We have you covered with Morrow Hill!
We start by understanding you, your goals and your finances. Unfortunately most people and brokers start by looking on Loopnet. Big mistake, as Loopnet is where we find about 10% off our self storage sites. If thats your plan or your brokers plan it could take you several months if not longer to find the right parcel for you.
Next we provided 30 minute driving maps from your home or from the center of where the you want your facility. This map will also show the existing self storage facilities and the area road network. An areal view will also help you understand the population density. From this you can start to understand the existing self storage density along with changes to the population density.
We then typically choose an existing facility and draw a 1 & 3 mile radius. This in turn allows you to understand the general size of the compitition impact area.
As a side note many people look at the above map of Sarasota FL Area or their home town and think all the good places are gone. I have to laugh because many great successful self storages will be built this Sarasota FL area in the next couple of years. Until you compare the population density to the existing square footage of self storage you can not generalize. Here is the same 30 minute driving time map for Houston TX. See a much higher density of self storage? We have a new Storage Authority just about to start construction in Houston and expect many many more.
The next step is choosing a broker and educating them on self storage. This can take time. The Storage Authority Dynamic Ease Development Series has multiple sections to help you and your brokers find land. And of course we are there every step of the way as well. I hate to say it but many of our franchisees have told us they often do not even get call backs from agents for days.
To reduce the time to find land we have added Morrow Hill as our preferred national brokers. They understand Franchisees, Storage Authority and know how to find land.
If you have a great commercial land broker thats great just make sure they have the land requirements and work sheets from our Dynamic Ease Development Series and have the expertise to use all the tools required to find land fast. One of the many questions I would ask is, excluding loopnet how would you help us land.
The second pit fall in finding land is understanding if you need 5 acres of land, that any 5 acre parcel may not meet your needs for so may reasons and takes substantial investigation. This is because there are so many things that can reduce the usable area including wetlands, flood planes, easements, deed restrictions, utilities, zoning, stormwater detention, endangered species, topography, and even neighbors. And of course the 3 mile population density and amount of existing self storage in 3 miles , traffic counts, visibility, access, pricing are critical in the decision making process.. As a civil engineer and site plan designer for 30 years I learned site development in the trenches and am ready to share them with you and your team. Of course in many respects I am a part of the Morrow Hill team because we started by sharing our ideas on land and we will continue to so.
If you have questions about Storage Authority Franchising or finding land for your next self storage project give us a call. You can also sign up for our news letter and get our white paper on finding land.
Marc Goodin 860-830-6764
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