jafski:

I have been involved in several projects over the years that involved the ability for customers to drive into the storage building. you are going to face several very significant issues. The first is fire code and the attitude of your building department and local fire chief about allowing vehicles filled with gasoline inside a confined space. While I assume the building you are converting already has a sprinkler system, it was never designed (sized) to deal with a gasoline fire. Unless there is an enlightened attitude within your community for our industry, it could be an almost impossible task to get approval.
The second issue is pure economics. Let's say that the Fire Chief says OK, but I want a 15 or 18 or 20 foot wide interior drive aisle. When you calculate the total net rentable square footage times the average rental rate that you will be eliminating from gross potential revenue, this can be a very sobering reality check. You also might discover in doing these calculations that you can not achieve a sufficient average rental rate to justify the scope of the project you are considering.

If however the building is large enough to still produce an acceptable return, you can give yourself a major competitive advantage. The bottom line is that is is all a make of customer access and convenience. Being totally out of the elements hot - cold - rain - snow plus the added security implications for a female customer are big pluses in my marketing book.

The drive in option also has the potential of turning a deep building (translate that into "the customer will have to travel over 150 feet of hallways to get to their unit) into a user friendly environment.

It is not an easy decision from many perspectives, but it can clearly distinguish you from the competition. Bet of Luck and keep us posted on your progress.

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