SMD Software Inc., a developer of property-management software for self-storage and portable-storage operations, has successfully completed the SSAE 16 SOC 1 Type II Certification of internal controls for both the company and its SiteLink Web Edition.

The SOC 1 audit replaces SiteLinks older SAS 70 Certifications. The report follows an extensive review process by an independent auditing firm accredited by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The certification confirms SiteLinks internal controls of its financial reporting, information technology and other processes.

We maintain our audits and certifications to demonstrate our controls for data safety and integrity, said Markus Hecker, SMD's chief operating officer. Our SOC 1 audit adds confidence and peace of mind for our customers.

Some self-storage operators are required to use management software carrying SOC 1 Certification. Others simply use it by choice.

SMD was established in 1996. With more than 5,000 installations worldwide, SiteLink Web Edition integrates with platforms such as smartphones, websites, listing services, INSOMNIAC self-storage kiosks, Lead Tracking Solutions and central mail providers. Features include revenue management and integrated customer-relationship management. Regular, automatic, live updates deliver new features and technologies such as electronic signature capture and document storage using DocuSign.

U-Lock Mini Storage in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, is holding a silent auction Aug. 11 with all benefits going to Sources' White Rock/South Surrey Food Bank.

The items were donated by U-Lock tenants, including one who downsized to a smaller unit. Items include furniture, tools and drafting boards.

U-Lock Mini Storage chose the food bank as its designated charity about a year ago, according to facility manager Katrina Hapay. The self-storage operator has previously donated proceeds of a raffle and other items. Hapay said the goal is to hold a similar auction every quarter.

Items in good condition can be donated at the facility, 15028 32 Ave., during business hours.

The White Rock/South Surrey Food Bank provides food, baby supplies, clothing, and household and personal hygiene items. The non-profit also offers an onsite shower and limited laundry facilities for food-bank registrants.

Two new webinars are available on demand from Inside Self-Storage (ISS), one focusing on self-storage management software and the other on social media. Both are viewable for free at www.insideselfstorage.com.webinars.

"How to Evaluate and Choose Self-Storage Management Software" provides insider advice  from four of the self-storage industrys most respected software providers. Viewers will gain insight to todays facility-management software programs, including popular platforms and must-have features. They'll also learn things to consider during their software search, what to look for when evaluating multiple programs and pitfalls to avoid.

"Social Media: The Self-Storage Operators Starter Guide," will help self-storage managers and owners promote their facilities and brand using tools such as Twitter, Facebook and others. Attendees will learn concrete guidelines for creating a social-media program. They'll also hear about the pros and cons of in-house vs. outsourced social-media management, different social-media approaches for storage operators, and how to evaluate the overall outcome of a social-media strategy.

Both on-demand webinars are approximately one hour in length.

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, annual conferences and tradeshows, an extensive website, an education institute, an online store, and Self-Storage Talk, the industrys largest online community.

Self-storage developer Broadway Storage LLC is set to convert a 140,000-square-foot building in midtown Manhattan, N.Y., into a $50 million facility. Principals Steve Schwartz and Jack Guttman recently leased the structure known as the DHL Building on 38th Street and Tenth Avenue and will rebrand it as Gotham Mini Storage.

The self-storage facility will feature climate-controlled units, including some humidity-controlled spaces designed for antique storage. Other amenities include concierge service, moving and storage services, packing supplies, wine storage, custom-built storage lockers and long-term vehicle storage.

Schwartz and Guttman have previously developed several million square feet of self-storage space nationwide and envision this facility catering to a discerning New York clientele. Our goal is to be the only place for New Yorkers to store their valuables with confidence, and we plan to make it so easy they just need to make a call to us and we will do all the work, Guttman said.

Gotham Mini Storage is the first of several new facilities Broadway Storage has planned. Schwartz and Guttman plan on developing at least three new facilities each year until they have a portfolio of 2 million square feet.

California self-storage provider A-1 Self Storage recently acquired 1.6 acres of raw land in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., to build a new facility.

The facility, slated to open in fall 2013, will encompass 72,000 square feet with more than 500 storage units. The all-cash transaction was made with a private individual for an undisclosed amount. This new A-1 Self Storage location will also feature a 24/7 rental/payment kiosk.

San Juan Capistrano is in South Orange County between Mission Viejo and San Clemente. The property is immediately adjacent to the I-5 freeway, off of San Juan Creek Road to Valle Road.

A-1 Self Storage is proud to become a part of the San Juan Capistrano community and we look forward to serving the storage needs of local residents and businesses in the near future, said CEO Brian Caster.

A-1 Self Storage has 17 locations in the San Diego County area and more than 40 locations statewide. Its 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.

The board of trustees for CubeSmart, a self-storage real estate investment trust, declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per common share for the period ending Sept. 30. The dividend is payable on Oct. 15 to common shareholders of record on Oct. 1.

The board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.484375 for the 7.75 percent Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, payable on Oct. 15 to holders of record on Oct. 1.

CubeSmart owns or manages 511 self-storage facilities nationwide and operates the CubeSmart Network, which consists of approximately 850 additional facilities.

On The Move Inc., which provides turnkey rental-truck and tenant-protection programs for self-storage and other industries, has added a new policy type to its insurance offerings. SecureLease was created for small self-storage operators who want to generate profit from a tenant-insurance plan.

Being sold on behalf of a Lloyds of London syndicate, SecureLease allows self-storage operators and third-party management companies to accept limited responsibility for tenants stored property, with the policy insuring the risk. It also increases the allowable limit of stored property in most rental agreements from $5,000 to $50,000, covering personal and commercial goods.

SecureLease has no deductible. It offers protection against common self-storage perils such as accidental discharge of sprinkler systems, vermin and rodent infestation, earthquake, fire, windstorm, leaking or collapsed roof, and theft through forcible entry. Incidents like this can destroy the hard-earned reputation of a local facility, said Joseph Torrisi, account executive. If there ever was an argument for mandatory self-storage protection, its now.

On The Move officials believe the plan will be popular with customers because SecureLease offers terms more generous than most homeowners policies or other tenant-protection programs.

Self-storage owners also stand to benefit. While there is no fee-based sharing plan, the policy carries a low annual premium. Self-storage operators pay the premium to On The Move and charge customers as they see fit. They can even opt to offer it for free, absorbing the cost or building it into the rental payment.

Operators can also use the plan as a promotional item, perhaps giving away a month of free protection as an incentive to store at the facility. More information can be found at GetSecureLease.com.

California self-storage provider A-1 Self Storage is supporting several charities with monetary contributions.

The company gave a donation to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The non-profit provides assistance to people in need in nearly 100 countries.

Pacific Legal Foundation, which promotes individual and economic freedom in the court system, was another recipient. The foundations staff of attorneys works to support the fundamental human right of private property, economic liberty and free enterprise. Pacific Legal Foundation is a non-profit organization that doesnt charge for legal services.

A-1 Self Storage also made a donation to a July 20 golf event, Through Kyles Eyes Foundations Fight Fore Sight 100. The event, at the Legends Golf Club in Temecula, Calif., was in honor of Kyle Lograsso, a 10-year-old cancer survivor with a positive outlook on life. He challenged golfers to play 100 holes of golf with him to help raise money for Retinoblastoma research. Retinoblastoma, a cancer that develops in the cells of retina, is typically detected in infants between the ages of 6 and 24 months.

Established by Kyles parents, Jeff and Regina Lograsso, the foundations mission is to bring awareness and raise money to help find a cure for Retinoblastoma. Kyle was two when he was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma. He underwent extensive testing and ultimately had surgery to have his left eye removed to save his life. Kyle endured months of chemotherapy over the next couple of years to treat the four tumors in his other eye. He also had a prosthetic eye lens successfully implanted in his left eye.

A-1 Self Storage also made a monetary donation to support the bilingual medical assistant position at Fresh Start Surgical Gifts (FSSG). This fund promotes clinic support and strengthened patient physician communication, and documentation enabling life-changing surgical aid to those in need. The bilingual medical assistant plays a vital role in creating a sense of ease in the experience of all FSSG patients in need of a translator who understands the patients concerns and questions as well as the medical aspect of the process.

Contra Costa Blue Star Moms, California Chapter 20, which aids in the collection of care packages for U.S. troops, now has a free self-storage unit at an A-1 facility in Concord, Calif., to store its donations. A-1 Self Storage Concord will also serve as a drop-off location for donations. The non-profit seeks small items such as toiletries, candy, snacks, wool hats, etc.

Contra Costa Blue Star Moms, California Chapter 20 is a local chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America Inc. The organization is open to parents whose children are currently serving or have served in the United States Armed Services in the past.

A-1 Self Storage has 17 locations in the San Diego County area and more than 40 locations statewide. It 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.

Site design and unit mix are two of the most important aspects of self-storage development. Creating too many units can leave a facility struggling to fill, while too few equates to lost revenue. This article identifies key considerations for building a successful self-storage project, and decisions that must be made before construction begins.

Design can make or break a self-storage project. While not quite as important as the facility location or management, its still critical. Developers make design decisions that can have a dramatic impact on the asset value. One of the most critical design elements is unit mix, which can dictate a project's financial future. These factors can be equally important in the acquisition of existing projects as the development of new ones.

The Identity Crisis

Sometimes design elements are not within the owners control. In an attempt to make self-storage more neighbor-friendlyand to permit storage as a land use when regarded as an industrial onemunicipalities will use architectural controls and approvals to disguise self-storage as something else. This sometimes allows a facility to appear in retail or commercial zones.

Are we winning the battle but losing the war? If a project suffers from an identity crisis, the municipality may have achieved its desired outcome (self-storage as a permitted use), but only because the consumer doesnt think it looks like storage project.

Is it even a battle won? Often, the masking of the use is very expensive and can dramatically lower the expected financial return because of increased costs in meeting architectural standards. Unfortunately, that may be only half of the problem. The other issue is now that the project doesnt look like a self-storage facility, how does the consumer identify its use?

In the absence of rows of buildings with brightly colored roll-up doors, the cost of overcoming the identity crisis will be lost revenue as the result of slower lease-up and discounting to motivate consumers to seek and find. This, coupled with increased advertising and marketing costs, can add up to economic disappointment.

The flip side is because storage was permitted in an area where it was previously not allowed, you may have a strong enough market to transcend the identity issue. If increased costs can be overcome by increased rents, then the battle and the war are both won! This would dictate that the site location is extremely strong, with strong demographics.

Mixing Up Unit Sizes

Its difficult to predict exactly what size spaces should be built. You might get it right at the outset and then the market shifts. Fortunately, most developers are in touch with their market attributes and can create a unit mix thats site-efficient and meets consumer needs.

Take, for example, a dense urban setting, such as Manhattan, where the average unit size might be less than 60 square feet, with a predominance of 5-by-10s and 5-by-5s. In New York City, the consumer is rarely storing large equipment such as riding mowers in the winter and snow plows in the summer. In a more rural setting, such as Minot, N.D., the unit size may be a 12-by-25 or larger to accommodate everything from toys to tools.

The laws of development and land use also create a natural dictation of unit mix based on land costs, size and availability. It would be difficult to find five acres in Manhattan to store farm equipment, and if you did, it would have to be pretty pricey space. This is where market forces meet reality and tend to sync up.
The trick is accommodating projects in the middle of the spectrum. Again, start with your customers and what they need to store. College students need less space than contractors. A neighborhood with 1,200-square-foot homes creates different storage needs than 3,500-square-footers with three-car garages. Here are some of the key demographic drivers to determine average unit size:

• Average age
• Population density
• Mobility/transience
• Median home value
• Median home size
• Median and average household and per-capita income
• Family/household size
• Daytime population
• Number of business establishments

These demographic drivers can influence a developer's unit-mix decisions. The combination of commercial vs. consumer targets will also influence the mix, with commercial users tending to require larger space.

Learn From Others

Theres no substitute for experience, whether your own or that of a hired gun. If you dont have time to flatten the learning curve, get help from professionals who already have. Don't waste your time on civil engineers or architects for whom this is the first (or third) rodeo. If you don't have the experience and expertise, avoid the novice and hire someone with a proven track record.

Learn from those who have paid tuition at Life University. Dont think for a moment that the top operators havent made a few mistakes and a lot more good decisions than bad to get them where they are today. If this is your first project, you can copy the guy with one project under his belt, who probably made a few mistakes all on his own, or follow the path more traveled and learn from the pros.

Look at their projects and use the same professionals they use, and youll benefit from their experience. Lets use the manager apartment as an example. What are the big guys doing today? Many of them no longer spec apartments. Its like putting the office behind the gate. This is pretty simple stuff, and you can benefit from these design standards.

The Sinatra Syndrome

The only thing more astounding than the developer who goes it on his own is the one who pays professionals for advice and then goes against their recommendations. Its interesting how much more a project can cost when you have to make field corrections or you miss opportunities.

Design the project for operational efficiency. Keep in mind you only build it once, but you have to operate it every day. Look at design standards, all the way through the process, from design specs through the first 20 years and beyond.

You may think you can't afford to hire the same architect as a top operator, but the lessons you will learn are extremely valuable. How can you afford not to visit a large operator's last few projects to learn from its experience? The real estate investment trusts and major operators have a pretty good track record. Look at every aspect, from placement of the guest-services area to the location of motion-sensor lights in the hallways. How do they seal the floors? What size are the elevators? How are the buildings organized?

You Get What You Pay For

When considering development advice, realize you get what you pay for. It costs more to fly First Class, but the journey may well be worth the expense. A third-party management company that has developed a few hundred sites may offer design and construction-management services to help you right from the beginning. It may be appropriate to bring the company into the process during the design stage so it can help you choose seasoned professionals and avoid costly mistakes.

Be cautious about taking advice from those who have a vested interest in your project. A metal-building manufacturer may encourage you to build because it can sell you steel, not because the site is right or the project feasible. Once built, the vendor gets paid, and on to the next owner and project. Its success is not dependent on yours. It doesn't have to operate the project or see you to profitability. Keep in mind a vendor could be supplying materials to your job and one across the street.

Start With the End in Mind

Whos the natural buyer for this project if you sell? Have you designed with potential buyers in mind?Design decisions can have a much larger impact on a future sale than you think, from total net rentable square footage to roofing materials to door color. The desired sale outcome may be a driving factor even before the site is chosen.

The size of the parcel, location, barriers to entry and architectural treatments may affect your ultimate capitalization rate. These decisions play an important part in the predicted and actual return on investment, which may ultimately change your decision to move forward with the project.

Consider the percentage of climate-controlled space within the project, which may determine its ability to reach stabilized occupancy within the pro forma. Keep in mind every site, project, market and outcome is unique. What works on Main Street might not work on Second Street. Each and every site is as individual as the markets it serves.

Its a good practice to conduct thorough research, document the process, create several bailout points and work toward the best project possible. Ultimately you want a self-storage project that will ensure best practices in operation by design, not default.

RK Kliebenstein is the vice president of business development at Metro Storage LLC, which owns, manages and develops self-storage properties throughout the United States with more than 6.5 million square feet of self-storage in 13 states and more than 100 projects under its management control. For more information, call 847.235.8965; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.metrostoragecorporate.com.

Determining the Best Average Unit Size

There are several considerations to make when it comes to determining your average unit size. Here are some of the demographic categories and how they may influence your unit-mix decisions:

Age. Younger populations such as college students tend to use smaller spaces (unless they store as groups and not individuals). The elderly, after the final home move, may also tend to use small spaces, where median-age families will use the most space.

Density. The more dense the population and housing, the smaller the average unit size. In most cases, dense urban storage is also more expensive per square foot, driving storage economy and unit downsizing.
Mobility/transience. The more you move, the less you move! The more times a family moves, the more it tends to scale down what it stores. So for the more transient populations, look for smaller average sizes.
Median-home value and size. Lower value, less stuff! This is more of an economic necessity, but lower home values typically mean less square footage and, thus, less stuff.

Median and average household and per capita income. This is the most economyinfluenced driver. Those with less income may accumulate fewer items to overflow the dwelling (garage, attic, basement, closets, etc.).

Family/household size. This is an interesting influence because the demographics have to be more closely matched to the actual geography. If households are combining, then larger average sizes may be used. If its strictly a matter of household size, economic pressure may dictate less spending for items that dont fit in the swelling space.

Daytime population. Daytime population may indicate theres heavy commuter traffic influencing the unit-mix decision. Commuters may be more likely to store larger quantities (use larger spaces) nearer their homes than their place of employment. A large daytime population may call for smaller sizes.

Number of business establishments. This is the Census tabulation of businesses. When the daytime population is divided by the number of establishments, it tells you the average size of the business. Very large commercial tenants may have their own warehouses and not as much need for self-storage. Contractors are the predominate user of commercially occupied large spaces in locations, with ambient drive-up space tending to increase average unit sizes.

Some of the decision is just common sense. If you have multi-level climate-controlled facility, you tend to offer a smaller average size. Its more difficult for a customer to fill a 10-by-25 if everything he stores has to go on a cart, through a vestibule, into an elevator, down a hallway, into a space and off a cart.

Think about storing a fridge, washer/dryer and king-size mattress. Drive-up space seems to be much easier!