Update 8/7/18 – RFA will officially debut its self-storage play Aug. 17-20 at the RFA Lakeside Theater. It’s directed by Anne Crump and produced by Zapolsky. The play has also received local sponsorship from Dead River Co. and Mark Beauregard Inc.

“Bringing a new play to the Rangeley stage is exciting and challenging,” Crump told the source. “This locally written play will definitely entertain all who come. We are also excited that it was made possible by a grant from the King Foundation.”

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1/31/18 – The Stephen and Tabitha King (STK) Foundation, a philanthropic organization that provides monetary support to Maine communities, has awarded a grant to Rangeley Friends of the Arts (RFA) in Rangeley, Maine, to write and produce an original play focused on the concept of self-storage. A group of writers known as the Lakeside Playwrights is nearing completion on “Self-Storage: The Contents of Our Lives,” a dark comedy about “the human quirks and life choices that lead us to collect and store too much stuff,” according to the source. The play is expected to debut on Aug. 17 at the RFA Lakeside Theater.

“We’ve been meeting from one to two times a month, and we are 95 percent finished with the writing. There will be some rewrites, but we are planning on casting in March or April,” playwright Valerie Zapolsky told the source. “We are very excited to have the support of the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.”

Though Rangeley has a “long tradition” of community theater, including musicals and plays, the self-storage-themed play will be the first original work produced by the community, the source reported.

The RFA is a nonprofit organization focused on artistic endeavors.

Well-known authors Stephen and Tabitha King are alumni of the University of Maine, where they met and have been major donors. They’ve also supported community libraries, local fire departments and public schools.

Stephen King has published more than 50 books. He received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the American Letters in 2003 and was a National Medal of Arts recipient in 2014. Tabitha King has written several novels, short stories and poetry volumes. She is also an activist. The couple splits time between residences in Florida and Maine.

Founded in 1986, the STK Foundation sponsors projects that examine the “underlying causes of social and environmental problems, as well as those that address the consequences,” according to its website. It has a “strong interest” in the arts, community services and literacy. The foundation provides about $3 million annually to local causes in Maine, Stephen King’s home state.

Sources:
Daily Bulldog, Original Play to Be Staged in Rangeley
Inside Philanthropy, Stephen and Tabitha King
Stephen King Official Website, Biography
STK Foundation, Website
Daily Bulldog, New Play in Rangeley Is Sponsored by Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation

Update 8/7/18 – Cedar Street Capital and JSM have secured a $25.25 million loan from New York-based VMC Lender LLC. It’s not clear whether the money will be used for further work on the climate-controlled self-storage facility on Milwaukee Avenue or the second project on Ashland Avenue, according to the source.

Elsewhere in the complex, real estate firm RDG Funds LLC acquired a three-story mixed-use building and an adjacent single-story structure at 1616-1628 N. Damien Ave. It plans to demolish the smaller building and replace it with a three-story structure with retail on the ground floor.

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8/2/17 – While the first phase of the Wicker Park Extra Space facility is now open, developers Cedar Street Capital and JSM Venture Inc. are also converting the adjoining building at 1300 N. Ashland Ave. to self-storage to house the bulk of the units as well as a drive-in loading area. The addition is expected to be complete next month. Though the storage project was previously reported to total 86,000 square feet in 1,200 units, a new source indicates a total of 92,000 square feet in 1,300 units.

Cedar Street and JSM acquired several floors of mostly empty space atop the retail portion of the shopping center from Chicago-based Centrum Partners LLC in December. They paid $14.9 million for the two loft office buildings, and then invested an additional $6 million to build out the climate-controlled storage space.

Approximately 21,000 square feet of loft space remains atop the historic, four-story Milwaukee Avenue building, which was home to the former Wieboldt’s department store. Other than a mix of retail tenants on the ground floor, the structure had been largely empty in recent years. Current tenants include a pet-supplies store, sandwich shop and the Mattress Firm, the source reported. An earlier report characterized the Mattress Firm as located “next door.”

An influx of new apartment buildings has created unmet demand for self-storage in the area, according to the source. More than 1,100 residences within one mile of the site were added between 2010 and 2016, based on an appraisal the developers received from commercial real estate services firm CBRE. There aren’t any competitors within a mile and a half of the site, said Will Murphy, managing partner at Cedar Street.

"There's a younger, mobile and kind of growing pool of renters [in the neighborhood],” John Mengel, president of JSM Venture, told the source. "Renters with relative affluence that tend to be not married and move a lot—those are all predictors of demand or need for self-storage."

The self-storage project is the latest addition to the shopping center, which is anchored by a Jewel-Osco grocery market and Lowe's home-improvement store. Centrum acquired the property in 2011 from Joseph Freed & Associates for $33 million, The developer rebranded the parcel as Wicker Park Commons and renovated both buildings. It sold the retail portion of the property in 2015 to an affiliate of Deutsche Bank for $95 million, according to the source.

Cedar Street Capital is an affiliate of Cedar Street Cos., a Chicago-based holding company with diversified interests in entertainment, hospitality, real estate and several venture startups. Cedar Street Capital specializes in the “adaptive reuse of obsolete or underperforming assets in targeted urban infill areas,” according to its website. Its focus has primarily been on hospitality, multi-family, office and retail properties.

JSM Venture is a Northfield, Ill.-based developer specializing in self-storage conversions and redevelopment of existing industrial properties. Founded in 2004, the company has acquired and developed more than 1 million square feet of self-storage.

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7/19/17 – Extra Space Storage Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust and third-party management company, is scheduled to open its 30th Chicago location on Thursday as part of the Wicker Commons Shopping Mall. The four-story building at 1279 N. Milwaukee Ave. in the Wicker Park neighborhood comprises 86,000 square feet in 1,200 storage units, according to the source. Unit sizes will range from 9 to 300 square feet.

The building is just north of the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line Division. It’s next to a Mattress Firm retail store.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 1,441 self-storage properties in 38 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The company’s properties comprise approximately 980,000 units and 109 million square feet of rentable space.

Sources:
The Real Deal, JSM Venture, Cedar Street Get $25M Loan on Wicker Park Storage Facility
Crain’s Chicago Business, Wicker Park Getting 1,300 New Units of Self-Storage
DNA Info, Self-Storage Units Coming to Wicker Park's Milwaukee Avenue

Real estate developer RealtyLink received a recommendation from the planning and development committee last week in its quest to build a three-story self-storage facility in Greenville, S.C. The county council will vote on the project at its Aug. 21 meeting.

The proposal for the 2.5-acre parcel at the intersection of Batesville and Woodruff Roads calls for the construction of a 105,000-square-foot building behind the Firestone Complete Auto Care center. No one from the Five Forks community spoke against the project during the July 30 subcommittee meeting or at a zoning hearing held in mid-July, according to the source.

Although the project is garnering support, the county’s planning staff and commission previously considered rejecting it because it didn’t meet several county requirements. These related to the building size and an insufficient landscape buffer between the facility and neighboring properties. The county had approved a single-story development for the parcel nine years ago, the source reported.

The original self-storage development included a single-story, 35,000-square-foot building. The new plans call for a 38-foot-high building featuring ornamental stone and brick on the exterior and a flat roof. The property would also contain 20 parking spaces.

“It would be a much larger building than in the [planned development] or surrounding area,” said Alan Willis, the county's principal planner.

About 30 percent of the facility’s grounds would include landscaping, specifically along the back of the building, which abuts a 20-foot sewer-line easement, said Jack Jamison, who co-owns RealtyLink with Neil Wilson. “It will be a first-class building architecturally,” he added.

Lynn Ballard, chairman of the planning and development committee, noted that several neighboring buildings had comparable roof heights and the sewer easement could impede landscaping.

The county staff also recommended moving the building up 10 feet to allow for a landscaped buffer at the rear of the property. They also expressed concern about the lack of architectural details on the building's east, north and west sides. The planning and development committee didn’t discuss these topics but rather focused on the impact the storage facility could have on the area’s traffic. Woodruff Road has gained a 20 percent increase in traffic since 2011, from 17,400 cars a day to 22,300, the source reported. “We've got to help with that entire situation,” Ballard said, adding that self-storage was a good option.

Headquartered in Greenville, RealtyLink is a commercial real estate development company specializing in retail and restaurant development. It also has offices in Birmingham, Ala.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Milwaukee; and North Charleston, S.C. The company has developed more than 1,000 nationally known restaurants and retail establishments throughout the Southeast.

Source:
Greenville News, Five Forks Storage Units on Woodruff Road Expose County Ambivalence on Buffer Rule

The Lock Up Self Storage, which operates 45 facilities in eight states, is building a new facility in Anoka, Minn. Once complete, the 90,000-square-foot structure will comprise climate-controlled units and enclosed, heated, drive-in loading areas, according to the source. BRB Development LLC is the general contractor on the project.

The company purchased the 2-acre site from the city for $500,000, with the council unanimously approving the deal on July 16. The property is on the northeast corner of 11th Avenue and North Street, just north of U.S. Route 10. It’s near the new Eastview Meadows Townhomes development, which will include 26 detached townhomes.

Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Northfield, Ill., The Lock Up is family owned and operated. The company operates five facilities in Minnesota, including two in Minneapolis, and one each in Bloomington, Eden Prairie and Golden Valley.

Source:
ABC Newspapers, Large Self-Storage Facility Planned in Anoka

It’s an often-debated topic among self-storage operators: Should you post your rental rates and unit availability on your website? While some believe arming customers with pricing information will lead to higher conversion, others prefer to set rates on a case-by-case basis. Throw in automatic updates from your management software and you have a revenue-management conundrum.

In a recent thread on Self-Storage Talk, the industry’s largest online community, a member shares her experience with publishing rental rates online. Although it led to an increase in business during the first month, the facility is now in a slump, leaving her to wonder if posting rates is ultimately bad for business. Read what others have to say and add your own experience.

Since the cell-tower boom kicked off in the 1990s, the companies that place the towers have used self-storage properties more, on average, than any other commercial property type; and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing. Unfortunately, property owners are usually on the losing side of these deals.

The cell-tower game isn’t revolutionary. It’s merely a copy of what occurred in the oil industry in the early 20th century. The oil companies engaged property owners who had little knowledge of the business and convinced them to sign long-term leases. The owners received a monthly rent check, but the companies got to keep all the oil. The owners couldn’t terminate the contracts, nor could they share in the wealth generated from use of their property. The oil companies prospered, and when the wells ran dry, they could easily end the lease and move on to the next lucrative deal.

The only difference between the oil companies and cell-tower companies is the former harvest wealth from below your property while the latter harvest it from above. The crucial component in both models is the value of the land being used. Just like an oil well, a cell-tower site only has value if it’s in the right location.

Understanding the Value

So, how does a self-storage owner know the true value of his land if he’s approached for a new cell-tower lease or asked to renegotiate an existing one? Simply stated, you need to know the individual value of your property to the cell-tower company that leases it. You can’t follow “market rents.”

Cell towers don’t have value based on being in a general area. Each site has its own worth based on the usefulness it provides to the cell-tower company and the wireless carriers that place equipment on it. Carriers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and others don’t value sites equally just because they’re in the same state, city, ZIP code, etc. They determine the unique value of each site to their business. Property owners should do the same.

Here are a few factors that help determine how valuable a cell-tower site is or may be:

Wireless-carrier agreements. While most of the larger cell-tower companies have master agreements that set pricing for the wireless carriers’ use of their towers, some markets or situations are exempt from those models. These exceptions include large, urban markets; areas where zoning prohibits or limits cell towers from being constructed; areas that only allow certain types of towers, which increases construction and operational costs; or areas where a tower is being built exclusively for one wireless carrier.

On average, a wireless carrier pays $1,800 to $2,700 per month in rent to place equipment at a site. This can vary, mostly to the upside, and can sometimes surpass $7,000 to $8,000 monthly.

Capital investment (cell-site cost). Rents paid to a cell-tower company can vary based on the cost to build or maintain the tower. The company usually has the sole responsibility of construction, operation and management of the tower and ground-space area. Construction costs can vary widely based on many factors; however, a typical, “vanilla” tower can cost an average of $100 to $150 per vertical foot.

Other than the costs of construction, the only other substantive expenses are the lease payments to the property owner and nominal maintenance costs. Again, the genius of the cell-tower business model is the company’s costs remain essentially the same, regardless of how many wireless carriers are added to the tower. Effectively, the subtenant rent is almost pure profit for the tower company, while the property owner sees little or no benefit.

Space. The space used by a wireless carrier on the tower and the ground can affect the rent paid to the cell-tower company. For the most part, it’s calculated by adding the vertical/mounting space on the tower, the weight/structural load on the tower from equipment and coax lines, and the square footage leased on the ground.

As you might expect, the more space used or the greater the overall impact to the tower, the more rent the wireless carrier may have to pay, as it limits the tower company’s ability to lease to other carriers. Much like the formula for Coca-Cola or the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken, the exact amount of rent a tower company collects is a carefully guarded secret. However, if you know what you’re doing and have experience in the telecom industry, you can review a site and reverse-engineer the rent equation.

The need for cell towers will continue to be strong, and without access to the right locations, a cell-tower company is worthless. The question you must ask yourself is: When you’re presented with your next cell-tower lease deal, are you going to take the path that has been followed for the last 30 years, or are you ready to take the lead?

Hugh D. Odom is president of Vertical Consultants, a telecommunications-consulting firm currently working with approximately 5,000 self-storage facilities across North America. Vertical Consultants clients include Life Storage Inc., Extra Space Storage Inc. and Simply Self Storage. Mr. Odom has more than 22 years of legal and telecom experience, including being an attorney inside AT&T for more than 10 years. For more information, call 877.456.7552; or visit www.vertical-consultants.com. 

Extra Space Storage Inc., a publicly traded self-storage real estate investment trust and third-party management firm, has acquired Space Plus Self Storage in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for $24.7 million. The five-story building at 1850 Miami Road comprises 119,000 square feet of storage space.

Space Plus owner Connie Chaney purchased the 1.2-acre site in 1996 for $712,400. Construction commenced a year later. The property is near the Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale 17th Street Convention Center and Port Everglades, a major foreign trade zone for warehousing and distribution activity, the source reported.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 1,523 self-storage properties in 39 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The company’s properties comprise approximately 1.05 million units and 115 million square feet of rentable space.

Source:
The Real Deal, Extra Space Storage Pays $25M for Fort Lauderdale Facility

Wentworth Storage Co. (WSC), the self-storage division of Wentworth Property Co. LLC, has acquired two self-storage facilities in San Antonio from Miller Ltd. Partnership. The properties, formerly operated as Handy Space Mini Storage, will be rebranded under the US Storage Centers name, according to a press release.

Built on 9 acres in 1985, the facility at 636 S.W. Loop 410 comprises 162,288 square feet of storage space in 766 units. The facility at 9030 Perrin Beitel Road includes 100,622 square feet in 788 units. It was built on 4.9 acres in 1983.

“We are very excited to finally break into Texas—where we have an office—and add these two outstanding storage facilities to our overall portfolio of properties,” said Dave King, managing director of self-storage for WSC. “We recognize the potential in Texas to add value to the existing, highly occupied facilities, and are looking for additional properties to acquire in the core market.”

The real estate transaction was brokered by Nick Walker, executive vice president for real estate firm CBRE Group Inc.

Based in Phoenix, Wentworth Property has developed more than 8 million square feet of commercial office and industrial space. Its portfolio includes build-to-suit, conversions and ground-up developments. The company launched its storage division in 2015. Today, WSC owns more than 25 facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Texas, totaling 2.5 million square feet of storage space.

PTI Security Systems, a provider of access-control and security solutions for the self-storage industry, has partnered with Zapt, an online platform that helps consumers and businesses coordinate, schedule and purchase moving, relocation and delivery services. Storage operators will be able to integrate Zapt’s real-time pricing and booking engine with their websites and mobile applications. In return, they’ll receive a percentage of revenue each time someone books a move through the Zapt mobile app that originates at their facilities or via any of the storage operator’s digital touch points, according to a press release.

Storage operators who integrate with Zapt will also receive data analytics through PTI Core, an end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) cloud platform that was released earlier this year. It’s designed to enhance “customer experience and drive world-class operational excellence into all connected facilities,” company officials said.

“At PTI, improving the customer experience is what drives us, and we’ve entered into this strategic partnership with Zapt to bring our customers a new set of capabilities to help them compete against a new wave of competitors,” said Franklin Young, CEO of PTI. “Everything we’re developing at PTI—from [artificial intelligence] to facility automation to mobile solutions—began with our customers’ needs in mind. All innovations from PTI must accomplish two things: create a world-class experience for each facility’s tenants and maximize the operational excellence at each site.”

Launched this year by On Demand Technologies Inc., Zapt includes a business module designed to offer logistics solutions to home-staging companies, realtors, retailers, self-storage operators and senior-living planners. For consumers, the platform offers flat-rate pricing, notifications and tracking, as well as live-agent support.

“PTI’s IoT platform is an innovation game-changer for the self-storage industry, and combined with Zapt’s real-time on-demand moving solution, provides storage operators with a true competitive advantage in the marketplace,” said Bill Catania, CEO of Zapt.

Zapt is available in select markets in Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas. Its subsidiary, On Demand Logistics Services, has operated Move 24/7, a similar service available in in Des Moines, Iowa, since 2016.

PTI manufactures technology-enabled access-control and security solutions. Its product line includes access-control hardware and software, wired and wireless door alarms and mobile-access solutions. The company has installed more than 36,000 systems in 30-plus countries. It operates through two U.S. locations as well as distributors in Asia, Australia and Europe.

Source:
PTI Security Systems, PTI Security Partners With ZAPT On-Demand Moving & Delivery, Consumers and Storage Operators Win

Self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) Life Storage Inc. has made several upper-level staff changes in addition to officially launching Rent Now, a digital platform that allows customers to select a storage unit, complete a rental agreement and make payments online.

Jonathan Attea was appointed director of acquisitions. He’ll oversee the negotiation of self-storage transactions as well as shape acquisition, disposition and joint-venture strategy.

Life Storage also hired Joe Magiera as project director of construction management. He’ll oversee capital improvements and the repair-and-maintenance activity throughout the company’s portfolio.

The REIT also promoted Michael Osciak and Dale Payne to directors of human resources and business development, respectively. Osciak joined Life Storage in 2011 and served as human resources manager since 2015. Payne will lead the sales arm of the business-development division.

Rent Now is expanding from an initial test run in Buffalo, N.Y., to 142 locations in Florida, Missouri, New York, Texas and Virginia. Through the platform, renters receive their property-access code and step-by-step directions to reach their storage unit on a digital map sent to their mobile device, according to a press release.

"Rent Now is Life Storage’s answer to delivering storage needs to our customers on demand. We anticipated there was a growing segment of our customers who prefer to self-serve and complete their rental process online. Rent Now delivers that flexible solution,” said CEO David Rogers. "Making it easy for our customers to engage with us is a top priority at Life Storage, and we are very excited by Rent Now’s adoption rate.”

Rent Now integrates with the Life Storage operating, security and revenue-management systems, allowing real-time inventory and sales management, the release stated. "Consumer behavior is changing rapidly,” said Ed Killeen, chief operating officer. “Leveraging technology to transact in ways that are expected by these consumers, while also efficiently selling inventory at our owned and managed properties, is a win for each of our customers, partners and shareholders.”

Rent Now is expected to be integrated with all company locations by early next year.

Based in Buffalo, Life Storage operates more than 700 self-storage facilities in 28 states under the Life Storage and Uncle Bob’s brands. Its portfolio of owned and managed facilities comprises more than 50 million square feet.

Sources:
Markets Insider, Life Storage Inc. Introduces "Rent Now,” its Next-Generation Rental Platform
The Buffalo News, Jonathan Attea Promoted at Life Storage Inc.
The Buffalo News, Joe Magiera joins Life Storage Inc.
The Buffalo News, Dale Payne Promoted at Life Storage Inc.
The Buffalo News, Michael Osciak Promoted at Life Storage Inc.