Police in Riverside, Calif., are searching for three suspects involved in burglarizing Tyler Mini Storage on May 4. The suspects allegedly broke into three self-storage units before being confronted by an employee and fleeing the scene in two vehicles. One suspect, Andres Octavio Inzunza, 48, allegedly tried to run over the female worker, according to police.

“The victim parked her golf cart in front of the silver Oldsmobile in an attempt to stop him. The driver rammed his vehicle into the golf cart and pushed it, and the victim, out onto Indiana Avenue. As the suspect drove forward, he yelled at the victim that he was going to kill her. As this happened, the second suspect in the Ford Windstar yelled, ‘Just kill her!’” according to a press release posted by the Riverside Police Department on its Facebook page.

When a second employee came outside to help his co-worker, “the driver of the Ford Windstar drove his vehicle into him, hitting his lower body,” police said. Injuries sustained by either victim were not reported. The drivers of both vehicles are wanted for attempted murder and burglary.

Police posted images, captured by a traffic camera, of one of the suspected drivers on the department’s Facebook page and received a tip identifying Inzunza as a possible suspect. The other two suspects are unknown.

Anyone with any information regarding the case is encouraged to contact Riverside police at 951.353.7957 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Anonymous tips may be reported at 951.353.7261 or via e-mail [email protected].

Granite Clover Self Storage, which operates four facilities in New Hampshire, has been named Business of the Year in the business-services category by “Business NH Magazine,” a monthly publication focused on business issues in the state. Granite Clover owner Edward Smith accepted the award during a ceremony on May 29.

The magazine recognized New Hampshire businesses in nine categories and also honored a Business Leader of the Year. It has presented annual business awards for 23 years. “The winning organizations come from different industries yet have similar philosophies that tie them together—a drive to lead their industries and a commitment to give back to their communities as much as they can,” the publication said in an article on its website.

Granite Clover opened in 1999 and operates storage facilities in Amherst, Derry, Nashua and Pembroke, N.H. The Derry location is currently undergoing renovations for added security options, according to the source.

Since 2006, Granite Clover has raised more than $400,000 through its charitable organization, Community Business Members Care, and supports several nonprofit organizations in the communities it serves, the source reported. Efforts include assisting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Nashua and Greater Salem by providing packing supplies and storage units for community events, and supporting Marguerite’s Place, a nonprofit organization that helps homeless women and children find housing.

Smith also runs a moving business, College Bound Movers Inc. in Amherst, N.H.; a portable-storage company, MI-BOX New England LLC; and a packing-supplies company, My Daddy’s Boxes. In 2005, College Bound Movers received Business of the Year from “Business NH” in the same category.

By Kim Seeling Smith

Technology and globalization have dramatically changed the way we work over the last 20 to 30 years. However, very little has changed in how we hire and manage self-storage staff, which has led to low employee engagement and productivity as well as high turnover. Instead of doing the routine, tactical and predicable work of yesteryear, this “Social Age” requires us to be more strategic, creative and innovative, more solution-oriented.

For the most part, self-storage owners are still hiring for skills and experience and using the same levers they’ve used for decades to motivate and manage staff. You must evolve your business practices to remain competitive in our digitally connected, globally oriented economy.

With any evolutionary process, a guide or roadmap proves invaluable. When your self-storage company decides to take the leap and join the Social Age, here are five ways to maximize employment efficiency and effectiveness, retain staff, and ensure employees are fully engaged on a daily basis.

Correct Hiring

We must start this evolution with hiring the right people. Without them, efforts to engage and retain staff become moot. The Industrial Age paradigm emphasized hiring for skills and experience, but skills can be taught. In today’s rapidly changing world, experience is far less important than agility and the ability to learn and adapt. To not only survive but thrive in the Social Age, companies need to hire for culture fit and competencies—those innate abilities that can’t be taught but will make employees successful in the job.

Proper interviewing technique is essential to guaranteeing you get the right hire. Unlike the stock market, when it comes to potential job candidates, past performance is indicative of future results. The majority of interview questions have to be answered with past examples of how the candidate actually dealt with real-world scenarios. Do not fall into the old trap of believing what a candidate would do is what he did do or, more important, will do.

Classify and Manage Appropriately

Even when you do everything right during the hiring process, you may still be surprised once the employee comes on board. Team dynamics or changing personal circumstances can affect individual behavior and performance. You must continually keep your finger on the pulse of your staff—a daunting task to many self-storage owners who either try to devote equal time and energy across the board or who spend time with the wrong people.

Employees typically come in three types: critical people, squeaky wheels and the fat middle. Most owners end up spending most of their time trying to grease their squeaky wheels, which perpetuates poor performance or behavior. Counterintuitively, by devoting the majority of your attention to your critical people, you’ll bolster the productivity of the whole team. Squeaky wheels? Train, motivate or move them on. Quickly.

Compensate Fairly

Many companies diligently strive to create attractive incentive programs in an effort to engage and retain staff. Unfortunately, these efforts actually may be counterproductive to accomplishing these goals.

Studies have suggested that rewards can narrow our focus, innovation, creativity, strategic thinking and problem-solving—the very things needed from a Social Age workforce. Higher pay doesn’t necessarily equal higher productivity. Self-storage owners should set their salary benchmark at or a little above market rate for individual functions. Even more important, they should ensure employees feel they’re being adequately compensated for the work they do, which can only be accomplished by speaking directly to them.

Currencies of Choice

Once your staff feels well paid, real productivity and engagement can be unlocked by tapping into their internal motivators or currencies of choice. What your staff really needs to be fulfilled and to “go the extra mile” is to:

• Work for someone they trust and respect in a company they support
• Be appreciated and have their voice and opinions respected
• Have a firm career path that allows them to grow and develop
• Realize their underlying motivators
• Be able to do what they do best every day

By understanding and acknowledging your team’s individual currencies of choice, you can help keep them engaged and decrease turnover. How do you recognize which currencies of choice will motivate them? By talking to them. Unfortunately, many owners don’t talk to their staff enough, and don’t know what to talk about or how to structure their conversations.

Communicate with FOCUS

FOCUS is an acronym that describes the best practices in leadership communication. Communication between staff and managers should revolve around:

• Feedback: Ensure your team is updated on company information, initiatives and new hires. Give praise when it’s due, and maintain an open door for questions, concerns or comments.
• Objectives: The heart of sterling performance management is structuring specific and measurable job objectives and holding staff accountable for achieving them.
• Career development: Many studies list career development as a main factor that determines whether employees stay with their current employer or seek a new position elsewhere.
• Underlying motivators: What does your staff need to go the extra mile, and how do they respond to motivational techniques and rewards?
• Strengths: According to management-consulting company Gallup Inc., those innate abilities that make them unique and good at what they do is the No. 1 predictor of success.

The process of changing the way you hire and manage your staff may appear daunting at first, but experience shows that by taking it step by step, you can make significant changes quickly. The result will be a lifetime of more engaged, productive and happier staff, as well as more free time, less stress and higher job satisfaction for yourself and your team.

Kim Seeling Smith is an international human-resources expert and author of the forthcoming book, “Mind Reading for Managers: 5 FOCUSed Conversations for Greater Employee Engagement and Productivity.” With her expansive knowledge of human-capital practices in today’s market, she helps companies build healthy work environments as well as increase employee engagement and productivity in our digitally connected, globally-oriented world. For more information, visit http://igniteglobal.com.

Update – 6/12/2014: The recent acquisition of the eight-property Best Florida Storage portfolio in Broward County, Fla., totaled $91 million, or $106 per square foot, according to a press release from Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.

Mike Mele, a first vice president of investments in the Marcus & Millichap Tampa, Fla., office, represented Storage Post and the seller, Arvid Albanese of The Albanese Group LLC, in the transaction.

The portfolio “is an outstanding mix of stabilized assets with strong cash flow, lease-up properties with new construction components and newly renovated space,” Mele said. “The previous owner assembled this portfolio of prime locations with exacting focus over a decade of ownership, selectively pruning underperforming assets along the way.”

The eight properties are: 

• Best Florida Storage One, Fort Lauderdale, 115,528 rentable square feet and 1,074 units
• Best Florida Storage Two, Fort Lauderdale, 56,107 rentable square feet and 740 units
• Best Florida Storage Three, Fort Lauderdale, 104,474 rentable square feet, 1,070 units
• Best Florida Storage Five, Lauderhill, 87,137 rentable square and 1,041 units
• Best Florida Storage Six, Pompano Beach, 52,113 rentable square feet and 346 units
• Best Florida Storage Seven, Oakland Park, 88,694 rentable square feet and 519 units
• Best Florida Storage Eleven, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach, 220,000 rentable square feet and 1,169 units
• Best Florida Storage Twelve, Fort Lauderdale, 100,450 rentable square feet and 1,199 units 

Marcus & Millichap has more than 1,300 investment professionals in offices throughout the United States and Canada. The company closed more than 6,600 transactions last year with a value of approximately $24 billion.

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Storage Post Self Storage, a private company that operates facilities along the East Coast and in the South, has entered the Florida self-storage market with the recent acquisition of a multi-property portfolio in Greater Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The portfolio includes mixed-use space, including commercial and retail frontage, and eight self-storage stores in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Oakland Park and Pompano Beach, Fla.

Together, the properties comprise 800,000 rentable square feet of storage space and more than 8,000 units. The facilities include climate-controlled units, rental parking and traditional drive-up units. Common features throughout the assets are gated security, key-code access, moving and packing supplies, and video cameras. Many of the stores are positioned near highly trafficked roads and highways, such as Sunrise Boulevard and Highway 441, N.W. 19th Street and I-95, and along South Dixie Highway East.

“We targeted Florida for expansion due to its stabilizing economy, increasing population and healthy self-storage industry,” said Jack Giannola, director of acquisitions. “This portfolio is really a great selection of properties that will add value and serve as a springboard for additional opportunities in this underserved region. This is just the latest of what we believe will be successful expansion into new markets and regions."

Chief operating officer Dylan Delaune said the company has been watching the self-storage climate across the United States, and has pinpointed cities and metropolitan areas with the highest barriers to entry and the most storage demand.

“Florida's self-storage industry has been thriving, and we knew we wanted to enter the market," Delaune said. "When we saw this multi-property portfolio with its fantastic locations in residential and industrial areas, we jumped at the chance to add it to our brand."

Storage Post is headquartered in Atlanta and has more than 30 locations in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York. Since 2012, the company has expanded its portfolio with more than 25 acquisitions and is expected to add more properties in the next year through purchases, ground-up development and select management contracts.

Burlington Self Storage, an owner and operator of self-storage facilities along the East Coast, promoted Joe Delgado as its new Southeast regional manager. In this role, Delgado will oversee operation of the company’s two facilities in Overland Park and West Palm Beach, Fla.

Since joining the company in 2011, Delgado has increased occupancy at the Overland Park facility from 82 percent to more than 95 percent, , according to a press release. He began overseeing operation at the West Palm Beach facility in November, increasing its occupancy from 76 percent to more than 91 percent.

“Joe is very conscience and always thinking of ways to improve the business. He listens to his customers and takes great pride in making sure they are taken care of,” said Bill Rockwell, vice president of operations. “Joe also makes sure his employees have the support they need. He makes himself available 24/7 for anything that might arise. Joe is truly a valuable employee.”

Burlington Self Storage operates six properties in Florida, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The company recently opened a drive-in self-storage facility in Derry, N.H.

U-Haul Co. of Iowa has opened a rental facility in a converted building in Ames, Iowa, that will eventually offer self-storage and U-Box portable-storage services. The building formerly housed a general-equipment rental outlet, Ames Rentals, for 30 years. It has been rebranded as U-Haul Moving and Storage of Ames. Customers can currently rent trucks and trailers and purchase moving supplies, company officials said in a press release.

The property at 710 S. Duff Ave. is on 1.86 acres and consists of two parcels of land. Two buildings comprise 12,028 square feet and will feature a retail center.

"We are proud to have the ability to serve the moving public of Ames and offer a convenient way to meet their moving needs," said Randy Dickson, marketing company president of U-Haul Co. of Iowa. "It is a five-star location on one of the busiest streets in Ames."

The building conversion is part of U-Haul’s corporate sustainability initiative to support infill developments that help local communities lower their carbon footprint. U-Haul’s adaptive reuse of existing buildings eliminates the amount of energy and resources required for new-construction materials and helps local cities diminish their unwanted inventory of unused buildings, company officials said.

"The most exciting part of this venture is having the ability to reuse a building that was vacant," Dickson said. "It will be a beautiful facility when it is completed."

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

A GreenCube Self Storage facility has opened in the Ottery area of Cape Town, South Africa. It is the first commercial property in Africa to use eco-friendly insulating concrete formwork (ICF) in its construction, company officials said in a press release. One of the environmentally friendly benefits of the insulated building technique is the creation of even temperatures year-round, helping to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint, officials said.

Developed in Germany in the early 1950s, “ICF is based on hollow, lightweight block components that lock together without intermediate bedding materials, such as mortar, to provide a formwork system into which concrete is poured. The block is formed of sheets of insulation materials, normally expanded polystyrene tied together with plastic or steel ties or an integral web of the same insulation,” according to the U.K.-based Insulating Concrete Formwork Association.

The facility is on 1.31 acres at the corner of Plantation Road and Bamboesvlei Road, near residential and commercial customers. It is comprised of 303 storage units in various sizes up to 18 square meters. Amenities include a security system and access control.

In addition to its construction approach, GreenCube is participating in various green initiatives, including Harvest of Hope, an urban agriculture program set up by Abalimi Bezekhaya, an environmental-action organization dedicated to agricultural and environmental support in South African townships such as Khayelitsha and Nyanga. Abalimi helps individuals, groups and communities to initiate and maintain sustainable organic-food growing programs as a food and economic source.

GreenCube will purchase a vegetable plant from Abalimi for each storage unit that is leased, with the plants given to the leasing tenant, GreenCube officials said.

The company has also partnered with the tree-planting group Greenpop to assist with the social enterprise’s storage needs. Greenpop works to bring together communities and corporations to run urban-greening and reforestation projects in South Africa and Zambia. To date, it has overseen the planting of more than 40,000 trees, GreenCube officials said.

“GreenCube aims to promote a variety of community projects and, in doing so, hopes to make a positive impact in the lives of both our customers and those less fortunate,” said Steve Ruffel, a representative of the GreenCube Group. “We are thrilled to be involved with organizations such as Abalimi-Harvest of Hope and Greenpop which do so much good for our communities and the environment, and look forward to strengthening these relationships.”

Farmers at Abalimi-Harvest of Hope pack hundreds of vegetable baskets to be delivered to pick-up points.

The window of opportunity for self-storage developers to capitalize on favorable market conditions may be a short one. While interest rates, loan terms, capitalization rates, and facility rental rates and occupancy levels are all currently favorable, the message from experts during the Inside Self-Storage (ISS) Developers Conference in New York City last week was for owners and investors to act quickly but diligently.

“How long is the window? Your guess is as good as mine, but the opportunity is here now, so seize the day,” said RK Kliebenstein, vice president of acquisitions for Metro Storage LLC, which operates more than 75 self-storage facilities in 11 states under the Metro Self Storage brand. The company currently has 21 development projects underway, he said.

Kliebenstein opened the conference with a discussion on the general climate of development in the industry. Afterward, a full lineup of presenters delved deeper into specific topics including feasibility, financing, new construction, building conversions, renovations, facility expansion, and boat and RV storage.

The one-day event at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center drew nearly 100 participants from 28 states and five countries, including participants from Bahrain and Ecuador. It was designed for investors, developers and aspiring self-storage owners interested in the business as well as current operators with plans to expand their portfolio or renovate facilities. Expert insight included case studies to illustrate specific development strategies.

Although many in the industry believe the current development window may last as little as two to three years and favors those already in the industry, Shawn Hill and Devon Huber, principals with self-storage financing firm The BSC Group LLC, indicated loans are available to qualified borrowers.

“Rates are great; money is flowing,” Hill said. “Getting money is not as big of an issue as it has been in the past.” Based in Chicago, BSC Group had a record year in 2013, closing 54 loans on 99 properties totaling more than $319 million. The deals included more than 30 small-balance loans under $5 million that used a wide range of funding types including commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), Small Business Administration loans and balance-sheet executions.

Hill estimated that 90 percent of new self-storage construction loans are being issued by community banks, a clear change from the lending climate during the recession, when institutional real estate companies tied up most of the localized lending capacity because they were unable to obtain financing from firms operating on Wall Street. The change in dynamics means there are increased financing opportunities for small, private developers who qualify.

“Today, CMBS is back. Insurance companies are back. Everyone is in the market lending,” Hill said. “That sucks the big guys upstream, where they can get much more efficient financing.”

The primary difference between now and pre-recession financing is lenders are being much more cautious with where funds are going. “They got their butts kicked during the recession,” Hill explained. “Now they are being told they have to put money back to work again. A lot of what we are dealing with today is convincing the lender that your deal makes sense.”

Among the criteria being scrutinized by lenders is whether or not a self-storage site has high visibility, a management team is in place and how much current and potential competition there may be around a development site, Hill said.

Increased scrutiny from lenders means developers need to do their due diligence in finding viable sites on which to build, beginning with a thorough feasibility study, according to Jeff Kinder, president of Advantage Advisors, a consulting group specializing in self-storage. Kinder’s presentation focused on feasibility, including the characteristics of a good site, how to evaluate a location, determining effective land cost and reviewing competition in the market.

“Your feasibility study has to be the thing that convinces you not to do this,” he said. “You have to understand what the risk is.”

Common mistakes new self-storage developers make include assuming self-storage will automatically be a good fit for a piece of land that may not be suitable for other commercial applications and underestimating the time it takes to lease up a property, Kinder said.

“The first year of mature operations won’t be until your fourth year,” he noted. “Understand what that means for your financing.”

Other speakers during the conference included Rick Dodge, vice president of Paramount Metal Systems, and Frank G. Relf, principal for Frank G. Relf Architect P.C., who presented on new construction; Jim Ponti, regional sales manager for Janus International, who spoke about building conversions; and Bob Hayworth, CEO of Baja Construction Co. Inc., who discussed issues related to developing sites for boat and RV storage. In addition to handling opening and closing remarks, Kliebenstein addressed the topics of facility renovation and expansion.

After the conference, attendees were invited to tour Gotham Mini Storage at 10th Avenue and 39th Street in the Hudson Yards area of Manhattan. Opened in 2012, the seven-story, 240,000-square-foot conversion project offers more than 2,000 units and a wealth of amenities including free WiFi, a coffee bar, work space, a drive-in freight elevator, a free move-in shuttle, custom-built units, a concierge for moving services, a full suite of moving supplies, carpeting, energy-efficient lighting and more. This after-hours tour and wine and cheese reception was sponsored by self-storage building manufacturer Janus International, which worked on the Gotham project, co-owned by real estate developers Jack Guttman and Steve Schwartz.

Additional ISS Developers Conferences are being planned for the fall in other major cities. Details will be posted to www.insideselfstorage.com/conf.

For nearly 25 years, ISS has provided informational resources for the self-storage industry. Its educational offerings include ISS magazine, the annual Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas, an extensive website, the ISS Store, and Self-Storage Talk, the industry’s largest online community.

Morningstar Properties LLC, which operates self-storage properties under the Morningstar Mini-Storage brand, has begun construction on a new facility in the South End neighborhood of Charlotte, N.C. Slated to open in December, the property will add 100,000 square feet of storage space and more than 700 units to the company’s portfolio.

The new property will be on the corner of S. Tryon Street and Griffith Street and is well-positioned to serve the burgeoning live/work scene in the community, according to a company press release. Designed with the customer experience in mind, it will feature all climate-controlled units and a modern design resembling a high-end retail building, complete with lush and well-lit landscaping, company officials said. Morningstar will begin taking unit reservations in November.

“With each new storage facility, we look for ways to improve so that we may provide our customers with the best possible experience,” said Dave Benson, company president. “This property will be the premier facility in the greater Charlotte area and, we believe that superlative extends to the entire Southeast. We’ve served the Charlotte area for more than 30 years and are proud to be able to invest in the growing South End community while providing a much needed neighborhood service.”

Founded in North Carolina in 1981, Morningstar Properties is a vertically integrated developer, owner and operator of real estate products focused primarily on self-storage and marinas in the Southeast. The company has developed, acquired and operated more than 125 self-storage projects across the country, totaling more than 8.8 million square feet. It currently owns and operates 28 self-storage centers comprising more than 13,000 units in nine states, with most concentrated in the South. The company’s future growth is funded through Blue Doors Capital Management, an affiliated private-equity fund designated for acquisition and development of self-storage centers.