Self-storage industry caters to those with ‘too much stuff’
Frank Certo, property management director of Guardian Storage on Jefferson Avenue in Washington, stands next to one of the climate-controlled units, one of 700 storage units available at the facility.
Exterior of Guardian Storage on Jefferson Avenue in Washington
One of the larger climate-controlled storage units at Guardian Storage on Jefferson Avenue in Washington
Guardian Storage on Jefferson Avenue in Washington has two large storage buildings.
Frank Certo chuckled mildly as the tour began.
“The question is always asked: ‘What’s behind all these doors?'” the director of property management of Guardian Storage said, while leading a small group through the company’s facility in Washington. “Why not throw things away? Why not have a garage sale?
“People are not looking to dump stuff. They’ll put it in storage for a month.”
Then, speaking of society in general, he said with resignation: “We collect too much stuff.”
That, essentially, is why Guardian is in business – and why self-storage has become big business. Southwestern Pennsylvania, in general, and Washington County, in particular, are not considered prime areas for this industry, yet almost anywhere one travels, it seems one will encounter a self-storage facility along the way.
“It’s been a growing market for a number of years, and not just locally but nationally,” said Ben Brown, an associate broker with Beynon and Co., a commercial real estate firm based in downtown Pittsburgh.
Most self-storage customers fall into the residential or commercial categories. Grocery chains, thanks to climate control, are among those businesses. Customers rent for a specified period, usually in monthly increments.
Self-storage fulfilled an obvious need before, but the advent of cottage homes, the upsurge in apartment living and a tendency by many to collect without discarding have created an even larger market. Supply-and-demand-wise, this is an industry gaining momentum.
According to the website SelfStorage.com, “The self-storage industry is one of the fastest-growing segments of commercial real estate today.”
While that statement may be a little self-serving from the self-storage industry, there’s no denying the numbers behind the talk.
“With more than 60,000 self-storage facilities worldwide (85 percent of them in the U.S.), storage has exploded over the past few decades,” the website states. “Currently, one in 10 American households rents a self-storage unit. In the U.S. alone, the industry generated more than $22 billion in revenue in 2012.”
It, obviously, is generating interest as well.
Storage units have changed dramatically in response to customers’ needs.
“In the past, it was raw storage space. Metal walls and a door,” said Brown, who lives in East Washington. “It used to be a chain with a key everybody had. There were no access gates for each individual (client).
“Today it’s access-controlled, climate-controlled, humidity-controlled. There’s more higher-end stuff – business paperwork and electronics – being stored.”
Brown was recently involved in a self-storage-related transaction. In late December, he sold about 14 acres on Weavertown Road, near Interstate 79 in North Strabane Township, to Weavertown 79 Partners LLC. The land has been cleared for the buyer to build 79 Self Storage.
Because there is a massive range of items eligible for storage, individual units vary in size to accommodate them. Steven H. Cohen, owner of Guardian Storage, said they go from 5 feet by 5 feet by 9 feet high, to 10 feet by 30 feet by 9 feet high – with sizes in between. Monthly rates are based on size.
Cohen said Guardian offers three types of units: drive up (larger items, such as equipment and outdoor furniture); interior without climate controls (“a room much like a closet in a house”); and those with heating and ventilation.
“This is our highest level,” Cohen said. “They’re heated in the winter and cooled in the summer (to accommodate stored items and customers working there). Retailers might store high-valued furniture there, certain records, certain pharmaceutical articles.”
He estimated that 80 percent of customers are residential, 20 percent commercial.
A Google search indicates there are 10 self-storage complexes in Washington County and four in Greene. Those numbers may be wildly inaccurate, as development of facilities probably outstrips Google’s ability to maintain a proper inventory.
Specific figures for the two counties were unavailable for this article.
There is no way to determine the largest facility in the area, but Guardian is formidable. Certo said the complex at 840 Jefferson Ave. has about 700 units and 80,000 to 85,000 square feet of space within multiple stories.
“Building vertically is one thing going on in the industry,” Certo said. “We have locations with three, four, five stories.”
Guardian, headquartered in East Liberty, has 15 locations – 12 in Southwestern Pennsylvania and three in Colorado. The Bridgeville site is the only one near Washington. Five more are planned, three in this quadrant of the state and two in Colorado. (None is planned for Washington and Greene counties.)
“Colorado is growing fast. The landscape there is much more intense” than in this region,” said Certo, who lives in South Fayette Township.
One issue facing Guardian, and other self-storage companies, is leftover items. Some customers may attempt to leave them after a lease expires.
“We try to stay away from people who want to dump stuff,” Certo said. “People say, ‘throw away,’ but we can’t. We’re not a trash company. Dumpsters aren’t free.”
He added, however, that “our delinquencies are under 1 percent.”
Though visibility and demand for storage have risen, fueled partly by the cable hit “Storage Wars,” Certo said during the tour that a number of would-be clients know little about his industry coming in.
“One of the biggest challenges for me is a lot of our customer base has not used our product,” he said. “Without looking into it, people don’t know what this is about.
“Educating our customers is as big as anything we do, having them understand what’s available to them.”
More and more are learning, and more and more are storing.