Neighborhood Storage recently acquired its 15th location in the Ocala/Marion County, Fla., markets. Formerly known as All Area Storage, the facility will be rebranded under the Neighborhood Storage name.

The property, 9275 S.E. Highway 441 in Ocala, Fla., encompasses 47,000 leasable square feet. Amenities include climate-controlled and drive-up units. The management office will be remodeled to include space for packing supplies and boxes. Video cameras will also be added, and new customers will have free use of the facilitys moving truck. The store team will be led by facility manager Nealy Peterson.

We are excited to add this facility to our footprint in the southeast Marion County market, said Marlene Williamson, district manager. The facility is well-located along a major corridor and convenient to residents and businesses.

Neighborhood Storage finished construction of its first facility in 1979 with the intent of providing storage and service to the Ocala/Marion County area. The company now offers more than 5,000 rentable spaces.

 

A successful self-storage operation needs a business plan, and that includes a solid security plan to protect your investment. Your business will attract customers with goods to secure, but it should also deter and repel crooks who want those goods.

A strong security plan includes several components including an honest and proactive manager, the latest security components, a solid rental agreement, effective management software and a good relationship with local law enforcement. Implementing any or all of these measures is a great way to be proactive about the security of your facility and maintain its overall safety.

Crime at a self-storage property can make you the "biggest loser" for a number of reasons. If a tenant is robbed, he'll (hopefully) have insurance to help him restore his goods, but what will help you restore your reputation or reinstate your investment? You have more to lose than property from crimeyou can lose your livelihood.

Is Your Manager Your Greatest Asset or Greatest Threat?

A well-trained manager can sell your facility features, screen your renters and maintain visibility to prevent crime, dangerous activities and vandalism. A poorly-trained or dishonest manager can rob you and your customers, infiltrate your data and information, help his criminal associates and compromise your security. Your manager is the meeting point between your tenant and your investment. Select carefully, and consider employee insurance for liability and theft protection.

Access and Security Components

You need to create a security plan that runs like a road from curb to unit door. Begin at the curb by creating sight lines into your facility. Place barriers such as rocks and shrubs at the base of your fence, and place lights so they draw attention to your security components. Youre not only making intruders a target, youre displaying your security to prospects.

Think of your gate as an access-control point and assign gate codes to tenants rather than allowing them to create their own. Most customers will pick an easy code such as 1234, which is worse than having no code at all. Some will naively think the gate is secure when, in reality, it can be easily breached. Tell tenants you assign codes for their protection. This is true, but its also for yours. You dont want roamers on the site. Again, youre the loser when crime hits.

To further deter roamers, set both an entry and an exit point. You want visitors to know theyll be tracked going in and out of the property.

When you select video-surveillance cameras for your facility, focus on placement rather than quantity. Whos the key audience for your lobby monitors? Customers? Potential thieves? Your manager? Your online audience? Have an array for show that points outward to the lobby, and a screen that faces inward for the manager. Remember: Cameras record crime, they dont stop it.

Over the last few years, a number of facilities have been built around automated 24-hour kiosks that promise hands-free management. Such facilities use the Internet for remote surveillance and management, allowing new renters 24-hour access to move in and move out, while providing electronic eyes on the site. Electronic door locks and door alarms linked to management software allow remote access control for each unit. When exploring this option, keep in mind that you still need to provide some onsite protection against roamers with unlimited access.

The Final Line of Defense: Security Locks

In 2013, we still have facilities that promote your lock, your key, allowing customers to set the security level at your facility. The customer loses his goods when a cheap lock is broken. You lose your reputation and damage your investment. Would you stay a hotel where every guest used his own lock? Thieves would need to take a number to get in. Its to your benefit to require or offer locks and lock systems that stop thieves.

A pin-tumbler padlock belongs on a yard shed, not a self-storage unit. Dont be fooled by a round padlock. Thats a disk lock with the same cheap, jam-prone keyway found on inexpensive padlocks. In addition, all disk locks are not alike. Select one with a pick-and-drill-resistant keyway that complements sound design and manufacturing.

If you think a generic padlock can deter crime any more, just search bump key on Google or YouTube and be afraid. A bump key turns an amateur lock picker into a pro as long as you secure your units with cheap padlocks.

For high security, consider a cylinder-lock system. Cylinder locks secure a door with a flush-mount system integrated with the latch. Theres no shackle or lock body to cut. Theyre typically available with tubular or high-security keyways that are virtually pick-and-drill-proof. Because all units look the same, thieves dont have an easy road map to focus their work. A medium- or high-security cylinder lock just might send that crook down the road to the customer-friendly your lock, your key facility.

Is Your Computer an Asset or Liability?

Protect your assets and information by setting strict access levels on your facility computer. You can protect against hacking by ensuring your software is compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Also verify it has Service Organization Control accounting controls, and consider a penetration test by simulating an attack from an external source. If you dont know what these terms mean, ask your software provider and demand a clear answer.

Dont become a headline: Self-Storage Computer Data Hacked. Invest in a good management-software package with computer-security features.

Protections in Your Rental Agreement

Discuss with your attorney how to set liability limits for renters in your lease, and then ask tenants to sign an acknowledgement that theyve selected or refused insurance. You can also restrict the type and value of property to be stored, or require a waiver of liability. Again, consult with your attorney for the exact wording and legalities of doing this.

A Relationship With Law Enforcement

Enlist someone from local law enforcement to review your security plan, recommends Jim Chiswell, president of Chiswell & Associates LLC, which provides self-storage consulting services. That review and approval could have an impact on an uncooperative planning board if youre developing a new site. A publicized relationship with local law enforcement will please your honest tenants and make the dishonest ones uncomfortable. Periodic drug and bomb training exercises, clearly posted as exercises, can have a positive marketing impact as well.

The End Result

A strong security plan benefits you more than your renters because it can be a powerful marketing tool. Dont forget that you risk more from poor security than your renters, so select your manager carefully, invest in quality security components and software, and consult with your attorney and local law enforcement to provide a liability firewall between you and your tenants.

Rich Morahan writes frequently about marketing and security for the self-storage, information-management and propane industries. You can contact him at 617.240.0372; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.rmorahan.com or www.laigroup.com .

Atascocita Self Storage in Humble, Texas, was recently sold to Move It Management LLC of Dallas. The 77,310-square-foot, 581-unit facility will be added to the buyer's national portfolio of more than 30 self-storage properties.

The transaction was brokered by Bill Bellomy and Michael Johnson of Southern Storage Group (SSG), an Austin- and Houston-based real estate firm focused exclusively on the self-storage industry. Bellomy and Johnson marketed the property on behalf of the seller and procured the buyer. Earlier this month SSG brokered the sale of Bay Area Mini Storage in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Move It is a full-service self-storage management company founded by Tracy Taylor, who is also president of Watson & Taylor Management Inc. The company offers services including marketing, facility management, revenue management, personnel selection and management, consulting, construction, conversion, design and financing. It operates across Texas as well as the southeast states and Boston.

In addition to offering third-party management, Move It owns and manages its own self-storage properties and is currently involved in several major development projects in major metropolitan markets in Texas. The company also recently purchased storage facilities in Fulshear and Mission, Texas, according to watsontaylorselfstorage.com.

Robert Bret, executive director of the Florida Self Storage Association (FSSA), died June 7 while vacationing in Jamaica. He was 40.

Bret served as FSSA executive director for three years. He had more than 14 years of training experience in several fields including formulating human-resources policies and procedures, employment law, developing trainings and seminars, recruitment, testing, placement, orientation, benefits and labor relations.

During his career, Bret designed, edited and directed the development of training programs, curricula and testing for thousands of internal and external employees and managers. Officials from the national Self Storage Association said he was instrumental in building a successful relationship between the two organizations.

In April, he spoke on motivating and enriching self-storage staff during the Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas.

Robert was big guy. But, as big as he was physically, he was a softy. His quiet way and soft spoken humor belied that big physical presence. He was truly a gentle man, FSSA President Lewis Pollack said in a letter to association members. In our professional association, he was an extremely effective administrator and a real advocate for FSSA. In all the time we worked together, I never heard him raise his voice in anger or frustrationalmost a feat of magic given the stresses of his position.

Robert was a great source of common-sense advice to University Self Storage earlier this year when we had to deal with the sudden passing of two tenants and how to handle the units, posted Mary Fischer, property-leasing manager for the Sarasota, Fla., facility, to the online community Self-Storage Talk. Robert was kind and patient and quick to respond.

A military veteran, Bret served in the U.S. Army for two years out of high school before joining the Navy for another three years. Brets father, Robert E. Bret, was a 20-year career Navy officer who also died earlier this year.

Robert was a big man with a big heart and a kind soul, said Pollack, who is also managing principal for StoreSmart, a national developer and asset manager of self-storage properties. Robert was truly a good man. He will be missed by everyone whose life he touched.

Bret is survived by his 13-year-old daughter Kylie, mother Marilyn Bret, sister Nicole Handy, brother-in-law Michael Handy, nephew Ryland Handy, and several aunts, uncles and cousins.

A memorial service will be held on June 27 at 3 p.m. at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. A military funeral will be held on June 28 at 11 a.m. at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, Fla.

OpenTech Alliance Inc., a Phoenix-based provider of self-serve kiosks, call-center services and other technology solutions for the self-storage industry, has added pay-by-phone and online chat to its INSOMNIAC Live! services. Both are offered on a pay-as-you-use model and supported by the companys team of storage representatives.

XpressPay offers tenants a 24-hour alternative to paying their bills over the phone with a self-storage facility manager. Customer calls to a facility can be routed to the XpressPay service, and accounts can be retrieved based on caller ID. They can use touch-tone phones, and eventually speech, to get the balance on their account and process a payment. Once a transaction is completed, a receipt is automatically e-mailed to the customer. If the customer needs personal assistance, OpenTech representatives are available during call-center hours.

The company said the XpressPay service could be a new revenue stream for operators. Many of the largest operators already charge a convenience fee as high as $20 to make a payment over the phone instead of using their website or paying in person, company officials said in a press release. The Live! XpressPay solution is also available to self-storage companies with in-house call centers.

OpenTechs Live! Chat service is designed to direct and convert prospective customers looking for self-storage using a computer, tablet or mobile device. Self-storage operators are spending heavily on developing Web and mobile sites and then even more on attracting visitors to their sites, company officials said. OpenTech has provided its representatives with a library of facility information and chat technology to ensure each visitor gets the answers he needs, the company said. All chats prompt visitors for their name and e-mail address. Upon completion of the session, a contact note is created with the visitor information, source of contact (chat), and record of the chat dialog.

OpenTech provides several models of INSOMNIAC self-serve kiosks as well as a range of self-storage rental solutions including the INSOMNIAC Live! Call Center, INSOMNIAC Online Web and mobile applications, LiveAgent! software products, and the INSOMNIAC ILock Security System, all available through the company's Self-Storage Cloud.

Public Storage Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust with more than 2,000 facilities, recently opened the largest facility in its portfolio in Bronx, N.Y. The 12-story facility, 385 Gerard Ave. at E. 144th St., has more than 4,000 units. The property includes free parking and off-street loading docks for large moving vans.

Growing demand for smaller-sized units at our other locations throughout greater [New York City] has led us to build this facility to meet the specific needs of local customers, said David Doll, senior vice president. Not only does our Gerard facility offer the right kind of storage at the right price, its easy access and free parking make it a convenient choice for the 687,000 New Yorkers who live within two miles of the property.

Public Storage has invested millions of dollars through local construction trades to renovate and retrofit the building including adding new roofs, mechanical systems, high-speed freight elevators and insulated exterior panels. The Gerard facility is part of a building resurgence in the area along with the Yankee Stadium and Bronx Terminal Market developments.

Grand-opening promotions include $1 for the first months rent along with discounted monthly rental rates. Storage features include restricted access, interior door-lock systems and remote-surveillance monitoring after hours.

Headquartered in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage acquires, develops, owns and operates self-storage facilities in 38 states. The company has approximately 133 million net rentable square feet in the United States, and 188 storage facilities in seven Western European countries, with 10 million net rentable square feet operating under the Shurgard brand.

Storage Giant, a self-storage provider for the Cardiff, Newport and South Wales regions in the United Kingdom, will be featured on an upcoming episode of the U.K. television show "Storage Hoarders." The documentary series on the ITV network challenges people renting self-storage units to sort through their items, then donate, throw out or sell them. Produced by Twofour Productions, the show is hosted by Aggie MacKenzie, known for her role on the TV show How Clean Is Your House?

Mackenzie recently filmed at Storage Giant's Cardiff self-storage location. Uncovered storage finds included a tapestry and a Swiss grandfather clock, which will soon be auctioned and are predicted to sell for a high price, according to a Storage Giant press release. The self-storage company is also discussing taping another segment at one of its facilities.

Storage Giant has three facilities in the South Wales region. In addition to offering more than 40 unit sizes, the company offers business and domestic storage and office space.

Self-storage real estate investment trust Extra Space Storage Inc. has agreed to purchase 20 self-storage facilities from All Aboard Mini Storage and Lance D. Alworth for $196 million. The California properties comprise 14,800 units and approximately 1.5 million square feet of net rentable space. The deal is expected to close by the end of September.

As part of the transaction, Extra Space will take on $100.1 million in existing loans and pay an additional $10.1 million related to the defeasance and prepayment costs associated with the loans. The company will also issue $33.6 million of newly designated Series B Redeemable Preferred Units and $62.3 million of common Operating Partnership units to the sellers.

To help pay for the assets, Extra Space also announced the private offering of $250 million in Exchangeable Senior Notes, settled in cash and shares at a rate to be determined through negotiations. The funds will also be put toward general corporate and working-capital purposes, company officials said.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 965 self-storage properties in 35 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The companys properties comprise approximately 640,000 units and 70 million square feet of rentable space.