Update 9/18/17 – Extra Space Storage announced that 219 of its properties in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have reopened following Hurricane Irma. The sites total approximately 20 million net rentable square feet of storage in 173,000 units. Eight properties comprising 575,000 net rentable square feet and 6,200 units remain temporarily closed, according to a press release. Of those, five are managed by Extra Space on behalf of third-party owners.

September 18, 2017

6 Min Read
Self-Storage REITs Announce Facility Closures, Openings Around Hurricanes Harvey, Irma

Update 9/18/17 – Extra Space Storage announced that 219 of its properties in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have reopened following Hurricane Irma. The sites total approximately 20 million net rentable square feet of storage in 173,000 units. Eight properties comprising 575,000 net rentable square feet and 6,200 units remain temporarily closed, according to a press release. Of those, five are managed by Extra Space on behalf of third-party owners. 

Conditions at the closed properties are being evaluated for safety and accessibility due to damage and power loss, and will re-open when considered operable. Rent credits to customers' accounts will be made on a case-by-case basis depending on the level of interruption at each of the facilities, the release stated.

In addition, Extra Space will provide one month of free rent through September to new customers who were impacted by Irma. The company will also pay its employees in the impacted areas for time lost while their stores were closed, the release stated.

"We are pleased to report that all of our employees are accounted for and safe," Margolis said. "Our thoughts are with the millions of people impacted by Hurricane Irma, and we hope we can help our customers solve a problem and get to a better tomorrow." 

9/13/17 – Self-storage REIT and third-party management firm CubeSmart issued a statement this week regarding temporary closures of its facilities in areas impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The storms had the potential to cause damage and closures to more than 150 facilities comprising approximately 9.3 million net rentable square feet across Florida and in the Houston metropolitan area, according to a press release.

In the wake of Hurricane Irma, all 104 facilities either owned or managed by CubeSmart in Florida were closed on Sunday “out of concern for customer and employee safety,” the release stated. “As the situation is still unfolding and most of the state is without power, the full impact of the storm is unknown at this time.”

Irma has been blamed for at least 37 deaths, including 17 in the United States. As of Tuesday, 5.4 million customers across five states were without power. In Florida, where Irma made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, about 6.5 million residents in the state were under mandatory or voluntary evacuation notices, according to ABC News.

By Tuesday afternoon, CubeSmart reopened 22 facilities in Florida comprising 1.8 million net rentable square feet and 18,300 units. Those locations are primarily in southern markets where Irma made landfall, the release stated. Across the state, 82 CubeSmart facilities comprising 5.7 million net rentable square feet and 54,500 units remained closed on Sept. 11.

In Houston, two of 52 CubeSmart facilities are open for “normal business.” Two properties comprising 141,250 net rentable square feet in 985 units remain temporarily closed to new customers due to damage sustained by Hurricane Harvey.

“The size and impact of these back-to-back storms is unprecedented,” said president and CEO Christopher P. Marr. “While these are trying times for our customers and teammates in areas impacted by the Harvey and Irma hurricanes, we are actively working to reopen our stores and provide the storage space necessary to support the rebuilding efforts in our communities.”

Malvern, Pa.-based CubeSmart owns or manages 868 self-storage facilities across the United States. Its operating portfolio comprises 58.7 million square feet.

9/5/17 – Two self-storage real estate investment trusts (REITs), Extra Space Storage Inc. and Public Storage Inc., temporarily closed a combined 145 Texas locations in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The safety precaution affected nearly 11.4 million square feet of storage space in 100,000 units. As of this morning, all but four facilities were operational.

On Aug. 28, Public Storage announced it would close 115 properties in Houston and surrounding areas. Those closures accounted for 8.4 million net rentable square feet and more than 77,500 units. As of Aug. 30, 101 of those facilities had reopened for business. The remaining 14 remained closed for safety considerations but were operational as of yesterday, per company officials.

“Our thoughts go out to all of the communities and people who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey. We are especially mindful of the safety of our customers and employees,” Joseph D. Russell Jr., president of Public Storage, said in a released statement. “We are thankful for our loyal customers and the extraordinary efforts by the Public Storage team members on the ground who have worked tirelessly to restore service to our customers.”

In addition to the reopening of its storm-affected properties, Public Storage has opened a new Houston-area facility at Mueschke Road and U.S. Highway 290 in Cypress, Texas. The three-story location comprises 194,000 net rentable square feet in 2,064 units, according to a press release.

Extra Space announced on Aug. 31 that it had reopened 30 of its affected facilities. Those properties comprised 2.6 million net rentable square feet in 20,000 units. Four locations totaling 375,000 net rentable square feet and 2,500 units remain closed. “Conditions at the four closed properties are being evaluated for safety and accessibility, and will be opened as soon as they are safe and operable,” company officials said in a press release. “A rent credit will be made immediately to the accounts of each of our Houston customers for the time that stores have been closed.”

Extra Space officials also indicated the company will offer a free first month of rent on new leases signed in September at its Greater Houston facilities. The REIT is also providing other assistance for those displaced by the storm, according to the release. "Our hearts go out to the millions of people in Houston as they move forward from this tragic event," said Joe Margolis, CEO of Extra Space. "While we know it is a long road ahead, we hope we can play a small part in helping our employees and customers solve a problem and get to a better tomorrow."

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 1,470 self-storage properties in 38 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The company’s properties comprise approximately 1 million units and 111 million square feet of rentable space.

Based in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage has interests in 2,358 self-storage facilities in 38 states, with approximately 156 million net rentable square feet. Operating under the Shurgard brand name, the company also has 220 facilities in seven European countries, with approximately 12 million net rentable square feet.

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