By Alex Hassel, Storage.com
U-Haul continues its endeavor to build its portfolio by reusing or renovating old buildings. The company recently announced acquisitions of a warehouse in Michigan, a mini storage property in Maryland, and an iconic storage building in Pennsylvania. All of these acquisitions were driven by U-Haul’s Corporate Sustainability Initiatives to bring life back to old buildings rather than build new ones.
U-Haul is repurposing a former FUCHS Lubricants warehouse at 1621 Northwood Dr. in Troy, Mich. U-Haul has already had a facility next door at 1250 W. Maple Rd. for more than 35 years. The company says expanding its property and converting the warehouse into storage space will offer some much needed supply to the area.
The original building offers 177 units. The new property is expected to add a significant increase once construction is complete. The open warehouse is currently storing 80 U-Box containers.
“When the warehouse became available, we realized it really met our needs,” says David Ruff, U-Haul Company of Detroit President. “The [West Maple Road] location has always been a full-service facility with trucks, trailers, propane, hitch installation, U-Box portable moving and self storage containers, storage, and more. The warehouse gives us a needed addition of storage units and increased U-Box storage capacity.”
U-Haul is also renovating what was once Germantown Mini Storage in Germantown, Md. Located at 19525 Waters Rd., the facility already offers truck rentals, outdoor storage, and vehicle storage.
Right now, the company is building a hitch bay where employees will assist customers with towing equipment installation. A multi-level indoor storage building is also planned for the future. General Manager Patrick Potter hopes to later add U-Box portable containers.
“We can’t wait to see this location grow and grow,” Potter says. “Our team members here are looking forward to meeting the many needs of our customers and becoming a bigger part of this tight-knit community.”
U-Haul is excited to announce the acquisition of the iconic Iron City Storage building at 3700 Bigelow Blvd. in Pittsburgh, Pa., as well. The building is more than a century old and has been home to several businesses over the years, including Goodyear Tire, Geyer Printing, and most recently Iron City Storage, which was a U-Haul neighborhood dealer for 11 years before U-Haul acquired the property.
The 71,208 square foot building offers 744 storage units. 292 of those are climate-controlled. The company sees it as an opportunity to better serve moving and storage demands of Pittsburgh college students. The facility is just a few miles away from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Carlow University, and Duquesne University.
“We are a huge landmark at the end of the Bloomfield Bridge,” says Kevin Smith, General Manager. “More than 35,000 cars pass us every day, so we have a great opportunity for exposure here. People didn’t know what or who we were before. But with U-Haul taking the reins and giving this place direction, we’ll be a real part of this community.”
U-Haul says all of these acquisitions are part of its Corporate Sustainability Initiatives where U-Haul supports infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint. The company says adaptive reuse of buildings reduces the needed energy and resources for new construction materials and helps communities reduce their amount of unwanted inventory of unused buildings.
Image provided by U-Haul.
Alex Hassel is News Reporter for Storage.com. If you’d like to pitch Alex a self storage industry news story, email alex.hassel@storage.com or call 402-779-7328.
