21 Oct 2019
Three self storage high-rises are going up near downtown Orlando, keeping with the metropolitan area’s standing as one of the fastest-growing markets for the storage industry.
But some developers worry it’s also becoming one of the most saturated.
The Central Florida region has almost 300 personal storage facilities, with another 36 properties in the pipeline. Across Orange County, Seminole County, Lake and Osceola counties, roughly 19 million square feet — enough space to fill the Orlando City soccer stadium 31 times — is dedicated solely to the business of storing people’s stuff.
said Marc Smith, president of Personal Mini Storage, a family business of about 18 Orlando-based properties that’s been around since the 1980s. “If you had six burger places open right by your house, I think the neighborhood would say, ‘How many burger joints do we really need?’ And I think we might be getting to that point.”
For years, self storage projects have been attractive to developers, seen as an easier undertaking than putting up housing or retail that requires more complex infrastructure, employees, parking spaces and heftier impact fees.
Some veteran developers attribute the overbuilding to an onslaught of new developers breaking into the storage business.
“We’re cognizant of responsible development,” said Adam Mikkelson, a third-generation storage businessman and president of Liberty Investment Properties, which is building a multi-story facility in downtown. “You’ve got to understand the neighborhood you’re in. It’s not as easy as dropping a pin on a map and drawing a 3-mile radius.”
Smith said his company stopped building altogether.
Despite several projects underway in Orlando, Jason Burton, assistant city planning division manager for the city, said there hasn’t been a deluge of developments.
In the SoDo neighborhood, near Sligh Boulevard and West Gore Street, Cedarwood Development razed a row of old warehouses to build a six-story, 121,000-square foot facility.
Radiusplus's own Cory Sylvester commented on the matter addressing falling storage rents and spotting unit vacancies on the rise. We encourage you to read the full article HERE through the Orlando Sentinel!
