Miami Gets New Storage with Wine Focus

SoBe Wine & Self Storage has opened in Miami Beach, offering a temperature-controlled wine storage area in a new three-story building.

SoBe Wine and Self Storage offers nearly 1,000 storage units and outdoor bicycle storage units.

“Residents and local businesses now have access to state-of-the-art wine and self storage,” said David Blum, president of Better Management Systems, the management company for the owners.

The wine storage area comprises more than 140 units, kept at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. If a change in climate occurs, an alarm notifies the team. The area also includes a biometric lock, redundant refrigeration and a backup generator.

Public Storage Plans Giant Storage in Nashville

Public Storage plans to raze one of its facilities in Nashville, Tennessee, and build a six-story, 242,000-square-foot self storage facility in its place. The new building will replace its location in the Lafayette neighborhood downtown, known as SoBro or South of Broadway.

Public Storage has site plan approval for the project on 1.2 acres on Fifth Avenue S. Demolition is expected to begin this fall with February 2019 targeted as the new opening date.

As of June 30, Public Storage had interests in 2,358 self storage facilities in 38 states.

Alabama Portfolio Sold by Argus Network

Metro Storage, LLC, has purchased a two-property portfolio owned by Smart Stop Asset Management. Bill Barnhill and Stuart LaGroue, Sr., of Omega Properties Inc. represented the seller and secured the buyer.

The properties are in Montgomery, Alabama, and have been managed by Extra Space. The portfolio offered a combined 158,238 square feet of rentable space and 1,555 climate-controlled units. The properties sold in late July for $21.7 million.

Barnhill and LaGroue are the Argus Self Storage Sales Network broker affiliates for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle.

U-Haul Airs First TV Ad in 34 Years

U-Haul hasn’t aired a TV commercial since 1983, but it broke that streak to promote U-Box, portable moving and storage containers.

The ad began running in July in networks in the Phoenix, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City markets to create awareness of the product.

“U-Haul is known for our trucks, trailers and towing devices, along with our self storage facilities and moving supplies,” said Sam Shoen, U-Box program manager. “Because those products are so closely associated with U-Haul, not everyone knows about the convenience U-Box can provide for the DIY moving public.”

U-Box containers boast 257 cubic feet of space and one-ton capacity.

Boardwalk Bets on Boat and RV Park

Boardwalk Development Group, LLC, has acquired Killian’s Park N Store, a 17-acre boat and RV park in Canton, Georgia.

Boardwalk redesigned the parking layout to add over 100 new spaces for rent. In 2018 Boardwalk plans to add 80,000 square feet of climate and regular self storage space.

The new facility is located in Cherokee County in the Atlanta metro area, which is forecasted to add 2.5 million people by 2040. The facility is the county’s largest boat and RV parking facility.

Chicago Developers Infill Storage in Wicker Park

Cedar Street Capital and JSM Venture are converting two loft office buildings into a mixed-use facility dominated by self storage units in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

The facility will include 1,300 self storage units.

Chicago-based Cedar Street Capital specializes in the apartment market, and JSM specializes in self storage. Together they recognized an unmet need for storage space in the area.

The historic four-story building was formerly Wieboldt’s department store. The redevelopment includes 92,000 square feet of rentable storage space in the Wieboldt’s building and a building on Ashland Avenue.

Morrow Joins Strat Property Management

Travis Morrow has been named president of the self storage division of San Diego-based Strat Property Management Inc.

Morrow is a 14-year veteran of the industry. He has worked at Tucson-based National Self Storage, his family’s 11-property storage business. At Strat Property Management, he will pool National’s assets with Strat’s properties to create a combined management portfolio of 65 properties in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and New Mexico.

Morrow currently serves on the national board of directors for the SSA.

STR Founder Honored by Travel Industry

Randy Smith, chairman and co-found of STR Inc., a global supplier of data and information services for the self storage, health-club and hotel industries, will be inducted into the U.S. Travel Hall of Leaders by the US Travel Association.

Smith founded STR in1985 with his late wife, Carolyn, to provide hotel census and benchmarking data. STR launched a self storage database in 2015 to offer development and performance reporting. On its website industry professionals can share information about new self storage development.