It’s never too early for self-storage operators to create a plan for facing extreme weather. Mother Nature can change her mood in a heartbeat, and you need to be prepared. For example, in the last two years in Coastal South Carolina, we’ve experienced two hurricanes (Irma and Matthew) and a freak winter storm (Grayson). While hurricane preparedness is fairly routine for most of us around here, the snow and ice was a bit of a challenge.

Following is advice on how to prepare for a natural weather disaster and what to do during and after the squall.

Before the Storm

Have a plan (or multiple plans) in your facility operation or emergency-preparedness manual for dealing with hurricanes, winter storms, tornadoes, floods or any other dangerous weather indigenous to your area. Evacuation routes, shelters and communication avenues should be laid out in plain English and understood by everyone before they’re needed. Contact information for local contractors should be in this folder, too. After all, you may need their help when this is over. Websites and e-mail addresses for local and state authorities such as law enforcement, and weather and storm centers, should also be included.

Your office and site prep should be pre-assigned, and everyone should know what to do before it needs to be done. This might include boarding up windows and doors, securing files and computers, and protecting office equipment from rising water. Have any necessary materials on hand at all times, not just when you think you’ll need them. For example, you might need wood and nails for boarding windows, sandbags for doors, salt or de-icing chemicals for sidewalks, etc.

If you fly any flags at your facility, it’s best to lower and secure them prior to bad weather. This goes for other loose items outside such as benches, trash cans and signage. You don’t want anything that could become a missile outside the buildings!

If your company has a computer guru or information-technology person, make sure he knows what’s going on. He can help back up information so it isn’t lost.

Finally, regularly remind your tenants about their insurance coverage options and ensure they understand the limitations. Once a storm is named, some companies won’t honor new policies, so get tenants signed up at the beginning of the season or when they sign the lease.

Facility Closure or Evacuation

When awaiting an extreme weather event, it’s wise to close your self-storage facility. You might even need to evacuate the premises or area.

If you close, make sure tenants know as soon as possible so they can get anything they might need from their unit before the facility is locked down. Don’t just hang a sign in the window; notify them by e-mail, social media or any other available method. You can include information in your voicemail greeting as well. If conditions are too dangerous to drive, discourage them from visiting the property. It’s not worth them risking personal injury or damage to their car.

If you have automatic gates, they should be locked in the down/closed position and powered off. This will prevent access to the facility during the event, but it’ll also help prevent injury to customers and staff as well as damage to the gates in high winds.

In the event of evacuation, you can alert tenants via e-mail regarding weather conditions and evacuation routes. Include links to local authorities, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Services and local shelters. Phone lines may be jammed, so having more than one mode of communication is essential. Pre-paid cell phones are always a good idea. We have one for after-hours emergencies and it really came in handy during our evacuation for Hurricane Matthew. Finally, let your alarm company know you’re evacuating and ensure it has the correct contact information for you and other staff.

If it’s OK with your owner or supervisor, add access to company e-mail to your laptop or tablet during the event (you can remove it when it’s all over) so you can reply to customer messages. Remote access to your security cameras can be helpful, too. This enables you to monitor conditions at the facility.

During the Storm

During the storm, use social media to your advantage. Share local weather reports as well as comments and posts on conditions, especially from local authorities. Your tenants can also message you through for updates and information.

Communicate with your tenants as much as possible through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter … anything! Some management-software programs will even allow you to securely and privately send a group e-mail via the platform. Some of your customers could be out of the state or even the country and will appreciate the updates.

Make sure customers know the facility is closed and they shouldn’t be there. If you’re not on site, make sure your owner or supervisor knows where you are and how to get in touch with you. Most important, let him know you’re communicating with your tenants. Our owners are out of state, so we send them all the same information we send our customers.

Finally, rest up and keep your cool. The next few days may be exhausting.

After the Storm

Once the storm has passed and you can return to the property, inspect the grounds and buildings for stability, downed power lines, damage, etc. Inform your owner or supervisor of your findings. Provide your honest opinion, in writing, regarding the safety of the facility and whether conditions are safe enough to reopen. E-mail your tenants to let them know you’re back and doing everything you can to protect them and their property. Once you’re satisfied that you’ve established an acceptable level of safety, you can inform them they’re allowed back on site.

Take a lot of pictures and keep them on file for repairs and a record for next time. Encourage tenants to take photos of their belongings once they come by to inspect everything. These will help in insurance claims as well as building repairs, if needed.

Remember those contacts we talked about earlier? Now’s the time to use them. Start with the most damaged part of the property and work your down. It took us a few weeks to finally get a tree company on site to help after Hurricane Matthew, so don’t get discouraged if the first contractor you call says “no.” Just move on to the next.

As repairs or cleanup get under way, let tenants know where and when crews will be working (trees, rooftops, driveways, etc.) so they don’t walk under or through a potentially hazardous area. For example, you might say, “Crews will be clearing downed trees by Building A from (date) until (date), so please exercise caution.” Also, it’s OK to limit access to buildings for safety reasons. Customers might not understand why, but you’re responsible if something happens to them. As repairs end, thank them for their patience and understanding.

Once it’s all over, start planning for the next weather event using what you learned from this one. It’s never too early (or late) to communicate around a natural disaster. The more you keep tenants notified of site conditions, weather alerts and local situations, the better they’ll feel in their choice to store their property with you. While it’s not something you have to do, it’s something you should do, as it will help set you apart from competition.

The feedback we received after Hurricanes Matthew and Irma and Winter Storm Grayson was that of gratitude and appreciation. Several of our tenants live out of state and a few live and work out of the country. All were thankful that we kept them informed. Your owner or supervisor will feel better, too, knowing he chose to hire someone like you who’s looking out for his investment.

Kevin J. Edwards joined Southeast Management Co. in 2016. He and his wife, Donna, are property managers for Plantation Storage and Plantation Wine Cellars in Bluffton, S.C. To reach him, call 843.815.8000; e-mail [email protected]. 

Phil Allan, co-founder and president of Apple Self Storage in Canada, and his wife, Sue, are set to ride 1,001 kilometers next month alongside Olympic cyclist Curt Harnett to raise money for the Future Olympians Fund, a campaign that provides financial support to athletes. The group will depart Lake Louise, Alberta, on June 17, climbing 2,000 meters and covering 180 kilometers during the first day. They’ll conclude the ride on June 24 in Whistler, British Columbia, with daily distances covering 100 to 180 kilometers, according to a press release.

Apple, which operates 31 locations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario, Canada, will donate $10 from each move-in the company receives between May 1 and June 24. In addition, the Allans have set up an online fundraising page through the Canadian Olympic Foundation (COF) through which they hope to raise $25,025. Each dollar raised through the website will be matched by the Canadian government, the release stated. As of May 7, the couple had raised $3,751.

The Future Olympians Fund is a major gifts campaign and hospitality program in partnership between the COF and Gold Medal Plates, an organization that supports Canadian athletes through a series of events celebrating cuisine, wine, the arts and athletic achievement. The group has raised more than $13 million since 2004.

“Sue and I have been serious supporters of the Future Olympians Fund for a number of years because we believe that it is very important to encourage, and make possible, the next generation of kids hopeful of making a difference in all level of sports; maybe even at the Olympic level,” Phil Allan said.

Family-owned and -operated, Apple opened its first facility in 1974. Its properties comprise more than 1.2 million square feet of rentable space. The company offers standard and premium storage units, mailbox rental, package acceptance, hold-key service, and packing and moving supplies.

Source:
PRWeb, Apple Self Storage’s Own Phil Allan Will Ride 1,001Km to Support Canada’s Next Generation of Athletes

Two Texas self-storage operators have been sued in federal court for allegedly violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child-labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers. FLSA generally requires employers pay workers at least the federal minimum wage and overtime at 1.5 times their hourly rate when exceeding 40 hours in a work week, unless exempt.

“These lawsuits serve as a reminder to operators of the need to fully vet any decision to classify an employee as exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements,” officials of the national Self Storage Association (SSA) wrote in a May 7 e-mail newsletter to members. “The often overlapping state and federal requirements are complex.” The cases being referenced were not specified.

Last year, a former employee of Texas-based Metro Mini Storage Inc. filed a lawsuit against the self-storage company and director Lorraine Drake alleging breach of contract for unpaid overtime wages. Michael Alford claims he was paid for hours worked only between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. The lawsuit states he was terminated after filing a protected complaint against the company in 2014.

In 2015, two former self-storage managers of Al’s Mini Storage in Beaumont, Texas, sued owner Jim Speed over alleged unpaid wages and overtime. Arretta and Frederick Lawson claimed they regularly worked at least 80 hours per week while serving as resident managers from Aug. 26 to Sept. 25, but didn’t receive any paid wages. They were provided with a rent-free apartment.

At least eleven FLSA cases involving self-storage operators have been filed nationwide since 2012, according to Justia, a website that tracks dockets and case filings across federal appellate and district courts.

Sources:
The Monday Morning Globe 5/7/18, Texas Operators Sued in Federal Court for Alleged Wage Violations
Justia, FLSA Cases Involving Self-Storage

Real estate developer Poverni Sheikh Group LLC (PSG) is building a 118,000-square-foot self-storage project on a 3-acre parcel in Columbia, Md., but because the entrance on Old Guilford Road will impede access to a popular biking/hiking trail, residents want the facility ingress moved. PSG told county officials that moving it isn’t feasible, according to the source.

Those in opposition to the property orientation created an online petition, which has received 2,266 signatures. Though PSG was willing to move the entrance and would prefer to bring in traffic from another route, a redesign isn’t possible because of grading issues, storm-water management and traffic flow, company principal Eugene Poverni told the source.

As a solution, PSG has offered to expand the road to improve traffic flow as well as build a 10-foot-wide pedestrian pathway adjacent to the road to accommodate trail users. Howard County planners have also announced plans to build a bike/pedestrian pathway along the road, the source reported.

Trail users have previously used Old Guilford Road to access the Patuxent Branch Trail, which runs 4.6 miles along the Patuxent River to Savage, Md. “There’s just an amazing number of people who have been using that trail for years and years. And they had always assumed that that part of Old Guilford Road was a part of the community,” said Shari Zaret, a Columbia Association board member who uses the trail. “Now the concern of the community is that we want to make sure that the safety of the people that utilize that trail is paramount. We’ve got families, toddlers on tricycles … and that’s not a great mix in that tight spot.”

PSG wasn’t required to hold a public hearing because the property is in an industrial zone, according to the source.

Based in Baltimore, PSG specializes in the adaptive reuse of historic and distressed structures, according to the company website. It also provides brokerage, construction, development and property-management services. Its real estate portfolio includes mixed-use, multi-family and office properties.

Source:
The Baltimore Sun, Building Near Popular Howard Trail Stirs Residents, Sparks Safety Concern

Public Storage Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT), has opened a new facility in Puyallup, Wash., a suburb of Seattle. The development is part of the company’s ongoing effort to keep up demand for space in the region, according to a press release.

The property at 16311 Meridian Ave. E. contains 1,200 climate-controlled and drive-up storage units. It’s near the Sunrise Village shopping mall and South Hill, a census-designated place in Pierce County. The facility will serve the growing suburb, which increased in population by 10 percent between 2010 and 2016, the release stated.

“We’re providing storage units to a community that is underserved,” said Bryan Miranda, vice president of West Coast development. “And we’re in the path of growth, so we’re expecting more homes and more tenants.”

The REIT just opened a new facility in Frisco, Texas. The two-story property offers more than 750 climate-controlled units. It’s near Farm to Market Road 423, the Dallas North Tollway expressway, and Lake Lewisville, a reservoir in North Texas.

Based in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage has interests in 2,392 self-storage facilities in 38 states, with approximately 159 million net rentable square feet. Operating under the Shurgard brand name, the company also has 223 facilities in seven European countries, with approximately 12 million net rentable square feet.

Source:
Business Wire, Public Storage Opens New Puyallup, Washington, Storage Facility

The right self-storage management software gives you the tools to compete in a growing industry. It can help with processing payments, completing lease agreements and navigating the lien process. That said, it only makes your job easier if it runs smoothly. For this technology to do everything you expect it to do, you need to know how to use it and what to do when problems occur.

Sometimes, management software will encounter errors you can fix yourself; other times you’ll need to reach out to your vendor’s tech support. Let’s explore what you can do to make sure your program runs efficiently, what you should do when it doesn’t, and how to ensure tech support identifies and fixes any problems you can’t resolve on your own.

The Right Program

It all starts with choosing the right product. Management software should be user-friendly and improve your workflow. To avoid feeling like you committed to a program that doesn’t work for your facility, it’s important to address the unique needs of your business before you invest. Ask yourself the following:

• How large is your facility?
• How high is your tenant turnover?
• What’s your average occupancy rate?
• Do most of your tenants pay with a credit card or prefer cash or checks?
• Do you often find yourself involved in the lien process?
• Is your facility open 24 hours a day, resulting in the occasional tech problem after midnight?
• Are you OK with solving tech problems via e-mail and online chat, or do you prefer the phone?

Knowing the answers will help you choose the right software for your self-storage operation.

Training

The next step to heading off problems is to thoroughly understand your software. Think about your own learning style and that of your staff. Some vendors offer in-person training, while others provide it remotely. A few might just stick you with a handbook and leave you to your own devices. This is an important consideration when choosing a program.

Everyone on staff should know how to use the technology at your storage facility. You don’t want to have only one tech-savvy employee and then encounter some unsolvable issue with the software if that person is absent.

After you purchase the software, the provider should do an orientation, either in person or via webinar. An in-person introduction will likely be more engaging, but a live webinar will still allow employees to ask questions. A pre-recorded webinar, while generally not as impactful, will allow employees to view in the information on their own schedule.

Regardless of how the orientation takes place, take notes and encourage your staff to do the same. Ask the provider for a copy of the PowerPoint presentation if it’s available. When new employees come on board, devote ample time to this training. You want everyone to have the same abilities when it comes to using the software.

Training should be an ongoing process. You want your staff to stay sharp, especially when it comes to interacting with the technology that’s so integral to your business. Accomplishing this is as simple as having a handbook available. Consider creating your own simplified version with frequently asked questions and answers. This will be a sort of cheat-sheet to moving tenants out, transferring units and managing leases within the system. This will be a first line of defense when it comes to answering common questions about the software.

Updates

Before you contact tech support, make sure the issue you’re facing isn’t the result of an incomplete update. Some software updates occur automatically, while others are manual. Check for them regularly.

Opt in for e-mail newsletters or other communication from your provider. Follow your vendor on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels to stay informed on updates, new technology and bugs that are being fixed. Regularly check your provider’s website, as it may have an area where it reports known outages.

Network Knowledge

You can also reach out the self-storage community for help. Check industry forums and touch base with your network of colleagues. Perhaps someone you know is experiencing the same issue. Even better, maybe they’ve experienced that issue in the past and know how to solve it. If you or your facility has a Facebook or Twitter account, this may be a useful way to connect with other professionals with the same software.

Available Support

Depending on your program, tech support may only be available to you for a certain amount of time. Be aware of this. Some providers also allow you to purchase a tech-support plan. If this is an option, it’s worth the investment, no matter how confident you are in your own technological prowess.

If tech support is available, check your manual or software provider’s website so you know who to contact and how. Support may be available by phone during certain hours and via live chat or e-mail during others. There may even be an emergency number or e-mail for major issues that occur after office hours. (Keep in mind a true emergency constitutes a software glitch that prevents you or your employees from doing business.) Print this information and post it somewhere so everyone knows who to contact as well as when and how.

Helping Tech Support Help You

If you’ve exhausted all your own resources, it’s time to call tech support. To solve your problem faster, be ready with information about your business and the error. This should include any account numbers, screenshots of error messages, or anything else that could be of use. Be at your computer, ready to walk tech support through the problem. If there’s someone on staff who’s more familiar with the issue than you, have that person take the lead.

Be patient when addressing issues with your self-storage management software, especially when dealing with tech support. At the same time, expect good customer service. After all, this product and service costs you money. Like the self-storage itself, management software is a booming and competitive industry. Customer service is the cornerstone of any growing business, and just as your customers expect it from you, you should expect it from tech support.

Krista Diamond is a staff writer for StorageFront, which allows customers to custom search and compare thousands of self-storage facilities. She’s a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and lives in Las Vegas. When she isn't writing about storage, she’s climbing mountains in the desert. For more information, visit www.storagefront.com. 

Self-storage is the best business there is for the small investor. It has all the benefits of a real estate play and few of the drawbacks associated with traditional investment real estate. It’s also an operating business with very predictable cash flow.

Because of these facts, it caught the eye of Wall Street following the last recession. The flood of money into the self-storage industry altered the landscape for all investors. This has had a significant impact on those who wish to start a storage business in the following ways:

• Prices are still high.
• The industry has become more sophisticated.
• The complexity of starting a self-storage business keeps increasing.
• Your long-term success in the industry will be determined by acquiring specific knowledge and expertise.

There are seven key abilities you must develop to start or grow a self-storage enterprise. They are the ability to:

• Find storage projects
• Analyze the financial viability of opportunities
• Finance storage opportunities
• Put cash into projects
• Determine project-construction costs
• Construct or oversee the construction of buildings and/or a conversion
• Oversee and schedule subcontractors

Before you start looking for your first deal, these skill sets must be in place. Why? Because the days of finding a good facility, buying it and immediately getting the returns that make it worthwhile are gone. The year 2012 was the last time I could buy a stabilized facility and get the returns I need. The influx of Wall Street money drove capitalization rates down and value and pricing up. If you’ve been trying to get into the self-storage business but can’t seem to make a deal work, this is why.

As small investors, we need to find value-add situations. That usually requires an expansion—adding more rentable space to an existing facility. For someone new to the business, that’s usually the best strategy because it’s the least risky.

Building from the ground up typically has one to three years of negative cash flow. Expansions at least break even from year one. You’re going to pay more for an existing facility than you desire; but after you blend the returns from the acquisition and the expansion, you get a return worth seeking.

The due-diligence timeframe has shortened to, at most, a few months or as low as 45 days. This makes those seven key abilities especially important. If you don't have these areas covered, you can't close a deal fast enough. By the time you can close, someone else has already stepped up and is willing to pay more than you were. I speak from experience. Now let’s look at these seven areas.

The Ability to Find Projects

For most of us, this requires developing relationships with self-storage brokers who work in the area of the country where you want to own. Know these people. Meet them. Talk to them. Help them look good to their clients and you’ll get deal-flow for a long time. How do you do that?

Be a buyer. How do you become a buyer? Have these seven skill sets figured out before you write your first letter of intent or contract.

The Ability to Analyze the Financial Viability of Opportunities

It has never been more critical to be able to analyze a prospective deal and project the future cash flow of new space coming online. How much you can pay for a facility today is determined by understanding:

• The projected future cash flow of an expansion
• The cost of building the expansion
• The operating costs for the expansion 

Then, based on those future cash flows, you back into what you can pay to get them. The good news is there’s a lot of training out there to acquire these skills. The industry offers support to new investors via free and paid programs, and there are experts you can tap as well.

Compared to most real estate, self-storage is a simple product to build and analyze. You just need to know how to do it at the beginning of the game if you want to be able to compete with other buyers. You should know what you can and can’t pay for a self-storage opportunity. You have to trust your numbers.

The Ability to Finance Opportunities

When I got in the business, I wasn’t strong enough to get a loan by myself. That didn’t stop me. I found some partners who could sign the loan. Today, I still need partners.

You may be able to do this by yourself. However, before you put your project under contract, it’s prudent to know what type and how large of a loan for which you can qualify. Remember, you can use the income from the project as your income for qualifying in most cases.

Also, Small Business Association loans are a great way for someone new to the industry to get more financing than from a traditional bank. Check in with a lender or two prior to writing your first contract.

The Ability to Put Cash Into Projects

Know where the equity is coming from. Again, when I got started, I didn’t have the equity. I used to put the projects under contract, then go raise the equity from investors. I can’t do that anymore. The due-diligence periods have become so short that I need to have my equity raised before I start.

You may have your own money and that’s great. If you’re using investors, have your soft or hard commitments ready before you write the first offer. Often, you must show the equity to have your offer taken seriously.

Your Abilities Around Construction

For the small investor to get the returns needed today, it almost always has to be a value-add project. The safest way to create a value-add situation is to find a smaller “mom and pop” facility, expand it, and bring it up to today's “institutionnel” standards. That almost always requires the ability to construct more storage. That doesn’t mean you have to build it yourself, thank goodness; but you do have to know:

• What the construction process involves
• The approximate cost
• When construction will start
• How long it will take
• What the income looks like as it leases up and when it’s stabilized

Also, how you will facilitate the construction? Will you hire a general contractor or a construction manager, or will you do it yourself? You need to know this upfront so you can run your financial analysis. Why? Your financial model tells you what you can pay for the existing facility or raw land.

I’m not a builder; you can ask my wife. But I do know construction numbers. I also stay very involved. I don’t simply turn it over to a builder. That’s a formula for the project to not meet the budget I created in the pro forma.

The Good News

To get into the storage business today it does take more skills than it used to, but they’re not hard to learn. Do the work required and you’ll stand head and shoulders above the others who are also trying to get a storage venture off the ground. If you lay the groundwork, you can build a successful business and start creating the wealth this product offers.

I believe it’s the best business there is for the small investor. Just perform the work first so you can be the one who wins.

Mark Helm is a commercial real estate agent and self-storage investor. He began working with real estate investment trusts in the mid-1990s to locate and purchase self-storage properties before striking out on his own. He’s the author of “Creating Wealth Through Self-Storage” and the creator of “Storage World Analyzer,” a cloud-based, financial-analysis software tool designed to help self-storage operators and investors evaluate potential real estate acquisitions or development projects. To reach him, e-mail [email protected]. 

Dino’s Storage, which operates self-storage facilities in Iowa and Nebraska as well as Winnipeg, Canada, received approval on Wednesday to erect a 12-story flagpole at Elkhorn, Neb., location. Owner Dave Paladino requested a permit from the Omaha Planning Board to add the 125-foot pole to the property at 20800 W. Dodge Road. City zoning regulations limit pole height to 75 feet, according to the source.

The idea for the super-high pole came from company president Jena Bailey. It’ll generally display the American flag, though Paladino will also fly a Nebraska Cornhuskers college-football flag on game days. The flags will measure 20-by-30 or 30-by-40 feet, the source reported.

“We just want to send a statement that we just need to be more patriotic,” said Paladino, who also displays Bible verses on his facility business message boards. “I wish Americans loved America as much as other countries love America.”

Paladino and Bailey expected the board to deny the request after the city’s planning department recommended its rejection. However, board member Trenton Magid moved to approve the permit, and all seven board members agreed. Now the request goes to the city council. If it’s approved, Paladino plans to immediately install the pole, which will cost about $50,000.

Paladino founded Dino’s Storage in 1998. It operates three facilities in Iowa, eight in Nebraska and a single site in Winnipeg. Paladino also owns Landmark Group, a boutique real estate agency.

Source:
Omaha World-Herald, Old Glory Will Fly on a 12-Story Pole at Dino's Storage

The William Warren Group (WWG), a privately held real estate company that operates the StorQuest Self Storage brand, has opened a new facility in Gardena, Calif. The multi-story property at 14215 S. Normandie Ave. is near Interstate 105 and State Route 110, according to a press release.

The facility features all interior units with individual lighting, climate control, key-code access, video cameras, and a retail center that sells moving and packing supplies. Customers also have access to online billpay and reservations.

WWG has been actively growing its portfolio. Last month, the company purchased Storage Depot in Shirley, N.Y., for $10 million. It also opened a new location in Vero Beach, Fla., its first in the city, in February, as well as facilities in Lakewood, Colo., and Reno, Nev., in January and December, respectively. In addition, WWG is converting a former taco shop in Los Angles into a four-story facility comprising 85,000 square feet.

Founded in 1994 and based in Santa Monica, Calif., WWG acquires, develops and operates more than 125 self-storage facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, South Carolina and Texas.

Source:
iReach, StorQuest Opens Brand New Self Storage Facility in Gardena, CA

Strategic Storage Growth Trust Inc. (SSGT), a public, non-traded, self-storage real estate investment trust sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management LLC, has acquired Custer Storage & Business Center in McKinney, Texas. The 4.1-acre property at 2280 N. Custer Road is in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to a press release.

Constructed in 2015, the facility contains 10 single-story buildings comprising 95,000 square feet of storage space in 730 units. Security measures include gated entry, electronic building access and security cameras.

“This property is located directly in the population growth path of McKinney and Far North Dallas,” said Wayne Johnson, chief investment officer. “There are numerous mixed-use and planned developments surrounding the facility, bringing thousands of new single-family homes and major retailers to the area. It fits well with our acquisition strategy to strategically acquire properties with the potential for revenue growth and add value through active management.”

SSGT focuses on the acquisition, development, redevelopment and lease-up of self-storage properties. Its portfolio currently consists of 26 storage facilities in 10 states comprising approximately 1.9 million net rentable square feet in 17,300 storage units.

SmartStop is a diversified real estate company with a managed portfolio of 115 self-storage facilities in Canada and the United States. Its managed properties comprise approximately 8.4 million rentable square feet.

Source:
PR Newswire, Strategic Storage Growth Trust, Inc. Acquires 730-Unit Self Storage Facility in The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex