Self Storage Climate Controlled

[Tyler Fry]

I’m trying to get started in the self storage business. I found a building for sale that is in an area with a population of 60,000 with an average household income  of $65,000 within 3 miles of the location. There is a really small climate controlled facility almost three miles away from the location other than that there are no other climate controlled facilities within 5 miles. I’ve done demand studies and shows there is 300,000 square feet of demand left in the area. I was wondering if there is much demand for climate controlled units? I can fit about 450 units within the building. Is 450 units way to much?

[Shane W. Chapin]

@Tyler Fry Congrats on deciding to start a self storage business. Full disclosure, I am also looking for my first facility so I hope you get better answers to your question from others with more (any) experience. Also, keep in mind that "it depends" seems to be an answer frequently given in response to general real estate questions. In this case, whether 450 additional units are too many or not, it depends on the supply and demand in the market you're looking at. A very general rule of thumb I have learned to use is a market should be bale to support about 7-8 square feet of storage per capita. So your 60,000 population should be able to support about 420,000 square feet of storage. How is the occupancy of the small climate controlled facility? If they have a waiting list, you have demand for climate controlled storage. If they are giving away space for nothing to fill units, you may not need climate control. Check out The Storage Rebellion for great info. Also The Self Storage Income Podcast with A.J. Osborne is fantastic. Best of luck to you in your journey. I hope this helped :)