All Aboard Storage at 305 W. Granada Blvd. in Ormond Beach is one of the company's 21 locations, and it has more coming.
All Aboard Storage at 305 W. Granada Blvd. in Ormond Beach is one of the company's 21 locations, and it has more coming.
Volusia County’s red hot housing boom is fueling another growing industry – self-storage warehouses.
“Our industry mirrors the housing industry, so with the housing industry booming right now in Florida, that’s why pretty much everyone is seeing such an uptick in storage facilities at the moment,” said Emma Clark, human resources and operations manager for All Aboard Storage.
“The apartment complexes are popping up everywhere,” Ms. Clark said. “That really helps our industry because apartments don’t offer proper storage space. A lot of the newer homes don’t offer proper storage as well. So any new communities like that typically do help us.”
All Aboard Storage is developing a location in Ormond Beach, its 22nd, all but three of which are in Volusia County. The company also manages five self-storage businesses for other operators, including CubeSmart, the sixth-ranked self-storage operator nationally.
City and county officials are seeing self-storage growth along with the housing surge.
Becky Mendez, Orange City development services director, reported a Secure Storage is under construction at 981 Club Park Loop. “Residential subdivision and apartment site plan requests have remained consistent for the past 3-4 years,” she said.
Dennis Mrozek, Daytona Beach planning director, said two mini-warehouse storage facilities have gone in within the past 18 months in the Williamson Crossing development and at Williamson and Valor boulevards near the Police Department.
Also, Daytona Beach has two planned developments with min-storage, Tymber Creek Village on LPGA Boulevard, west of I-95, and the SunGlow project on LPGA, east of I-95. Also, All Aboard Storage increased capacity at its Masonova Depot on Mason Avenue.
“We’re seeing a large number (of apartments),” Mr. Mrozek said. “I’m saying a large number because everything seems to be happening at the same time. We’re still reviewing apartments that are coming in, so we’re seeing things that have come on line recently, things that are under construction and things that are in the pipeline right now to move forward.”
Christine Martindale, Port Orange public information officer, reported two mini-warehouse storage facilities built since 2018, Extra Space Storage and Acorn Mini Storage. One motor vehicle and boat storage facility was completed at Jackson Street Depot and three mini-warehouse storage facilities are under construction, Crane Lakes Depot, Stor-It and Port Orange Neighborhood Storage.
One warehouse facility received approval at 950 Madeline Avenue. Plans are anticipated soon.
This also has accompanied a healthy housing market in Port Orange. Since 2014, there have been four apartment complexes built in Port Orange, Whitepalm, The Springs, Sanctuary at Westport and The Atlantic. Two apartment complexes are under construction, Eden at Crystal Lake and Hawk's Mill.
Also, Port Orange has seen single-family home subdivisions completed, mostly west of I-95 – Westport Reserve, Hawks Preserve, Woodhaven Phase I, Pinnacle Phase II and Water’s Edge Phase XII. Townhome developments completed are Bella Oaks, Cornerstone Grove and the townhomes in Woodhaven Phase I.
Even Ormond Beach, which had not approved an apartment project in 12 years, recently approved a 300-unit apartment complex to replace the Regal Cinema on Williamson Boulevard, just down the road from the Daytona Beach apartment growth. Another Ormond Beach apartment project is proposed for West Granada Boulevard.
Steven Spraker, Ormond Beach planning director, said there have been two requests for indoor mini-storage facilities. Such buildings offer climate controlled spaces in two- to three-story buildings. The drive-up, garage type units are not air-conditioned.
Ormond Beach approved those two mini-storage businesses under a planned business development contract because Ormond Beach city code did not recognize such structures. The code was recently changed to allow indoor mini-storage buildings in industrial zoned areas. Four more indoor storage requests are undergoing review by Ormond Beach.
All Aboard Storage locations often offer both the indoor climate-controlled storage and the drive-up garage storage units, Ms. Clark said. The company just bought a former CubeSmart, three-story facility that is 40% rented in less than one year, she said.
“People typically choose climate controlled units over self storage units, mainly if they’re storing electronics, artwork, leather furniture,” Ms. Clark said. “Anything that they wouldn’t feel comfortable storing in their household garage works perfectly for a climate controlled space.”
The drive-up self-storage units are insulated, but still get hot, she said.
Volusia County’s unincorporated areas have not experienced the demand for self-storage facilities “as much as the cities, where the compact development pattern creates the demand for these type of facilities,” said Clay Ervin, Volusia County director of growth and resource management.
“That being said, we have seen a great deal of inquiries for various storage uses,” Mr. Ervin said. “We’ve also observed expansion of existing RV/boat storage facilities as well as new self-storage facilities. The increase in demand for self-storage is directly related to the residential building increases the entire state as experienced.”
With mortgage rates rising, the prospect of slowdown in the housing market might also hit the self-storage business.
Ms. Clark said All Aboard Storage is predicting a decline next year.
“We’re obviously hoping that there won’t be one, but we’re predicting and planning for a small recession in our industry because right now everything with interest rates going up,” she said. “Everything’s a lot more expensive.”
Ms. Clark said All Aboard is the top self-storage player in Volusia County and ranks among the top 20 family owned self-storage businesses in Florida. All Aboard Storage ranks 55th nationwide at InsideSelf-Storage.com.
The expansion continues so far for All Aboard with construction underway in the Crane Lakes subdivision of Port Orange and another in Ormond Beach by Interstate 95, both projected to open in Spring 2023. The company is also building a self-storage facility in New Smyrna Beach’s Glencoe Road area.
Ms. Clark started working at All Aboard Storage, where her father Andy Clark is the chief executive officer, at age 16. She worked in various jobs and after college took on the duties of human resources and operations manager. She is 28 now.
“It is a great career because it offers job variety,” Ms. Clark said. “It involves salesmanship, and then there’s the outside/physical aspect to the job as well because you get a chance to check the property throughout the day.”
All Aboard Storage employs 70 full-time people and three part time employees company wide. Each location has two employees, a manager and a co-manager.
Co-managers start at $14 an hour, which will rise as the minimum wage increases. The company offers yearly pay raises, a bonus structure, health insurance and an annual incentive – usually a cruise to the Bahamas.
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