Aloha Island Self Storage of Kapolei, Hawaii, is being sued by a woman and her mother for damage to their stored goods they say was caused by a leaky roof and the resulting mold. The lawsuit accuses the facility of negligence and fraudulent advertising. The tenants are asking for approximately $60,000 in damages.
 
Alexis Anderson Wooten and her mother stored their possessions in a 10-by-10-foot unit at the facility from November 2007 until September 2009. When they went to retrieve their items, they found everything covered in a rainbow-colored mold that a specialist claimed was toxic.
 
The facility management admitted to Anderson Wooten via e-mail that there had been a leak in the roof of the new facility in January 2008. Andersen Wooten said they were never informed of this problem. They paid $277 per month in rent.
 
Andre Wooten is serving as the attorney for the two women.

Source: KITV Honolulu, Family Says Toxic Mold Covered Storage Items

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U-Store-It Trust acquired the property-management contracts of self-storage management firm United Stor-All Management LLC. Through the transaction, U-Store-It added the management of 85 self-storage facilities to its existing portfolio of 375 owned or managed assets. The additional facilities contain approximately 5.4 million square feet across 16 states and the District of Columbia.
 
U-Store-It also took on eight United Stor-All employees, including Carol Shipley, who will serve as vice president of the company's third-party management business. The other personnel are onsite facility managers.
 
“In addition to acquiring a robust third-party management platform that we intend to expand, we are adding relationships with many significant self-storage owners including top-tier institutions such as Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and W.P. Carey," said Christopher Marr, U-Store-It's president and chief investment officer.
 
The managed assets will have an opportunity to participate in the various U-Store-It revenue-enhancement programs including its National Reservations Center and the alliance with Two Men and a Truck moving services.

U-Store-It is a real estate investment trust that owns or manages 460 self-storage facilities nationwide and operates the U-Store-It Network, which consists of approximately 772 additional facilities.

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Self Storage Data Services Inc., a Los Angeles-based provider of self-storage operating-performance statistics, released its rental-activity report for March 2010. Based on the rental activity of approximately 850,000 self-storage units in 1,400 facilities nationwide, SSDS reported that the number of self-storage units rented in March increased nearly 20 percent over those rented in February. New rentals for March 2010 were up nearly 1 percent over March 2009.

The complete Self Storage Performance Quarterly report is available only to subscribers and can be downloaded at SSdata.net.

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Florida self-storage operators were thwarted last week in their effort to improve the law governing procedures for self-storage lien sales in the state.
 
The Florida Self Storage Association (FSSA) and national Self Storage Association (SSA) attempted to introduce legislation that would ease the financial burden of sending lien-sale notifications to storage tenants, replacing the existing requirement for Certified Mail with a less expensive communication method. The measure was added to a larger bill two weeks ago, but the bill was removed in the House Rules Committee before a vote was taken.
 
The associations are still committed to the campaign and will continue their efforts to modernize the state’s lien statute. To view the details of Florida’s existing “Self-Storage Facility Act” (Title VI, Chapter 83, Part III, Sections 83.801-83.809), visit www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes.

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A Washington man told police he killed his wife in self-defense then stored her body at a self-storage facility.

According to Thurston County sheriff’s detectives, Sheldon Plummer, a sergeant at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, told investigators he had killed his wife, Winter Plummer, during an argument in February when she attacked him with a knife during a fight. He then transported her body to a storage unit.

Police began investigating Winter Plummer’s disappearance after they received a tip that Plummer had asked a friend how to dispose of a body.  When officers began questioning Plummer about his wife’s disappearance, he moved the body from the storage unit to the couple’s home.

On Friday, Plummer told investigators he had strangled his wife and was hiding the body in the couple’s home. Police found Winter Plummer’s body in a military-issued cargo crate in the couple’s garage.

Source:  KiroTV,  Police: Soldier Says He Killed Wife In Self-Defense 

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Deans & Homer, a provider of specialty insurance products for the self-storage industry, announced the winner of its recent drawing for a free iPod touch. Congratulations go to Bill Amick, owner of Miniwarehouses of Columbia in Lexington, S.C.
 
During the Inside Self-Storage World Expo held in Las Vegas last month, the company invited self-storage owners and operators to visit its website and complete an online form to receive a free reconstruction-cost valuation of their properties. Everyone who did so was entered into the iPod drawing.
 
Though the drawing has concluded, self-storage owners can still get a free no-obligation estimate of the current reconstruction cost of their facilities by visiting www.self-storage-insurance.com/no_worries. Deans & Homer has contracted with a provider of building-cost data and estimating technology for the U.S. property-insurance industry. Participants will receive via e-mail an estimate of the cost to rebuild their self-storage properties in the event of disaster.

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USstoragesearch.com, provider of an online facility directory as well as pay-per-reservation call center for the self-storage industry, has doubled its number of trained sales agents in response to a 300 percent increate in client memberships and a 200 percent increase in reservation volume since 2009.
 
Under the company's pay-per-reservation model, member self-storage facilities pay only for confirmed unit reservations. They pay no monthly fees or call-handling charges. All sales calls flow to sales agents who earn commissions for confirmed reservations of storage units.
 
Established in 2004, the USstoragesearch.com directory contains more than 12,000 member facilities and 2.8 million storage units nationwide. It allows self-storage customers to search real-time available units by facility location, unit size, property features and specials. They can then compare and reserve units by credit card.

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Blue Mound Self Storage in Haslet, Texas, will feature new eye-catching storage door covers to attract passersby and market the facility.  

"Creativity isn't something people often associate with the self-storage business," said David Brannon, the onsite manager. "But these door covers are a fun way to give drivers passing our place on Highway 287 an eyeful."

 

The images were purchased from www.style-your-door.com. Some of the company’s more popular door covers feature gold bars, classic cars, wine barrels and even a tank.

"We aren't going to tell anyone where the gold is stored," joked Ron Sturgeon, owner of Blue Mound Self Storage. "We're really just trying to remind people that we can securely store almost anything and have some fun with people driving by."

In addition to standard storage unit sizes, the facility can also accommodate the storage of construction equipment, big rigs, boats and RVs. The facility also offers climate-controlled self storage units and offers 24-hour video surveillance.

Blue Mound Self Storage is offering new storage customers  in April one month's free storage rental. The facility's Internet storage promotion is a free MP3 player for new rental customers.

Blue Mound Self Storage is affiliated with RDS investments, a company that leases office and warehouse space in Fort Worth, Texas.

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Debi A. Deller was promoted to the position of assistant controller for the Investment Real Estate Group of Cos. Previously, Deller was a facility accountant and managed accounting portfolios for a number of facilities under management. She has been with the company for three years. 

Investment Real Estate LLC specializes solely in self-storage brokerage, construction, management and consulting services to owners and investors in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. 

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The U-Haul Company of Mississippi is offering 30 days of free U-Box portable storage to residents whose homes or businesses have been damaged by the recent tornadoes in Mississippi.

The company will deliver a 5-foot-by-8-foot portable storage container to homes or businesses. Customers can pack the U-Box at their convenience, then it will be picked up by U-Haul and delivered to a customer-specified location or stored at a U-Haul facility in Jackson, Miss.

"These tornadoes have caused tremendous damage to the communities we serve," said Doug Weston, president of the U-Haul Company of Mississippi. "I hope this effort will provide assistance to families that truly need a helping hand if their homes or businesses were affected by these tornadoes. We will continue to help our friends and neighbors during their time of need."

Customers can also take advantage of the U-Haul Take a Box, Leave a Box Program. The program enables customers to return their reusable boxes and allows others to take them as needed for free. U-Haul encourages anyone who has any type of reusable box to drop it off at the nearest U-Haul location instead of throwing it into a recycling bin.

Families needing more information about the 30-days-free U-Box storage assistance program should contact a U-Haul dealer location.

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