Inside Self-Storage (ISS) has announced the winners of its 2012 "Best of Business" reader-choice poll, in which readers voted for their favorite suppliers in more than 30 categories. The winners for this year, based on verified voting through InsideSelfStorage.com from June 1 through June 30, can be viewed at www.insideselfstorage.com/best-of-business/2012.

ISS congratulates its esteemed winners, each of which will be featured in the November or December print edition of ISS magazine. The winners will also be honored in a ceremony at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas, April 3-5, 2012. Details will be released as the event approaches.

For more than 20 years, ISS has provided informational resources to self-storage owners, managers, developers and investors. Its educational offerings include a monthly magazine, an online store, annual tradeshows, an extensive website, an education institute and Self-Storage Talk, the industrys largest online community.

The Florida Self Storage Association (FSSA) will bring together 100 self-storage facility owners and developers on Oct. 5 for its annual Executive Retreat. The event is designed to be a think tank, where industry professionals can meet to exchange ideas. Guest speakers from inside and outside the storage industry will discuss their business successes, challenges and creative ideas.

This years event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and be held at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, Fla.

Guest speakers include:

• Dale A. Brill, president of the Florida Chamber Foundation. The organization is the research and policy development arm of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
   
• Paul Voss, CEO of Arête Leadership Group and a professor at Georgia State University. Voss is a published author and appears frequently on television. His executive leadership clients include The Home Depot, Cox Communications and American Express, among others.
   
• Karl Haas, chief operating officer at Extra Space Storage. Haas joined Extra Space in July 2005 and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the companys nearly 900 self-storage properties.
   
• Chris Oakley, vice president and regional executive for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The bank serves the Sixth Federal Reserve District, covering Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. It is one of the 12 regional reserve banks that comprise the Federal Reserve System, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C.
   
• Brad Hunter, chief economist at MetroStudy. The organization works with developers and investment firms. Hunter supervises the companys multi-market studies and has orchestrated hundreds of site-specific and area-specific housing market studies. He also oversees the companys private-equity and hedge-fund consulting practice.

The night before the Executive Retreat, the FSSA will host a fundraiser for Kure It Cancer Research from 8 to 10 p.m. Kure Its mission is to raise awareness and research dollars for underfunded cancers. Since 2007, the organization has raised more than $1 million for research. Kure It was founded by Barry Hoeven, executive chairman of Westport Properties, which operates more than 30 self-storage facilities under the name US Storage Centers.

To register for the Executive Retreat, contact Robert Bret, FSSA executive director, at [email protected] or visit the associations website at www.floridassa.org.

The FSSA is a nonprofit organization of businesspeople involved in the self-storage industry in Florida. Its members include facility owners, operators, vendors, developers, investors, property managers and suppliers.

By Marcia Richards Suelzer

Savvy self-storage operators know curb appeal is essential for helping attract new customers and retaining existing ones. Of course, maintaining curb appeal means keeping up with repairs and undertaking renovations. As they say, youve got to spend money to make money. Unfortunately, many operators overlook the tax impact of facility repairs and improvementsand pay a price no general contractors estimate will ever include. Avoid that mistake by familiarizing yourself with the major tax issues involved when you spruce up your facility.

The Overwhelming Question: Is It a Repair or an Improvement?

Last year, the IRS attempted to clarify the characterization of a repair vs. an improvement by releasing the repair regulations. These regulations apply to tax years after 2011 and affect virtually every business taxpayerwith no exceptions for self-storage operators.

Historically, a simple repair to a capital asset, such as a building or a climate-control system, was considered a business expense. This meant the cost was fully deductible in the year it was incurred.

In contrast, an improvement to such an asset was deemed a capital expenditure. The entire cost of an improvement could not be deducted in the year it was incurred. Instead, the property was depreciated over a specified number of years, and your business was able to deduct only a portion of the cost each year.

Distinguishing between a repair and an improvement has always been tricky. As is often the case in tax law, the interests of the taxpayer and the IRS stand in direct conflict. You want to reduce taxes owed by as much as legally possible; the IRS wants to collect as much tax as possible from each and every taxpayer. In matters of physical repairs or improvement, classification determines whether the IRS or the taxpayer has the upper hand.

Its to your advantage to classify physical work as a business expense to generate large deductions that, in turn, reduce taxable income. However, the IRS wants to characterize the work on your facility as a capital expense, with deductions for depreciation spread out over a large number of years.

Put simply, the new regulations confirm that everything thats not a repair is an improvement, and the cost of improvements must be capitalized. Improvements comprise three distinct categories: betterments, restorations and adaptations. Just as the names imply:

• Betterments change the existing condition of a unit of property for the better.
• Restorations bring the propertys condition back to what it once was.
• Adaptations convert property to a new or different use.

For existing facilities in reasonably good condition, the tax treatment is a matter of distinguishing repairs from betterments. A yes answer to any of the following questions points to a betterment, not a repair.

• Does the action cure a material defect?
• Does the action enlarge or expand the property?
• Does the action materially increase the propertys capacity, productivity, output, efficiency, strength or quality?

You must answer these questions based on all the facts and circumstances, including why the expenditure was made, what actual work was done, how the work affected the property and how the expense is treated on financial statements.

What Is a Unit of Property and Why Should You Care?

IRS regulations require you to evaluate whether an expense is a repair or improvement with respect to a specific unit of property (UoP). As you might expect, the IRSs notion of a UoP differs drastically from the average self-storage operators.

The IRS specifies that a UoP consists of all the functionally interdependent components necessary to use the property. If you cannot use one component without using other components, those components are functionally interdependent. (Special rules apply to buildings.) For example, a car is a UoP because its composed of functionally interdependent components. In contrast, a computer and a printer are two separate UoPs because one can be used without the other.

This may sound like esoteric tax code nit-picking applicable only to a small subset of businesses, but UofP plays a large role in determining your repair or improvement tax treatment. It all relates to the test of the significance (material impact) of the expenditure on the property. Youll want the UoP to be as large as possible because its harder for expenditures to have a material impact on the property. Thus, its more likely an expenditure will be considered a repair rather than an improvement.

Heres an example: Karls Self Storage has three large, illuminated signs on the property. Karl upgrades the lighting system on one sign to be more visible and energy efficient. If all the signs are considered a single UoP, its easier to claim this wasnt a material increase in efficiency and quality. In contrast, if each sign is a separate UoP, its far more likely the upgrade to the one sign will materially increase its efficiency and quality. Unfortunately, the latter is most likely to be the case.

Beware: Buildings Constitute Multiple Units of Property

For purposes of determining whether an expense is a repair or an improvement, each of the numerous systems within your building is considered a separate UoP. Therefore, a building is composed of the following UoPs:

• Building structure (walls, roof, windows, etc.)
• Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems
• Plumbing systems
• Electrical systems
• Gas-distribution systems
• Elevators or escalators
• Fire-protection and alarm systems
• Security systems

This division becomes critically important when money is spent on building upkeep. Here are two  examples to consider. Deborah owns a three-story, climate-controlled storage facility. The facilitys HVAC system contains three separate cooling units. She replaced the compressor and pump on one of the units. Deborah considered her entire facility as a single unit of property and her costs a repair.

However, after checking the repair regulations, shes not so certain. According to the IRS, the HVAC system is a separate UoP. Now, Deborah thinks the expenditure looks much more like a capital improvement. The determination will rest on whether the action was taken to cure a material defect or it resulted in a material improvement to the capacity, productivity, output, efficiency, strength or quality of the system. In many cases, the material-improvement test can work in your favor by allowing you to deduct expenses that previously would have been capitalized.

Now consider this example: Carlos replaced all the shingles on his self-storage facility roof with shingles of the same quality as the old ones. According to the IRS, even though all the shingles were replaced, the cost is a repair, not a capital improvement, because there wasnt a material increase in quality. Carlos can deduct the full amount in 2012.

If Carlos had upgraded the quality of his roof, even by using significantly better shingles, the expense would have been classified as an improvement, meaning he would have to depreciate the cost over a 39-year period.

Prepare to Change Accounting Methods

While the regulations bring some (small) measure of clarity to the repair vs. improvement determination, they also require nearly all taxpayers to file accounting-method changes. If you previously deducted costs considered improvements, under the regulations you must file an accounting-method change to capitalize the previously deducted repair costs.

In plain English, that means there will be an adjustment (called a Section 481(a) adjustment) to take into account the difference between the amount claimed as a repair-expense deduction and the amount of depreciation allowed if costs had been capitalized.

The new rules may, however, work to your advantage. If you had previously capitalized costs that are now deductible repairs under the new standards, youll file a change of accounting method to write off the costs that had been improperly capitalized.

Assume Carlos from the previous example replaced his roof in 2008 and capitalized the expense. Under the old rules, Carlos would have continued to depreciate the remaining value of the old roof over what remained of the 39-year period. At the same time, he would depreciate the new roofs cost over an overlapping 39-year period.

Under the new rules, the replacement is a repair. Thus, Carlos must file a change of accounting method to claim a loss for the old roof based on the value in the year it was replaced. He will claim a significant loss, reducing his tax liability in the year of the change.

Leave It to the Professionals

These explanations and examples highlight only some of the issues surrounding expenses related to property upkeep and improvements. Expert advice is required. A tax professional is in the best position to unravel the tangled web of regulations and provide advice on the timing and structure of expenditures based on your businesss specific facts and circumstances.

In addition, several safe harborsprovisions of statutes or regulations designed to reduce a partys liability under the lawhelp ensure an expense is deductible as a repair. But the rules are complex, and professional advice will help ensure they are met. Consulting with your tax advisor when you plan your projects will guarantee the best tax savings.

Marcia Richards Suelzer has more than 25 years of experience writing and teaching about tax and business. Her work on the BizFilings Business Owners Toolkit team helps provide more than 3,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.bizfilings.com/toolkit .

Guardian Storage Solutions, a prominent self-storage operator in the Pittsburgh area, will host a recycling event for residents and businesses to safely dispose of electronics and confidential documents. The companys North Hills facility will hold the free event on Aug. 18 from noon to 4 p.m.

In addition to recycling services, Guardian Self Storage will offer refreshments, answer self-storage questions and provide tours of the North Hills facility, which features climate-controlled units, meeting spaces, free Wi-Fi, and other business services and amenities.

Many people dont realize Guardian Storage Solutions offers a free, simple and safe way for consumers and businesses to recycle anytime, with the confidence and peace of mind that your sensitive data will not be compromised, said Christina Alvino, marketing manager. This event enables anyone to take advantage of our partnerships with two of the most responsible recyclers in the industryShred-it and eLoop.

Shred-it specializes in document destruction services that comply with legislation and ensure all confidential information is kept secure. Once sensitive material is shredded and baled, it is recycled.

eLoop offers free electronic recycling and guarantees secure data destruction. The company accepts a wide variety of electronics, from computers and components to monitors and televisions, as well as small, non-Freon-containing appliances.

Guardian Storage Solutions is the parent company of Guardian Storage Property Management, Guardian Storage Development and Guardian Self Storage, which operates 10 facilities in the Pittsburgh area and one in Westminster, Colo.

StoreRight Self Storage has purchased a facility in Vero Beach, Fla., for $3.125 million. The facility was constructed in phases between 2005 and 2007, and comprises 62,000 square feet of net rentable space in more than 500 storage units. The purchase marks the fifth self-storage acquisition by StoreRight in the last 18 months.

We are excited to expand to the East Coast of Florida and look forward to continuing to grow our footprint in the Central Florida market, said Matt Clark, vice president of acquisitions.

The facility offers both climate-controlled and traditional storage units and reportedly has excellent visibility on U.S. 1, a major coastal highway.

Dave Heyink of Sperry Van Ness represented the seller in the transaction.

StoreRight is a family owned self-storage operator based in Lakeland, Fla. The companys five Florida facilities comprise more than 260,000 square feet of rentable space and 2,200 units.

By Aycha Williams

As a self-storage owner, how big of a role would you say your facility manager plays in the successful performance of your property? Would you agree the job requires the manager to wear many hats and entails covering a lot of ground on a daily basis? Here are just some of managers' daily tasks:

• Selling on the phone and face-to-face, and selling ancillary products and services
• Meeting and exceeding monthly occupancy and other sales goals while providing excellent customer service
• Marketing the property to businesses and apartments on an ongoing basis
• Maintaining the facility so it functions at its best
• Providing weekly reports to upper management
• Price shopping the competition to ensure rates are where they should be
• Responding to Internet leads, which have not only become the main source of business for many facilities but are also the most urgent, as prospects will move on to the next property in their search results

These tasks make for a busy and extremely demanding workload, and even the best site managers may have difficulty delivering their fullest in all areas. This is why most large operators focus on automating processes to limit the managers role to tasks that are physically done on site. This way, they can focus on selling to walk-in customers while the call center handles incoming calls, for example. Managers can also give emphasis to site cleanliness and functionalities while letting corporate handle marketing, specials and necessary reports.

However, if youre a small to mid-size operator, you may not have the resources and systems in place to concentrate your site managers efforts in this way. What you can do is clearly define the parameters of the managers responsibilities so youll have a more targeted approach when hiring.

If you were hiring a facility manager today, what skills would you look for? The first qualification should be sales experiencethe natural ability to sell regardless of product or serviceplus a basic knowledge of the sales cycle in a retail environment. Notice I didnt say to look for someone with industry experience. Sure, it may be nice to come across a candidate with a self-storage background, but its not necessary. A candidate with great retail-sales experience is a perfect fit.

Here are seven tips to consider when hiring your next self-storage manager.

1. Hire a Retail-Sales Professional

You need someone who understands the sales cycle. The candidate should have a proven track record in closing sales over the phone and in person. He should be familiar with delivering on monthly sales and occupancy goals while knowing how to run and operate a store. The candidate should have at least a proficient level of computer and management-software skills.

Sound familiar? Im essentially describing anyone who comes from a great retail-sales background. Think of Home Depot, Target or Walmart. Dont feel pressured to search for candidates limited to the self-storage industry, and dont undersell your facility by looking at those with little or no experience. Open your search to retail-sales professionals and youll access a large base of qualified prospects.

2. Customer-Service Skills Reign

Chances are the retail professional youre interviewing will naturally have great customer-service skills. All large retailers have extensive training programs for employees.

The self-storage business is all about word-of-mouth and referrals. With the power of the Internet, communications about your facility is spreading fast via online reviews and posts. Therefore, looking for excellent service skills and a natural aptitude for pleasing customers will be the second most important quality to look for in a candidate.

3. Understanding Accounting and Finance

Its important to share the facilitys financial goals with property managers. Managers should be provided with their facilitys monthly and annual goals for occupancy, ancillary sales and total revenue. You can then share, on a weekly basis, facility performance as a result of their efforts. This allows them to see their progress and proactively fix areas before they become troubling.

For a manager to understand your annual financial goals, he needs a basic understanding of numbers. Its important for a site manager to be able to read a simple budget sheet and make sense of profit-and-loss statements.

4. A Techno-Friendly Attitude

This era is one of communications, and the Internet certainly has changed how we do business in the self-storage industry. In the old days, minimal computer knowledge was acceptable. Today, facility operators are looking for managers who are Internet-savvy. Using online tools to follow up with prospects and keep tabs on time-sensitive information such as new leads or online reviews is only possible with a good knowledge of technology.

Upper management is also looking to communicate in real time with site managers, and online tools such as Google Documents makes this possible. Computer skills and technology knowledge is of upmost importance to look for in a candidate.

5. Accountability Counts

One of the qualities that may be hard to gauge during an interview process is a prospects commitment and accountability. Theres nothing like being able to delegate tasks and expect them to be completed promptly and accurately.

Number of years of experience at each of the previous jobs may tell something about the candidates skills and accountability. Nevertheless, the personality trait that allows a manager to run a property like his own is not easy to measure by a simple interview. You must rely on your instincts when making a decision on accountability and hope you make the right decision. The next tip for a successful hire will hopefully take the guesswork out of gauging accountability.

6. Conduct a Pre-Hire Test

Its not uncommon for an impressive candidate to fail to deliver once hired. He may have many years of experience and excel in the interview, but 30 days down the road, you come to the conclusion that no level of training can remedy his weaknesses and you have to let him go. Youve now lost an invaluable month of time and have to start all over again in your search.

The great news is there are several companies that provide aptitude-testing solutions to take the guessing out of the equation. For example, you can use an online hire testing interface that measures sales- and customer-service skills and personality traits. Yes, that includes measuring a sense of responsibility and commitment. Whats more, testing of basic mathematical skills and computer skills are also offered.

Everything is completed online and results are e-mailed with a detailed report. Based on the data, the system either recommends, highly recommends or doesnt recommend a candidate for the position. The results of various candidates can be compared through the online interface, which creates an archive of all completed tests. Using a new-hire assessment tool is essential to ensure you have the right employee to run your facility.

7. Background Checks Are a Must

These are essential to avoid any undesired surprises, such as a bad driving record or worse. Again, there are several companies that offer this service, including those specific to self-storage. For a minimal cost, youll know youre leaving your property in good hands.

Follow the hiring steps above, and chances are youll have a great, long-term storage manager in place in no time. Best of luck.

Aycha Williams, a marketing and training strategist for AC Commercial Property Management, has more than with 15 years of experience in the marketing of commercial real estate and high-tech and consumer products. Based in Orlando, Fla., her company manages more than 1 million square feet of self-storage and other commercial holdings in Florida and Texas. For more information, call 407.481.9899, ext. 111; e-mail  [email protected]; visit www.accommercial.net.

By Charles Plunkett

When contemplating development of a multi-story facility, there are many factors to carefully consider. This article explores some of these factors as well as the benefits of a multi-story structure.

There are many reasons building a multi-story facility can be a tremendous and rewarding option for a self-storage owner. In many urban areas, land may be in short supply or a developer may not be able to put together a large enough parcel to construct a traditional single-story facility. The cost of land in some areas may simply make it prohibitive to purchase enough property. In addition, there are situations where going vertical is a matter of helping your facility be more visible in a sea of larger buildings.

One of the first things that must be considered is how to be efficient in your design. Some design considerations include:

• Where is the property located?
• What is the visibility exposure?
• What is the shape of the land?
• What is the traffic flow?

The size of your building should always be dictated by two important factors: How many square feet you want to place in this market and what the unit mix should be. Maximizing the efficiency of the building footprint is seemingly an exercise in reverse. First, determine the amount of square footage and the unit mix, and then you can begin to layout various versions of the structure on the available property and see how it best fits.

This exercise is tempered by many elements. What are your mandated setback requirements for the front, side and rear yards? In addition, many cities have special requirements for landscaping, which can include buffer zones or the placement of trees for parking-lot shading. There can be easements or encumbrances on the property that further restrict the area where youre able to build. You also need to consider the driveway around the building, parking requirements, areas designated for unloading at the elevator lobby, fire-lane access, customer parking, any required special features, and other pertinent items.

Another item to consider is the topography of the land. If you have a piece of property that has a lot of slope, you might consider a split-level loaded building. This means tenants will enter the first floor on one level, and drive up or down to the next level and enter from the opposite side. If youre constructing a two-story building, this can possibly eliminate the need for elevators or stairs, an important factor since an elevator typically costs in the neighborhood of $100,000 when all is said and done. In addition, this design can save the rentable space required for these elements.

Determine all your necessary design requirements, place them on the site plan, and see what you have left. Needless to say, completing a properly designed site plan can be an overwhelming task. This process should involve the services of specialists. Your team may include architects, civil engineers and others who are highly versed in the development process.

Climate Control and Square Footage

Certainly a major factor to be considered is the amount of the facility that should be climate-controlled vs. ambient. Most multi-story facilities are climate-controlled in the interior portion of the first level and on all upper levels.

For those new to the concept of climate-controlled space, its important to realize that as a general rule, 25 percent of the building is non-rentable space. This space is consumed by corridors, stairwells, elevator shafts, the equipment room, mechanical closets, etc. With this in mind, you have to back into the gross square footage required to achieve the net rentable square footage desired. This is accomplished by taking the desired rentable climate-controlled space and dividing by .75.

For example, if you desire 60,000 square feet of net rentable climate-controlled space, you have to begin with 80,000 square feet. Now add to that the square footage you believe youll be able to place on the ground level as ambient space. Then take the sum of those two figures and divide by two for a two-story building, three for a three-story building, and so on. This will give you a quick sketch of the size of the footprint required to achieve the square-footage goals.

Adhering to Building Codes

In the past, there were several different building codes used across the country. That has changed. To the best of my knowledge, all municipalities now use a consolidated system known as the International Building Code (IBC). Most building departments are now using the 2009 version of that code.

With the occupancy classification for self-storage, a building more than three stories high is required to be a fire-rated structure. This means youre not able to use light-gauge framing for  construction, as its too difficult and completely impractical to fire rate the entire building. The alternative is to build a heavy-steel-frame building with long-span members and fire-spray-proof each member supporting the structure, or a complete concrete structure skeleton.

In most cases, this is cost-prohibitive for the rent youll be able to effectively charge for the facility. A few cities are still using the 2006 version of the IBC, which allows the use of light-gauge framing. This type of system has been used effectively to construct four-story buildings and, in a few limited cases, five-story ones.

Signage and Visibility

One of the most important features of a multi-story building is it creates its own signage. Because of this, its important to design the facility in such a manner that its attractive, gets prospective tenants attention, and keeps in style with the surrounding community.

Unless its prohibited by zoning or some other special requirement of the governing authority, most multi-story facilities feature large expanses of glass displaying roll-up storage doors in the upper levels. These doors are normally highlighted by lights at night, thereby drawing the attention of passersby. This makes the building readily recognizable as a self-storage facility. This can be effective in spite of zoning requirements that may prohibit the project from appearing like traditional self-storage facility, possibly even prohibiting unit doors from being visible at ground or street level.

Budgeting the Project

Budgeting for a multi-story facility can be a daunting task and is best left to a seasoned professional. For conversational non-specific terms, take the cost of a single-story project and add at least $2 per total floor area per additional floor ($2 more for a two-story and $4 more for a three-story per total floor area), plus approximately $100,000 for each elevator and $10,000 for each level of stairs. Other considerations include any special exterior or architectural features on the building and other extraordinary requirements. This will get you a rough starting point with respect to construction costs.

Multi-story construction can be an exciting and rewarding development, but it does require careful consideration and the assistance of qualified professionals.

Charles Plunkett is founder, owner and CEO of San Antonio-based Capco Steel Inc, has constructed hundreds of self-storage facilities nationwide, totaling more than 50 million square feet over the last 27 years. This has included countless multi-story facilities. For more information, call 210.493.9992; visit www.capcosteel.com.

NitNeil Partners, an Atlanta-based investment firm and parent company of The Storage Neighbor self-storage brand, has acquired the former A.C. White building in Atlantas Inman Park neighborhood with plans to construct a multi-story self-storage facility. NitNeil will co-develop the site with Cartel Properties, an Atlanta-based commercial real estate developer. No financial terms were disclosed.

The development will involve converting the existing two-level building and constructing a four-story structure at the rear of the property. The .86-acre site will have 52,961 square feet of climate-controlled self-storage and active-use space. The facility, which is expected to be completed next March, will be rebranded under The Storage Neighbor.

The current renaissance of the Edgewood corridor is one of the most significant things happening in all of Atlanta, and NitNeil Partners is very excited to be a part of it," said Nitesh Sapra, a company principal. "This is an opportunity to take a building that has traditionally been an eyesore and adaptively reuse it in a manner that will honor its history and character while providing a service to the community."

NitNeil Partners is a regional investment firm that specializes in the acquisition, development and management of commercial real estate, including self-storage. The company has more than 600,000 square feet of self-storage space currently under management. The Storage Neighbor has several self-storage facilities in the Atlanta metro area, as well as in the Alabama communities of Huntsville and Madison.

A-1 Self Storage has announced its plans to build a multi-story facility in Alhambra, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles. The structure will have 74,868 square feet and offer more than 700 storage units on .66 acres of land. The company expects to open the new facility late next year.

The San Diego-based self-storage operator recently purchased the property in an all-cash transaction. No financial terms were disclosed.

Location, location, location! Were very excited about building a new storage facility that will be conveniently located in a busy retail center near Costco and Target, said Brian Caster, president and CEO. A-1 Self Storage is proud to join the Alhambra community, and we look forward to serving the storage needs of the local residents and businesses in the near future.

A-1 Self Storage has eight self-storage locations in the Los Angeles County area and 42 facilities statewide. A-1 is the self-storage division of the Caster Cos., a third-generation, family-owned company headquartered in Southern California since 1959. Caster Cos. develops and manages A-1 Self Storage, A-1 Car Storage and other commercial properties in California. Its portfolio includes more than 4 million square feet of real estate.