Champion Self Storage of Palm Coast, Fla., is hosting a Family Fun Fest and fundraiser on Aug. 20 to benefit the Flagler County School Districts Homeless 2 Homeward and S.T.U.F.F. (Supplying Things You Find Fundamental) the Bus programs. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admittance is free for guests, and vendors are welcome to set up booths and sell their wares so long as they each donate $40 directly to the Flagler County Education Foundation for its Homeless 2 Homeward program. The program supports the countys homeless children.

Donations of new school supplies including backpacks, clothing and toiletries will also be accepted for S.T.U.F.F. the Bus. The event will include free food, prizes, a childrens bounce house and entertainment. Student Services for Flagler schools will be on site to provide full registration services for students and give one-on-one attention to any needs parents might have.

Champion will be offering a special promotion during the event to anyone who rents a unit: 50 percent off four months of rent, $20 off the administration fee, and 25 percent off all packing supplies. The facility, located at 11 Pine Lakes Parkway, is managed by Sentry Self Storage Management. The facility manager is Frank Cates.

Were really excited about our fundraising event to help the Children of Flagler County, said Sentry President Richard Yonis. In these tough economic times, Champion Self Storage would like to give back to the community wherever possible.

Event sponsors include Walmart, Flagler County Chamber of Commerce, Flagler County Public Schools, U.S Coast Guard Auxiliary and others.

U-Store-It Trust Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust, announced its operating results for the three months ending June 30. Highlights include:  

• Funds from operations grew by 36 percent to $0.15 per share, compared to $0.11 per share during the same period in 2010.
• Same-store total revenue increased 3.5 percent from the second quarter of 2010, while same-store property operating expenses decreased 2.3 percent compared to the second quarter of 2010.
• Same-store net operating income increased 7.4 percent from the second quarter of 2010, while physical occupancy increased 200 basis points to 79.8 percent, compared to 77.8 percent during the same period in 2010.
• The company acquired four storage facilities for an investment of $45.6 million.

"In the first six months of the year, weve delivered on our 2011 operational, investment and balance sheet objectives, said CEO Dean Jernigan. Strong core portfolio performance continued in the second quarter and into our prime rental season, providing us the visibility to increase our expectations for internal growth for the year.

More details can be found at http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/file.aspx?IID=4095755&FID=11563399.

U-Store-It Trust Inc. is a self-administered and self-managed REIT that owns or manages 455 self-storage facilities across the United States. The company also operates the U-Store-It Network, which consists of approximately 810 additional self-storage facilities.

 

Public Storage, a self-storage real estate investment trust, released its operating results for the second quarter ending June 30. Highlights include:

• Net income allocable to common shareholders was $131.5 million, or $0.77 per diluted common share, compared to $60.8 million for the same period in 2010, representing an increase of $70.7 million. This increase is due to a foreign currency exchange gain of $10.5 million, improved operations of same-store facilities and increased equity in earnings and interest and other income from Shurgard Europe.
• Revenue for same-store facilities increased 4 percent, or $14.2 million, in the quarter compared to the same period in 2010, primarily due to a 1.4 percent increase in average occupancy and a 2.2 percent increase in realized rent per occupied square foot.
• Cost of operations for the same-store facilities remained flat, while net operating income increased 6.2 percent.
• Funds from operations was $1.39 per common share on a diluted basis as compared to $0.92 per diluted common share for the same period in 2010, representing an increase of $0.47 per diluted common share or 51.1 percent.

Public Storage held its conference call to discuss the second-quarter reports Aug. 5. A replay of the call can be accessed through Aug. 12 on the companys website or by calling 855.859.2056. International callers can call 404.537.3406. To view the information on the companys website, look under "Company Info, Investor Relations Webcasts." All forms of replay use conference ID number 82231381.

Headquartered in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage has interests in 2,054 self-storage facilities in 38 states with approximately 130 million net rentable square feet in the United States. The company also has 189 storage facilities in seven Western European nations totaling 10 million net rentable square feet and operating under the Shurgard brand. 

By Hugh D. Odom

Like many property owners, self-storage operators are always seeking ways to generate additional revenue from their investment. One solution is the placement of telecommunications equipment. This could be cell towers, rooftop equipment, an internal switch, or even distributed antenna-system equipment that can be placed inside existing storage units.

For the most part, self-storage facilities are ideally suited for the placement of this equipment for three reasons:

• The layout of the facility, which avails the property to the placement of various types of equipment
• Favorable zoning classification needed for placement of such equipment
• Proximity to commercial and residential areas

If self-storage facilities have these advantages, why dont more of them have telecommunications equipment on their premises? The simple answer is the right people have to first know your property is available.

Sparking Interest

Most people think the major telecommunications carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and Cricket) are the points of contact for the placement of telecommunications equipment on a property. Theyre not. While its beneficial to have connection with these companies, to make any headway in getting your site selected, you really have to know the right people inside these entities, the ones who make the decisions. Here are your options:

1. You can hope a carrier, tower company or one of their representatives knocks on your door and offers to place equipment on your site. Even so, how do you truly know the value of your property as it relates to its use as a telecommunications hub? Or the value of the revenue center created through the subleasing of space on your property? Remember that while this type of transaction has a real estate foundation, its truly more of a telecommunications transaction, and the terms and value should be set accordingly.

2. You can work with a company whose sole purpose is building telecommunication sites, referred to as a land-banking company. Itll shop your property around to see if it can build or place equipment there. If it finds an interested party, itll pay you a fraction of what its going to receive from the carrier. Beware of these companies, as their primary motivation is their own interests.

3. You can engage a telecommunications-consulting company to assist with marketing your site so the right people know your property is open and ready for the placement of telecommunications equipment. More important, this company can help you when an opportunity is presented to optimize the situation to its fullest potential. A good consulting company should have contacts throughout the industry, not just on the tower side of the business. It should also help to ensure you get the most out the transaction while giving up the least.

The Lease/License Agreement

For self-storage owners, the placement of telecommunications equipment on site can provide a valuable, steady and virtually zero-cost means of revenue. Most lease or license agreements are with tier-one tenants and long-term in nature. Over their life, such agreements can provide upward of a million dollars in revenue for a property owner.

While the placement of equipment on your property may seem like a simple real estate transaction, mistakes in structuring an agreement can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars of potential revenue over the life of the asset. A proper agreement will take into account many factors including:

• Property location
• Type of equipment to be installed
• The lessees alternative locations
• Possible building restrictions a lessee/licensee may face on other sites in the area
• How such equipment can be installed to minimize any current or future aesthetic or operational impact on your property

The telecommunications companies or their representatives are not going to assist you with factoring in these variables.

If youre an owner of a site that currently hosts telecommunications equipment, you may already understand its value. But there are ways to get additional equipment on your property. Even if you have several years remaining on your present lease or license agreement, there may be ways to re-enter those agreements and garner immediate revenue increases.

The Next Step

A self-storage owner has several options if hes open to the placement of telecommunications equipment on his property. No matter which he selects, he needs to make sure it provides him the best chance to be selected and maximize an opportunity when it is presented. With societys ever-growing reliance on wireless technology, the need for telecommunications sites will be continual. Self-storage owners who take advantage of this need stand to benefit. Remember, your property is truly only a resource if you use it to its fullest potential.

Hugh D. Odom is president of Vertical Developments, a teleco mmunications-consulting company working with approximately 900 self-storage facilities across North America to place telecommunications equipment on properties and optimize existing telecommunications leases. To reach him, call 615.385.2984; e-mail [email protected] ; visit www.verticaldevelopments.com .

By Danita Johnson Hughes

These days, it seems the words business and change go hand in hand. From dealing with regulatory changes and economic shifts to responding to new customer demands and emerging technologies, sudden and externally mandated changes affect companies of all sizes.

When change is forced upon you, making the shift is often more stressful and difficult than when you thoughtfully decide to take your company in a new direction. After all, making a change that you plan for is exciting and filled with opportunity, while making a change due to outside forces is filled with risk and unpredictability.

Unfortunately, most organizations resist these externally mandated changes and are slow to respond. They fear the risk involved and, as a result, they miss many opportunities. Change under external circumstances is scary because you often dont know if the modifications youre making are going to work. Additionally, the change may mean you have to alter your companys values or culture, and those sorts of alterations dont come easy.

Embracing any type of externally motivated change requires courage and planning. Following are suggestions for making the process easier and more successful.

Assess Your Companys Talent Potential

When dealing with externally motivated change, a good leader needs the emotional maturity to maximize and leverage the strengths of the people within the company. Take the time to assess the people who work for you and the skill sets they have, and then determine how the company can best use them to make the change successful. Most employers overlook the talent thats right under their nose and think they need to look outside for the skills necessary to move the company forward. Chances are some of your employees will have developed new abilities and strengths since originally hired.

Hire People Who Know More Than You Do

Often those charged with staffing dont want to hire anyone whos strong, assertive or more knowledgeable than they are. They think these new hires will make them look bad, or worse, take their job. In reality, if you hire people who are strong and know more than you do, youre going to fare better during the change process. Realize that when the company does well, everyone looks good, not just one person. However, if the organization fails, people typically look for one person to blameusually the leader. The only way your company can sustain its momentum during and after the change is to have strong people on board.

Encourage Continuous Learning

The knowledge you and your people possess has long-term value for the company. If you stop learning, you stop having the ability to contribute to the continued development of the organization. Learning is vital, because things change so quicklytechnology, the industry, the marketplace, etc. You have to keep up and know whats current to stay relevant to customers.

Encourage your staff to attend seminars, read books, stay abreast of industry news, and seek internal feedback and mentoring. The more learning opportunities people have, the more valued theyll feel, and the more theyll want to contribute to the change process.

Hold People to Commitments

No change will ever be complete if people abandon their responsibilities midstream. You need to hold employees accountable for their commitments. First, make sure they have the skills to do the job. If they dont, theres no way theyll be successful. Then monitor their progress and evaluate how theyre contributing (or not) to the change process.

Realize that monitoring doesnt mean micro-managing. It simply means keeping the pulse of the whole work flow to ensure all the pieces of the process fit together and are getting done. When you find someone isnt contributing effectively, you must be willing to confront the person and deal with the problem in a constructive way that gets the work back on track.

Be Clear, Consistent and Continuous

You have to be clear and consistent about the change, whats occurring, what needs to occur, and the vision and goals for the company. Spell out where the company is going as well as the plan to get there. When youre not clear or consistent, your message gets garbled and people dont understand it. Thats when problems happen and change becomes risky. You think youre communicating one thing, but no one understands your real message so they pull in a different direction. Make sure everyone is on the same page.

Also, dont just relay the message once. You have to consistently revisit it and make sure everyone is still on board. Allow people to ask questions and, if possible, contribute to the message. People buy into an idea more easily if they feel they took part in shaping it.

Approach Change Proactively

Change thats mandated from outside factors is often uncomfortable, but this doesnt mean its a bad thing. In fact, when approached correctly, this sort of change can open your eyes to new possibilities, customer bases, revenue streams, and even product and service offerings.

Tackle these externally influenced changes proactively and youll have the upper hand. Not only will you fare better than your competitors during the change, but youll also emerge as the marketplace leader. Thats one change youll definitely welcome.

Danita Johnson Hughes, Ph.D., is a healthcare industry executive, public speaker and author of the forthcoming Turnaround. Through her work, she inspires people to dream big and understand the role of personal responsibility in personal and professional success. For more information, e-mail [email protected]; visit www.danitajohnsonhughes.com .

Strategic Storage Trust Inc. purchased the SmartStop Self Storage facility at 815 Lasalle Ave. in Hampton, Va., from Quality Properties Asset Management Co. for $4.9 million. The two-story, 70,175-square-foot industrial building was built in 2007 and is in the Copeland Industrial submarket. It is a gated property with 645 storage units.

The complex is also neighbor to the worlds largest naval station, known as Norfolk Naval Base.

The seller was represented in the transaction by Kenneth Penrose of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer. The buyer was self-represented.

Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest privately held commercial real estate services firms. Founded in 1917, it has 234 offices in 61 countries and more than 13,000 employees.

Thalimer became a member of the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance in 2002. The company develops, manages and markets commercial properties throughout the mid-Atlantic.

Susan Powers, district trainer and manager of the LifeStorage facility in Carpentersville, Ill., has won the Self-Storage Manager of the Month award for July from SpareFoot, an online self-storage marketplace.

LifeStorage operates 18 self-storage facilities in the Chicagoland area. Powers was nominated by colleague Paul Menzel, manager of the LifeStorage facility in Elgin, Ill.

She has great leadership skills and a willingness to help other people, great follow-through with tenants, and a great personal attitude, Menzel said. I chose Susan because, although she has only been with the company a short amount of time, she knows exactly what LifeStorage wants in a manager and does what she needs to do to be a great role model for all new employees of our company.

On July 31, Powers and co-worker Liz Benson participated in the Muddy Buddy competition in Gilberts, Ill., an athletic event that raises funds for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). Powers was the captain of Team LifeStorage, which has been instrumental in raising money for CAF through various fundraising events. CAF provides opportunities and support for people with physical disabilities so they can pursue active lifestyles.

It means so much to me to be a part of a team that felt highly enough about me and the job I am doing to nominate me for the award, Powers said. I feel honored to even be considered for the award. I would like to thank my wife and kiddos for supporting me, and my team for their faith in me to train others that come on board. Thanks to my district manager Debbie for all that she has taught me in the business, and thanks to Paul for nominating me and contacting SpareFoot.

Founded in 2008, SpareFoot.com lists more than 5,000 self-storage facilities in its nationwide directory, which allows consumers to compare sites before renting. Through multiple websites including SpareFoot.com, SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com and many others, SpareFoot helps self-storage operators find new tenants through a pay-for-performance model. The company is backed by Silverton Partners, FLOODGATE and Capital Factory.

SpareFoot regularly accepts Manager of the Month nominations at [email protected].

San Diego Self Storage will sponsor the 29th Annual United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) San Diego Golf Classic Aug. 8 at The Crossings Carlsbad Golf Course in Carlsbad, Calif. The event, which begins at 11:30 a.m., includes a post-tournament awards dinner. The $325 per person entry fee provides all players with lunch, greens fees, golf cart dinner, tee prizes and refreshments.

"We are tremendously honored to be an event sponsor. We salute the work UCP conducts on behalf of the San Diego communities we serve and are particularly impressed with the high percentage of proceeds donated that remains within the county, said managing member J. Terry Aston. We are committed to making an impact on the lives of those who need it the most in the communities where we have storage facilities. Our corporate philosophy embraces the concept that giving back is an integral component of our business.

UCP is among the top 10 largest non-profit organizations in the country, with more than 100 affiliates nationwide providing programs and services to children and adults with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

Founded in 1972, San Diego Self Storage is one of the largest self-storage providers in San Diego County with a network of 16 neighborhood self-storage facilities and additional facilities in Los Angles and Orange County. 

Lock Up Self Storage in North Naples, Fla., hosted a National Night Out event Tuesday. Launched in 1984, the national event aims to teach residents and business owners about crime and drug prevention, and build on partnerships with law enforcement.

About 100 people attended the event at Lock Up Self Storage. In addition to demonstrations by the bomb squad and SWAT units, attendees were able to tour the mobile crime-scene lab and learn how 911 works.

Other Night Out events took place in East Naples, Golden Gate Estates, Everglades City and Immokalee.

Founded in 1976, Lock Up Self Storage operates 32 self-storage facilities in several states.