U-Haul Co. of Orange County has opened a rental facility in a converted building in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., that will eventually offer self-storage. The building formerly housed a Family Classic Cars dealership and has been rebranded as U-Haul Moving and Storage of San Juan Capistrano. Customers can currently rent trucks, trailers and U-Box portable storage, company officials said in a press release.

"There is no U-Haul storage location in the vicinity," said Brandon Williams, marketing company president. "This makes it an ideal location for us to step in and serve the needs of the residents of San Juan Capistrano."

Constructed in 1979, the concrete building at 33033 Camino Capistrano comprises 38,584 square feet. It was remodeled in 1993, officials said.

The building conversion is part of U-Haul’s corporate sustainability initiative to support infill developments that help local communities lower their carbon footprint. U-Haul’s adaptive reuse of existing buildings eliminates the amount of energy and resources required for new-construction materials and helps local cities diminish their unwanted inventory of unused buildings, company officials said.

Other recent U-Haul self-storage conversion projects have included the transformation of a former Walmart in Arkansas, a cotton mill in North Carolina and a game center in Tennessee.

Established in 1945, U-Haul International Inc. has more than 40 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,000 owned and managed facilities throughout North America.

Sources: