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The Rising Demand for Self-Storage in America

A Primarily American Phenomenon

The self-storage phenomenon is primarily American, with 90% of global facilities found in the US. Considering 80% of the $38 billion in revenue comes from households (in 2020), and as people look for smaller homes, there's a growing demand for suitable storage sites. 

Challenges in Identifying Suitable Sites

Identifying self-storage sites can be challenging, as they typically fall under light industrial zoning. In cities like Miami, storage is explicitly defined as a sub-use, simplifying the search. Deepblocks offers city-wide searches across primary uses and sub-uses.

Valuable Opportunities in Non-Compliant Zones

If storage isn't listed as a sub-use, an alternative is to examine the locations and zoning of existing facilities. Occasionally, facilities may be situated in zones no longer permitting such use, which significantly increases their value—an intriguing development in this sector.

Author Olivia Ramos
Founder and CEO of Deepblocks, holds master's degrees in Architecture from Columbia University and Real Estate Development from the University of Miami. Her achievements before Deepblocks include designing Big Data navigation software for the Department of Defense's DARPA Innovation House and graduating from Singularity University's Global Solutions and Accelerator programs.