Storage sites carve niche in paradise

carve niche in paradise

Even storing your stuff in Hawaii can be done in an upscale style, with the newest self-storage facilities resembling small resorts and hotels on some of the islands' priciest real estate.

With 24-hour access, air-conditioned hallways and use of fancy business centers and Wi-Fi Internet, storage companies are catering to customers as an industry that is booming nationwide becomes more competitive.

A StorSecure outlet, designed to blend in with the lush green mountains, sits near the eastern shores of Oahu next to multimillion-dollar homes and expensive boats. Hawaii Self Storage recently spent $250,000 to install a clock tower and Hawaiian mosaics overlooking the island's busiest highway. And Public Storage has constructed a flashy facility on a high-rent downtown corner with space for retail shops to operate on the ground floor.

"We really wanted to become part of the neighborhood," said Annette Pang, vice president of marketing for Honolulu-based StorSecure. "The last thing we wanted to do was become an eyesore or diminish the value of these beautiful homes."

Self-storage is a booming, $21 billion business nationwide that has nearly doubled the space for rent during the past decade, with one in every 11 households renting space in nearly 50,000 self-storage outlets nationwide -- including about 3,000 sites that opened last year.

The growth is easy to see on the space-scarce islands of Hawaii. As of March, there were 73 outlets, or 2.76 square feet of self-storage per person, well below the national average. But with eight recently built facilities and at least another dozen storage operations planned, the rapid growth of those facilities in Hawaii has outpaced the national growth.

Once identified with ugly warehouse-like eyesores, storage facilities are now designed to meet community architectural standards as they pop up in prime residential areas and busy retail complexes, said Mike Scanlon, president of the Virginia-based Self Storage Association.

Regardless of the architecture, hidden inside the flashy exteriors are thousands of locked spaces -- in sizes from mailboxes to roomy garages.

They hold overflow inventory and files from local businesses, stacks of aging boxes and furniture saved from family deaths or divorce and collections of stuff too big to fit into cramped condos or tropical houses that often have no attics, basements or garages.

Hawaii is a great area for growth of self-storage businesses, with nearly no residential basements, expensive homes and a plethora of new, compact condos. Plus, many residents have kayaks, canoes, surfboards and other tough-to-store watersports equipment.

Mostly due to high land costs, storage space in Hawaii rents for an average of $3 per square foot, whereas nationally space averages less than a dollar.

In Hawaii Kai, a seaside district in eastern Oahu where multimillion-dollar homes wrap around the marina, a new tan-and-green StorSecure facility blends in with its surroundings.

People often confuse the four-story, 120,000-square-foot facility with a hotel. Owners spent nearly half a year working with neighbors who feared the building would downgrade the neighborhood, Pang said. Outside lights dim at night to accommodate the turtles dwelling in the marina.

"We blend in, so we might lose some sales, but we feel our sacrifice is outgained by our satisfaction," Pang said.

One Public Storage facility in Honolulu features a women's apparel store on its streetside ground floor, and two other storefronts are under construction.

Hawaii Self Storage built the giant clock tower at its new $13.7 million, four-story, 171,000-square-foot site across the street from an imposing six-story Public Storage business -- one of 2,100 locations owned by the Glendale company.

With more competition in Honolulu, the newest facilities have introduced 24-hour access, dehumidification technology to prevent mold and mildew and advanced security systems. Many operations also hold incoming shipments for customers -- a major incentive for businesses.

Janna Joe-Hagiwara, a storage renter for 10 years, switched to Hawaii Self Storage recently because it now offers cardboard recycling for the boxes that her pharmaceutical business discards each day.

Ecolab Pest Elimination is one of several companies that headquarters its business out of storage facilities.

Shipments from the mainland are stored until service specialists pick up the light fixtures and nonlethal bait traps, said district manager Dave Lau. The rented space allows the company to work without the need for an office, as Ecolab employees mostly operate from home and communicate via handheld devices.

"We get much more than just storage," Lau said. "I'm here every week and they know us."

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