There is not a person in the United States that has not driven by a building that looked like it was comprised of a lot of closets and garages. Self Storage facilities have been around for years, and have even become a pretty reliable investment in an economy that is anything but reliable.
The general consensus is that the beginning of the self storage industry happened sometime in the 1960s. However, there is historical evidence that there was space available to the public in ancient China. The modern self storage industry really began to grow during the 1990s, but really exploded from 2000 to 2005. During those years, there were around 3,000 new self storage facilities built every year.
New construction has gone down dramatically since than (approximately 250 in 2010), but the industry has become an economic juggernaut. The industry as a whole has grown to over 58,000 facilities worldwide, over 46,500 of them in the United States alone.
For an industry to grow that much in roughly half a century there are bound to be number of individuals that have made significant contributions to its growth. Many of those people are honored in the Self Storage Hall of Fame.
The Self Storage Association recently announced the names of the Class of 2011, W. Michael Schoff, Bob Soudan, and Ron Boorstein.
Michael Schoff first got into the self storage industry when he was approached about getting into a new type of real estate venture—mini warehouses. He thought the idea was a winner and a partnership was formed to create and develop Tucson Self Storage. Through the years he helped modernize self storage financing and played a major role in early construction styles.
Bob Soudan, like Schoff, has been a leader in the self storage industry since he developed one of the first self storage facilities that the Midwest ever saw in 1976. During his time in the industry he has had a hand in developing over 3 million square feet of self storage space. As the head of Lock Up Self Storage, he helped the company increase its revenue through innovative ideas like climate controlled buildings.
Ron Boorstein entered the industry later than the aforementioned inductees. A Harvard Law graduate, he became interested in the industry after hearing about it from some clients. After learning more about it he opened a facility in Illinois unlike any other with climate controlled, drive through aisles giving tenants. Over the years he has come up with a number of innovations that have since become an industry standard.
Sources Used:
“2011 Self Storage Hall of Fame.” SSA Globe; September 2011.
2010 SSA Fact Sheet; Self Storage Association.
Self Storage; Wikipedia.