StorageMart began with a single store in 1999. Over the past 15 years we’ve grown to 150 stores across the United States and Canada. That growth can happen in one of two ways. For the most part, stores are added to the StorageMart family by our acquisition of other self storage companies. The other way is quite a bit more work for us, but it can also be a lot more fun. Sometimes we’ll purchase buildings that have been used for other purposes and renovate them into storage facilities. In the past we’ve converted warehouses, factories, hotels, part of the old Kansas City Star newspaper complex and even a car dealership.
Grocery Store Turned Storage Facility
Soon we’ll be able to add grocery store to that list. We’re happy to announce we’ve purchased the former Hy-Vee grocery store located at 6801 W. 91st Street in Overland Park, Kansas. The one story building sits on six acres of property. Our plan calls for renovating the interior of the existing building and constructing a second building in the parking lot, ultimately creating more than 80,000 net rentable square feet of self storage space. Once completed this will be our third Overland Park storage facility.
As demand for self storage in urban areas increases with the population shift back into cities we’re seeing across the nation, the lack of available open land for commercial development has made this repurposing of buildings for self storage an increasingly popular trend within the industry. Neighborhoods have welcomed the trend with open arms, as it brings conveniently located storage space to the area while maintaining a measure of the area aesthetic without a significant intrusion from construction crews.
A schedule for the renovations of the former Hy-Vee property has not been finalized, but the plan is to have an operating self storage facility in the 2015 calendar year.