Go Store It goes island hopping

Go Store It has acquired a newly constructed storage facility located on Nantucket island in Massachusetts. This is the company’s first acquisition in the northeast. The climate-controlled facility features 672 units and 63,000 rentable square feet.

"On a personal level we are big fans of Nantucket and see the demand for quality self storage on the Island. Nantucket has significant barriers to entry, and we are very pleased to now own an institutional quality asset there," said Ryan Hanks, founder of Go Store It.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Go Store It finished 2018 with 13 acquisitions and delivered four new development projects. While Go Store It's primary foot print has been in the southeast, the company is now looking to expand in select northeast markets, Texas, and the southwest. Go Store It will also begin offering third party management services in 2019.

West Coast gains WA management contract

West Coast Self-Storage Group will manage Airport Self Storage in Olympia, Washington. The facility is located at 7547 Henderson Blvd SE, just east of the Olympia Regional Airport. The storage business has been in operation since 1985 and is owned by a local private investor. It features 309 units.

West Coast Self-Storage Group is a self storage property management, acquisition, and development company headquartered in Everett, WA.  The company currently has 55 managed and owned locations with thirty-nine stores in Washington, nine stores in Oregon, and seven stores in California.

Report: New inventory drives down US rents

A new report from Yardi Matrix illustrate that recent self storage property completions put downward pressure on rents in November 2018. Overall U.S. street-rate rents for 10x10 non-climate-controlled units declined by 4.1 percent year-over-year that month while rents for climate-controlled units of similar size dropped by 2.2 percent.
Units under construction and in the planning stages currently account for 9.7 percent of the existing national inventory, a 10-basis-point increase over November, reflecting construction starts in high-demand markets. Development activity is highest in Portland, Nashville, Orlando, Seattle, and Miami.
The December 2018 report compiles data from more than 26,000 U.S. self storage properties, including more than 2,000 properties in the development pipeline.

Canadian City Halts Storage

The Vancouver, British Columbia, City Council voted unanimously in December to institute a six-month moratorium on applications for new self storage facilities in all of the city’s commercial and industrial zones where self storage is a permitted use, according to the Columbian.

The moratorium also applies to expansions of existing facilities but does not prohibit maintenance, repair or city-mandated health and safety improvements.

Elected officials said the purpose of the moratorium is to give city staff time to develop a comprehensive strategy for regulating self storage facilities, which would be incorporated into the Commercial Corridor Strategy, a package of new land-use codes that the city intends to create next year.

The city has 48 self storage businesses in operation and 11 applications for new facilities have been submitted in the past five years.

10 Federal raises money, buys in VA

10 Federal has raised $10 million toward self storage acquisitions and has purchased the Store-It-Right portfolio of two properties in Virginia.

The properties are located at 2399 Leake Square in Charlottesville, and 15142 Spotswood Trail in Ruckersville. These acquisitions mark the 9^th and 10^th acquisitions.

Raleigh, North Carolina-based 10 Federal will deploy its suite of technologies to support unmanned operations which includes the installation of a kiosk rental center, model unit, proprietary overlock system and extending 10 Federal's call center services to this facility.

PA town approves new storage facility

The East Union Township Zoning Hearing Board has granted a zoning change to move forward on a planned 230-unit self storage facility in Oneida, Pennsylvania, according to the Shenandoah Sentinel. The plan must be approved by the East Union Township Planning commission.

Property owner Tyler Shustack plans to build the facility on a 6.4 acres site. Plans include six sets of storage units, as well as canopy storage for boats or other vehicles.

Moove In expands in PA

Moove In Self Storage has acquired Trans-Am Self Storage in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Built in 1980, the property at 933 Lititz Pike includes five buildings comprising 23,400 square feet in 150 units. The 3-acre property was shared with Keller Bros. Motorsports until the dealership closed in March 2018.

Moove In plans to demolish the dealership and build a three-story structure comprising 66,000 square feet of climate-controlled storage and a new rental office. Additional property improvements will include new perimeter fencing and a keypad-operated gate.

The facility will be managed by Investment Real Estate Management, LLC.

Moove In Self Storage operates 24 locations in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Russell, Boyle take helm at Public Storage

On January 1, 2019, Joe Russell and Tom Boyle became chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Public Storage.

Russell has served as president at the real estate investment trust since 2016. He was previously chief executive at sister company PS Business Parks, Inc. Boyle has served as chief financial officer of operations at Public Storage since 2016 after working with the company as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley for more than a decade.

Ron Havner, the company’s chief executive officer since 2002, will remain as chairman of the board. John Reyes, the company’s chief financial officer since 1996, will join the board.

Jernigan Capital buys out development partner

Jernigan Capital Inc. has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of its development partner’s stake in a new 105,300-square-foot, multi-story self storage facility in Bay Shore, New York, on Long Island.

Located at 1775 Fifth Ave., the CubeSmart-branded self storage facility offers 1,194 units. The climate-controlled property opened in 2017 and has a physical occupancy level of nearly 57 percent. With the closing of the transaction, self storage REIT Jernigan owns a 100 percent interest in seven on-balance sheet development investments.

ARCO/Murray completes TX facility

ARCO/Murray has completed a 123,000-square-foot self storage facility for The Jenkins Organization in Austin, Texas. ARCO/Murray provided a complete design-build solution including architectural and engineering design, permitting, construction, and final equipment. The energy efficient facility includes LED lighting throughout and an interior loading area. The façade consists of both metal panels and wood. ARCO/Murray’s Eric Fleps was the project manager, and Andrew Weiland and Dave Osborn served as the project superintendents.

ARCO/Murray Design Build is a national design build general contractor.

Tyson joins ASM in HR

Absolute Storage Management, Inc. has hired Amber Tyson as vice president of Human Resources. In her new role, Tyson will be responsible for developing and executing human resource strategy in support of ASM’s overall business plan and strategic direction of the company. She will also lead initiatives that continue to increase the company culture through the development of strategic HR plans in talent management, organizational development, performance management, and will continue to develop the policies and practices to align with ASM’s core values. Previously, Tyson worked with AlphaStaff, an HR outsourcing company, serving as an account executive to a wide variety of industries with diverse types of owners.

ASM is one of the largest, privately owned, third-party operators of self storage facilities in the United States. Founded in 2002, ASM holds its headquarters in Memphis, with regional offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Jackson, Mississippi. The company operates over 85 properties in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Developer plans Target conversion in IL

Midwest Self-storage Development LLC plans to convert a vacant Target retail store in Springfield, Illinois, into a self storage facility, according to the Springfield News-Sun.

Springfield’s city commissioners must approve a rezoning request to allow the vacant retail store to be converted. The Target closed in 2016 and was purchased by the LLC for $1.5 million in September. It’s a 105,000-square-foot building on 11 acres.

Storage sells in The Hamptons

Peconic Mini Storage, a 38,160 square foot storage facility with room for expansion located in Riverhead, New York, has sold

Charles "Chico" LeClaire, executive managing director investments, and Adam Schlosser, first vice president investments, in Marcus & Millichap’s Denver, Colorado office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, Mini Storage Companies.

“One of the interesting things about this transaction was that it was with a national REIT,” said LeClaire.  “It’s the third public REIT that we have closed within the last 30 days and the fourth of the five REITs is about ready to go under contract with us now,” he continued.  “It shows that there is still activity in this segment of the market.”

Peconic Mini Storage consists of 424 climate and non-climate controlled units.  It is located on Flanders Road servicing The Hamptons, one of the most affluent areas in the entire country and a popular weekend and summer destination for wealthy New Yorkers.

Developer plans Albany-area storage

Real estate developer Thomas Burke is proposing a four-story, 80,000-square-foot self storage facility in Glenmont, a hamlet of Bethlehem, New York, according to the Times Union of Albany.

The plan would include 18 storage spaces for boats and RVs and would be built on 1.8 acres on Chamberlain Street