Green Projects

Yes, it’s Green Self-Storage

Grow Your Storage There is a reason that green is the biggest buzz word in the building industry. After the buzz is gone, the neccesity and value of building smarter will continue. Commercial buildings consume over 60% of electricity and 30% of total energy used in the U.S. A typical construction project generates up to two and a half pounds of solid waste per foot of completed floor space. New development takes biologically diverse landscape and converts them to impervious surfaces. We have woken up to the fact that the old style of building is now untenable, and fortunately, we know what to do about that.

We are building a new kind of self-storage that is economically feasible and environmentally sustainable. While eliminating negative environmental impacts, we are developing projects that far exceed the design, construction, and operational practices of traditional buildings. Having developed, owned, and managed self-storage properties since 1982, the team at Grow Your Storage has valuable experience in traditional self-storage, and having committed to learning and integrating green building practices, we are prepared to show you how to develop this next generation of self-storage building.

Integrated Design for an Exceptional Project

Green is not something that you add to a building; it is an outcome that you will achieve by pursuing a comprehensive, integrated approach to self-storage development. You must begin with a commitment to build an economically feasible green project. Seasoned developers may ask why they would exert this extra effort and risk possibly higher costs. Both of these assumptions should be questioned. It’s not simply additional effort. Rather, it is focused energy on the front-end of the project so that problems are mitigated once construction begins. Also, lower first costs do not equate to lower costs over the life of the project. A life cycle assessment easily demonstrates how a sustainable building will be more cost effective when a property is held for a longer period of time. In many cases, even the first costs are comparable.

This quality of self-storage building is not appropriate for every project. It is most suitable for in-fill development where self-storage demand is high due to barriers to market entry, e.g., high land prices and zoning limitations. It also is more suitable for a build-and-hold business model because many of the benefits of green buildings are realized over the life of the building.

If your objective is to build an exceptional facility for a long-term investment, our sustainable building model provides the innovative path to reach your goal.

Money is Necessary but not Sufficient

A LEED Certified self-storage is a good fit for an extremely narrow range of markets. Similarly, this type of asset is appropriate for a very specific type of owner. Grow Your Storage develops self-storage properties that provide the opportunities for desired returns on initial investments. But this type of project is not just about cash-on-cash return in the short-run. Rather, we consider the life cycle of the building in evaluating the potential returns. A more efficient building means lower operating costs. A healthier building means more productive employees and more satisfied customers. A clear operating procedure for building caretaking means lower deferred maintenance costs. To create such a property, it takes a whole development team, and the capital investors must be a good fit with the team...

The developer, architects, engineers, contractors, and commissioning agent must function as an integrated design team. Likewise, the investor needs to actively participate as integral part of the team. We look for informed investors; we want to work with people who understand the exposure and opportunity that is provided by green building. Given the relative newness of green construction, that means that prospective investors need to be willing to learn about sustainable construction, and we are happy to help interested investors understand the approach, method, and objectives of green building as it relates to self-storage.