximately 154 million net rentable square feet. Operating under the Shurgard brand name, the company also has 219 facilities in seven European countries, with approximately 12 million net rentable square feet.

Andover Properties LLC, which operates the Storage King USA self-storage brand, has purchased Route 80 Storage in Ft. Myers, Fla. It’s the company’s second acquisition in the region and ninth in the state. The facility will be integrated into the Storage King portfolio, according to a press release.

The 13-acre property at 11351 Palm Beach Blvd. comprises 21,000 square feet of storage space and more than 25,000 square feet of vehicle parking. Andover plans to add 50,000 rentable square feet of storage to the property, the release stated. “The site is full, and it is situated on busy Route 80, which has 27,000 vehicles traversing it daily,” said Michael Wachsman, director of acquisitions. Vehicle storage is a “much-needed amenity in this area,” he added.

Based on the property’s performance, a potential phase-two expansion might include more self-storage or a car wash, the release stated. Andover entered the car-wash industry last summer when it purchased North Main Self Storage and the adjacent Froggy’s Car Wash in Summerville, S.C. At the time of the acquisition, company officials said they planned to pursue the car-wash industry in the future.

Founded in 2003 and based in New York City, Andover Properties owns and operates 27 self-storage facilities in nine states, totaling nearly 1.8 million rentable square feet of storage space in 15,200 units. The firm focuses on the acquisition, development and management of industrial, retail and self-storage facilities primarily in the North and Southeast.

Investment Real Estate LLC (IRE), a property-management and consulting firm serving the self-storage industry, has hired Vicki Hinson as controller. Hinson will be responsible for managing the daily accounting for the Investment Real Estate Group of Cos., including the self-storage facilities operated by its management arm, Investment Real Estate Management LLC. Her responsibilities will also include providing key support and administration in accounts payable, banking and treasury, financial reporting, human resources, and payroll.

Hinson has more than 22 years of accounting experience. In previous roles, she has managed accounts payable and receivable, payroll, budgeting, and financial analysis and reporting. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Pennsylvania State University.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the addition of Vicki to our team,” said Joe Braun, chief financial officer. “Not only does she come to us with a long list of accomplishments and terrific credentials, but her experience and knowledge will enable her to be a key member of our leadership team, providing a vital piece of the framework necessary for IRE’s expansion goals. More important, Vicki is a great fit in IRE’s culture, and she lives our core values every day.”

Since its inception in 1998, IRE has provided brokerage, construction, development and management services to self-storage owners and investors.

Public Storage Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT), has appointed Leslie S. Heisz, 56, as an independent trustee to its board. Heisz’s term began Feb. 23 and expands the board to nine trustees, six of whom are independent, according to a press release.

"We are pleased to welcome Leslie to the Public Storage Board of Trustees," said Ronald L. Havner Jr., chairman and CEO. "Her diverse blend of experience across a number of industries [and] encompassing a variety of disciplines will be a resource to our board.”

Heisz has a background in investment banking and finance, having worked as an executive with Lazard Freres & Co., Salomon Brothers, Wasserstein Perella & Co. and others. She has dedicated her career to board service since 2010, the release stated. She currently serves on the boards for Edwards Lifesciences Corp. and Kaiser Permanente, and recently concluded terms with Ingram Micro Inc. and Towers Watson.

Heisz holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Based in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage has interests in 2,348 self-storage facilities in 38 states, with approximately 154 million net rentable square feet. Operating under the Shurgard brand name, the company also has 219 facilities in seven European countries, with approximately 12 million net rentable square feet.

Somersworth Storage LLC is expanding its self-storage facility at 240 Route 108 in Somersworth, N.H. Construction began on a three-story, climate-controlled building last fall and is expected to be complete in August, according to the source. The new building will include an elevator, two interior loading bays, hallway windows and overhead motion-sensor lighting. The retail office will feature Wi-Fi and customer seating. Moving and packing supplies will also be sold.

The property already comprises five existing structures. In conjunction with the new development, they’re undergoing renovation to match the style of the new building, the source reported. The security system, lighting and landscaping are also being updated.

Financing for the addition was provided by Kennebunk Savings Bank. Goffstown, N.H.-based Langley Construction is overseeing the project.

Founded in 1998, Somersworth Storage also offers outdoor vehicle storage.

The Coweta County Board of Commissioners last week approved the development of a mixed-use property in Newnan, Ga., that will include self-storage. The board voted on Feb. 21 to rezone a 10-acre tract on Georgia State Route 16, just west of the Senoia, Ga., city limits. The site is adjacent to the Greater Atlanta Pentecostals Church and near the Coweta Charter Academy high school, according to the source.

The plans include building two 40,000-square-foot storage structures on the property’s back 7.5 acres. The front 2.5 acres will house a 12,000-square-foot office or retail building containing several suites, the source reported. The commercial building will block 90 percent of the view of the storage units, according to Neal Spradlin, the engineer representing the developer, Thomas Humber.

The commissioners also approved a buffer variance between the church and the development site.

By John Jordan

No matter the size of your self-storage business, a well-planned marketing budget is essential to maximizing profitability. In an ever-changing advertising world, this can be a tall order. With more options than ever, setting a marketing budget can be complicated. Facility operators often feel like they’re throwing a bunch of small nets into a big ocean. Unfortunately, their nets often come up empty, and they begin to resist trying new things.

This can lead to a form of marketing paralysis and cause operators to fall behind the competition. It can also lead to them offloading their decision-making to a third party. Unfortunately, the advertising industry is chock full of “experts” who’ll jump at the opportunity to manage your marketing dollars, but they frequently lack the desire to truly educate you on spending strategies, the transparency with their margins, and the ability to establish true metrics and accountability for success.

So how can you effectively navigate this evolving advertising world? How can you hold your media more accountable, taking advantage of big and small opportunities while feeling confident that you’re maximizing profitability? Let’s explore five meaningful steps to strategizing your ad spending.

Step 1: Establish Your Goals

Few advertisers can truly state their marketing goals; but without established goals, there’s no way to administer a successful plan. For self-storage, I recommend facility-level goals that are inventory- and availability-based. Operators should understand and factor in historical trends, seasonality, the level of competition for each facility, competitive tendencies, and a variety of other local and property-level factors.

It’s very important that clear metrics for success and failure are established for the entire business as well as individual facilities. Even if your goals initially lack data to support them, it’s better to set an aggressive goal and fail than to set no goals and question your results.

Step 2: Understand and Prioritize Your Needs

Understanding needs—and being able to prioritize them—is often one of the biggest obstacles for operators trying to produce a strategic marketing plan. There’s a clear pecking order for marketing needs. With this in mind, here are some recommendations and tips:

Local listings. These are notoriously a mess within the self-storage industry, yet they represent low-hanging fruit that can produce big-time results. It’s important to address old or duplicate listings, unclaimed listings on critical media (Google, Apple, Bing, Yelp, etc.), incorrect listing information databased with listing aggregators (InfoGroup, Localeze, Axciom), and user-generated content that doesn’t appropriately represent your brand. Ultimately, local listings should be a small part of your overall marketing investment, but they’ll have one of the highest returns on investment.

Website. Equally as important as your local listings is your website. As most companies don’t have the luxury of an in-house Web developer, I suggest finding a partner who can help you build a site that balances a clean and smooth user experience with a technical design that appeals to Google and other search engines.

It’s also important to ensure all paths drive potential customers toward your goals for the site. In self-storage, those goals are typically in the form of calls, online reservations and walk-ins. Don’t forget about existing tenants, and try to make re-occurring transactions (like payments) seamless and pain free.

With most storage companies getting approximately 60 percent of their online traffic from mobile devices, ensuring a quality mobile experience via responsive design is more important than ever. If you’re a mid-size to large operator, or have plans to grow to that size, purchase your website and content-management systems rather than lease them. Leased platforms can have severe marketing limitations and leave you empty-handed if and when you choose to move on to a new provider. Don’t skimp, as maximum flexibility will be integral to your long-term success.

Organic search engine optimization (SEO) and content strategy. Tying in closely with your website is your organic SEO and content strategy. You’ll never meet a Web designer who isn’t a professed “SEO expert,” but I can tell you with 100 percent certainty there are different skill sets. Make sure any external resources you choose can clearly differentiate between their Web and SEO teams. SEO not only encompasses the technical design, upkeep and readability of your site to search engines, it should also incorporate a local-content strategy that speaks to your target customer needs on a market and even facility level.

Tracking and reporting should be the cornerstone of your SEO program, with your specific goals, user events and actions all being rolled into an easily understandable format. Some self-storage businesses can achieve as much as 90 percent of their goals via their organic strategy, so this isn’t an area on which you want to pinch. That said, educate yourself and understand what you’re buying before signing on the dotted line. It’s fairly common for an SEO program to be the second largest investment in a successful marketing program, trailing only paid media.

Paid media. Your fourth priority should be paid media, which play an integral role in the success of a strategic program. A vehicle such as Google pay-per-click advertising is very measurable and can be specifically designed to fill gaps in your current SEO strategy, test new offers, rent hard-to-fill units, and help you own more prominent real estate where consumers are searching. I suggest you manage your paid-media investments based on very specific occupancy-level goals and available inventory.

Be careful not to over use paid media, as it can easily become a crutch and drive up your overall cost per acquisition, decreasing the profitability of your marketing. Tracking is essential and will help you maximize your budget. This is especially important given that paid media will likely be your largest investment area.

Social media. Social media can be a great addition to a successful marketing mix; however, it’s very important that there are defined and clear goals for the dollars you’re spending. If followers and likes aren’t what you seek, then don’t allow those to be the measuring stick for success. Your goals will clearly define how your strategy should be designed and implemented.

Social media can help reinforce your brand identity, establish you as an authority on topics that matter to consumers, drive awareness of your website content, and reinforce your SEO strategy. When used properly, social advertising channels can drive cost-effective leads and increase sales activity.

Brand and review monitoring. Every marketer should devote a portion of his time and budget to brand and review monitoring. Consumers need to know that you care about your customer experience as well as see your responses to positive and negative reviews in a timely manner. It’s equally important that you understand what people are saying about your brand. This doesn’t have to be an enormous time and financial investment, but you can anticipate both growing in direct proportion to your own business growth.

Location-based advertising (LBA). LBA is the newest advertising media format and deserves your budgetary attention. Media companies are spending billions of dollars to combine location services on mobile devices with advertising platforms. The result, they hope, is the delivery of location- and time-relevant marketing messages to consumers at the time they’re most likely to buy. There are so many things developing in the LBA space today that there isn’t enough space in this article to do it justice. For now, just know that it’s time to explore and test different strategies, ensuring you don’t get left behind.

Step 3: Build Internal Buy-In

One of the most critical elements to a successful marketing endeavor is often overlooked and under planned: Building an internal consensus about the needs and goals of the program is essential to any successful marketing campaign. Stakeholders often range beyond the marketing staff to include operational and financial staff as well as ownership—each with their own goals and objectives. Without adequate understanding of how the marketing plan and budget will help them accomplish their individual goals, a tug-of-war often ensues.

Reputable marketing agencies will spend the first two or three conversations with prospective clients educating them. Without a foundational common ground, it’s difficult to gain customer consensus on what will help the company accomplish its goals. I strongly recommend the marketing staff within your organization spend adequate time building common ground.

Step 4: Select the Right Partners for Long-Term Growth

Once your goals have been solidified and your needs determined and prioritized, and you’ve built internal common ground, selecting the right partners should be much easier. Ensure your potential allies have a demonstrable history of helping clients achieve the same or very similar goals to your own. Make certain they have an accountable relationship with their customers, offering tracking expertise and supplying reports that can tell you if your goals are being attained.

Step 5: Develop Internal and External Accountability

Accountability isn’t easy to come by in the advertising world; however, it’s essential to your marketing budget. As a self-storage operator, you’re responsible for answering your phone, promptly responding to customer inquiries, following up on reservations, providing competitive pricing or promotions, and being actively engaged in developing key metrics and goals as well as analyzing results. By the same token, your marketing partners should educate you, provide transparent fees and marketing tactics, establish adequate tracking and reporting on all investments, and ultimately advise you on the right decisions for your business. Developing true accountability should lend itself to more engaged partnerships and better results over the short and long term.

Be strategic and methodical in establishing a marketing budget. By implementing these five steps, your money will be applied effectively and in worthwhile places.

John Jordan is a founding partner and vice president at Go Local Interactive, a full-service digital-marketing agency committed to helping regional and national self-storage operators acquire new customers. He’s participated in numerous advertising forums as a speaker and panel participant including self-storage events. He is a board member for Find Local Storage, an industry-owned lead-generation solution. For more information, call 512.779.7698; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.golocalinteractive.com.

When building a self-storage project, you need to start with a good layout, but it can take weeks or even months before you get a preliminary sketch back from your engineer or designer. Having basic layout skills will help you create your own “napkin sketches” and contribute more to the overall process. Following are some basics to help you understand and master the essentials of site design.

Layout Basics

Let’s begin with some essentials, focusing on single-story buildings. Below are some major factors that go into a self-storage layout, including building size, driveway widths, climate control and more.

Steel is typically manufactured in 10-foot lengths, so buildings are usually designed in 10-foot increments for cost-efficiency. The most common building is a 30-foot-wide, non-climate-controlled structure, which provides options for a variety of unit sizes. If you have fewer than 30 feet available, you can build something narrower, such as a 20-foot-wide building with access on one side; but this isn’t preferable, as it costs more per square foot to develop.

You can also build wider, at 40 feet, but this size should be used with caution. These buildings are best used to provide back-to-back 10-by-20 units; they otherwise don’t divide well to provide a balanced layout. I generally won’t use a 40-foot-wide building unless I happen to have 10 feet of leftover space on my parcel. In that case, I just add that space to one of my 30-foot-wide buildings.

Driveways between buildings are typically 25 feet wide. If you’re short a foot or two, you can make them a bit narrower. In some jurisdictions, zoning or fire regulations may require wider distances between buildings.

At the end of the buildings, the driveway width is typically 30 feet or wider to provide the required minimum vehicle-turning radius. Dead ends should be avoided. Special consideration may need to be given to snow removal and stacking.

If there’s a significant grade change on site, the buildings can be stepped if their length runs perpendicular to the grade. On real steep grades, over/under two-story buildings may be the best solution (think of a walk-out basement). All other things being equal, more often than not, if a building’s long side is parallel to the longer property line, you can build more square footage.

Building With Climate Control

The more climate-control units you build, the more square footage you’ll get on the site, since climate-controlled buildings are wider than non-climate-controlled ones. If the property is small, it can even make sense in certain areas to provide all or mostly climate-controlled units to get enough square footage to make the project feasible. A good goal to aim for on your first project is 50,000 square feet of rentable square footage.

Your feasibility study will help you determine how much climate-controlled vs. non-climate-controlled space should be provided based on your location and competition. For layouts created before the study is complete, you could simply use 40 percent climate control and 60 percent non-climate control, or two to three non-climate-control buildings for every climate-control building.

Climate-control buildings come in many widths. Typically, the smallest is 45 feet wide, with exterior, non-climate-control units on one side and no exterior units on the other. A second common size is 65 feet wide with interior, climate-control units serviced by a single hallway and exterior, non-climate-control units accessed from the driveway on each side of the building. Due to the higher cost of mixing climate-control with non-climate-control space, in many areas, it’s more efficient to make the entire building climate-control, with no exterior units.

Climate-control buildings can be much wider, but there are a host of factors that need to be considered that will require the input of a professional self-storage designer. For example, you need to think about fire sprinklers.

If you don’t have adequate city water to provide fire-sprinkler protection, the width of the buildings might be limited by the cost to provide fire walls, which are typically required for every 5,000 square feet of building space. In this case, it’s more cost-efficient to build smaller than 5,000 square feet. For example, a 30-foot-wide, 160-foot-long building may not require a firewall, as it contains only 4,900 square feet. If that same building were 170 feet long, it would require a firewall.

Gathering Information

The more information you obtain about your property, the more accurate your layout sketch will be. Of course you want to walk the site to observe any driveway obstructions, topography, wetlands or other restrictions. A visit to the city planning department is also very useful. You should be able to gather many of the following details from the seller or the city files:

• Boundary survey
• Topography, wetland or flood-plane surveys
• City mapping of the property
• Sales map with dimensions
• Deed

You’ll also want the following information from the planning and zoning department. Some of these items can be found online:

• Building setbacks for front, side and rear yards
• Maximum building coverage
• Buffer requirements
• Is storm-water detention required?
• Is pavement permitted in the building setbacks?
• Is there city sewer and city water, or is a well and septic system required?

Sketch Preliminaries

It’s best to keep your first sketch simple. For buildings, I suggest the following:

• 30-foot-wide, non-climate-control buildings with 25-foot driveways on both sides and 30 feet at the ends
• 60-foot-wide, climate-control buildings with 25-foot driveways on both sides and 30-foot driveways at the ends of the buildings
• 45-foot-wide, climate-control buildings with 25-foot access on one side and no access on the other (exterior, non-climate-control units on the access side)

Start with a climate-control building on one side, with a driveway on the interior. Consider a building ratio of one climate-control building to every two or three non-climate-control buildings. To start, assume there will be no driveway in the side yards due to zoning, grading, landscaping or an area needed for snow management. Leave an area of about 150 by 150 feet (half an acre) on the low side of the site for storm-water drainage detention.

Don’t assume you can fill in wetlands. In fact, I would recommend that if there’s wetland on the property, the building and paving should be at least 50 feet away.

For your initial sketch, it may not be clear if the buildings should be parallel or perpendicular to the existing road. Start with buildings perpendicular to the street; you’ll be right more than half the time. Now let’s get down to the sketch.

Creating Your Napkin Sketch

If you own a scale and know how to use it, you can make your sketch to scale, but it’s not a requirement. You can still make a sketch based on the dimensions you know. For example, let’s assume you have a 4.8-acre lot that’s 250 feet wide (street frontage) and 829 feet deep. It slopes away from the street toward the rear of the property, with a 75-foot front yard, 25-foot side yards and a 50-foot rear yard.

Now, let’s use a design guideline of 5 acres equals 5,000 square feet of building potential. In this case, because the property doesn’t include wetlands or steep slopes, and doesn’t have an odd shape or very restrictive zoning, we can probably beat that estimate.

First, take your property width (250 feet) and subtract the two side yards (50 feet total) to see how much space you have for buildings and driveways. In this case, that’s 200 feet. Next, subtract 45 feet for one climate-control building and 25 feet for one driveway. Then subtract 30 feet for a non-climate-control building and another 25 feet for a driveway. Continue subtracting 30-foot buildings and 25-foot driveways until you run out of space.

Once you have your “leftover” space, you can determine if you should adjust the layout. The goal is to maximize square footage and minimize leftover space. In this case, there’s 20 feet left over, which can be split and added to the side yards. A better solution would be to increase the width of the climate-control building from 45 to 60 feet. That increases the square footage and leaves just five feet left over.

Option 1		Option 2		Option 3
Property width	250	Property width	250	Property width	250
Side yard 1	-50	Side yard 1	-60	Side yard 1	-50
Side yard 2	-50	Side yard 2	-60	Side yard 2	-50
CC building	-45	CC building	-45	CC building	-60
Driveway 1	-25	Driveway 1	-25	Driveway 1	-25
Non-CC building 1	-30	Non-CC building 1	-30	Non-CC building 1	-30
Driveway 2	-25	Driveway 2	-25	Driveway 2	-25
Non-CC building 2	-30	Non-CC building 2	-30	Non-CC building 2	-30
Driveway 3	-25	Driveway 3	-25	Driveway 3	-25
Total leftover	20	Total leftover	0	Total leftover	5

Now that you’ve determined the widths of the buildings, you need to determine their length. For this project, let’s assume you’re going to build in two phases, with three buildings in each phase. Take your property depth (829 feet) and subtract 75 feet for your front yard and 150 feet for the storm-water detention pond. Finally, you need to subtract 30 feet for two driveways, and 30 feet for between the buildings.

That leaves 514 feet, which means you can build two buildings at 257 feet in length, or round them down to 250 feet with 14 feet left over. If you can use less space for the detention pond, you could possibly go to 260 feet in length. The more you practice, the more you’ll realize there are several options to reduce the leftover space and increase your total square footage.

Let’s say each phase is going to include one 60-by-250 climate-control building and two 30-by-250 non-climate-control buildings, for a total of 30,000 square feet. The entire project will be 60,000 square feet. Any steep slopes, wetlands or other restrictions will reduce that square footage. Here’s the sketch:

Looking at this, it appears both climate-control buildings can be longer since no driveway is required at the ends. It also appears the area for the storm-water retention basin may be too large; a review of the slopes and water table may be required to determine the final area. A more detailed look at the entrance and parking is also necessary.

The Final and Best Plan

In the end, the layout comes together after detailed boundary and topography plans are complete. More often than not, the total square footage of the project will decreases as property details are added. These might include wetlands, utilities, existing roads and other features.

Your engineer will develop the final design based on these items as well as zoning and building regulations and your feasibility report. A good civil engineer will even take into consideration political influences to increase your odds of approval. If he doesn’t have significant experience in self-storage, an industry architect or designer will be required.

Keep in mind, your napkin sketch is just an outline. By understanding the basics of site design for a new self-storage facility, you’ll be able to better assist in the overall development of your next project.

Marc Goodin is president of Storage Authority Franchising and the owner of three self-storage facilities that he personally designed, built and manages. He’s been helping others in the industry for more than 25 years. To reach him, call 860.830.6764 or e-mail [email protected]. You can also purchase his books on facility development and marketing in the Inside Self-Storage Store.

StorageMart, which operates more than 190 self-storage properties across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, has acquired the two-property Can-Stor Self Storage portfolio in London, Ontario, Canada. StorageMart now operates five sites in the region, according to a press release.

Built within the last decade, the properties at 677 Wharncliffe Road S. and 556 Wonderland Road N. comprise more than 128,000 square feet of rentable square feet in 1,257 climate-controlled and drive-up units. Security features include gated access and video cameras. Customers have access to online reservations and billpay, the release stated.

The facilities are on major roads easily accessible from around the city, which added to the portfolio’s appeal, according to company officials. "We know that convenience is a top priority for our residential, student and business storage customers," said Cris Burnam, president. "We aim to make the self-storage process as easy as possible for our customers, and that starts by selecting locations that are easily accessible."

Last month, StorageMart purchased a facility in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, its second in the area. The acquisition comprises more than 20,000 square feet of storage space in 200 drive-up and indoor units.

Founded in 1999 and based in Columbia, Mo., StorageMart is privately owned and operated by the Burnam family, which has been in the storage industry for three generations. It serves more than 75,000 self-storage customers, and operates in Chinese, English, Punjabi, Quebecois French and Spanish.