A California community has approved the conversion of an office building into a self storage facility based in part on the lower parking needs of the self storage facility compared to the amount of parking that would have been needed for office use. The Planning Commission of Capitola, California, had initially recommended against amending the city code to allow self storage in a community commercial zone, hoping that it would be possible to encourage retailers to make use of the space. Ultimately, though, council members at last night's Capitola City Council meeting decided the matter based on traffic flow, parking and lighting issues, rather than focusing on how the space would be used.
"It generates less traffic than a cemetery," commented developer Craig French, advocating on behalf of the proposed self storage facility. French was at the City Council meeting to represent Redtree Properties, which would oversee the building's conversion.
"The traffic is less, the parking is less, the lighting is less," Capitola City Councilman Bob Begun agreed, comparing the proposed facility to the previous office use of the space. When the building was used for offices, it needed a minimum of 156 parking spaces, but only 27 parking spaces will be needed by the self storage facility.
The building in question, which has 37,518 square feet of space, was originally built to be a discount warehouse store. Later it was made into an office building. After the offices were vacated, city council members had hoped that retailers might become interested in the space. However, French argued that the space was better suited to self storage than to a retail business, because it does not have display windows or close-in parking, and because it is too large for a single retailer to occupy alone. In addition, no retailers have expressed interest in the building since it was vacated by the County Office of Education a year ago.
Sources used:
Gumz, Jondi. "Capitola approves new use for vacant building." Santa Cruz Sentinel. April 23, 2010.
Gumz, Jondi. "Redtree wants self-storage to fill empty space in Capitola." Santa Cruz Sentinel. Jan. 28, 2010.
This entry was revised and corrected on April 24, 2010.