Colorado Real Estate Journal - September 2, 2015
While it may not seem like a compatible land use within a large shopping center or mixed-use residential and retail development, adding self-storage to the mix can help maximize site coverage and rentable square footage for an overall development. While you wouldn’t want a large storage property to be the anchor tenant, less desirable sections of the mixed-use plan, as long as they still provide some visibility, can be transformed into valuable rentable sf by incorporating self-storage into the plan. The primary driver for this is the lower parking spaces requirement of self-storage relative to other land uses. Using the town of Parker as an example, the retail parking requirement is 1:300, while the storage parking requirement is 1:10,000. Thus, a four-story, self-storage building with a 25,000-sf footprint would require 10 parking spaces and about an acre of land. A 25,000-sf retail building would require 83 parking spaces and the additional land area to accommodate the parking. In other words, 10 parking spaces could support 3,000 sf of retail or 100,000 gross sf of self-storage. Today’s self-storage has evolved into a retail establishment. New facilities can offer a combination of traditional storage, postal services, and sales of moving and storage supplies (i.e., locks, boxes and bubble wrap) with contemporary full-service work stations and conference rooms catered to local-area businesses and sales reps. Gone are the days of orange doors and razor wire. These older, outdated self-storage facilities are being replaced by modern, architecturally advanced vertical structures. In addition, many municipalities recognize the need for the product to complement high-density urban residential developments. The new development of a self-storage facility often is viewed as an amenity within communities that have a significant amount of existing residential units and commercial businesses. Today’s modern facilities come with fully air-conditioned buildings, carpeted hallways, extensive video surveillance, high-speed Internet access, and the use of a free truck and driver to help with the move-in. Finally, the consumer has come to recognize the benefits of indoor, climate-controlled space vis-à-vis the more traditional drive-up units. The differences between the two would be similar to storing items in a bedroom closet versus your garage, the former being cleaner and a better option for more valuable goods.