AMERCO Real Estate Proposes U-Haul Self-Storage Facility for Howell, NJ

Update 5/10/17 – AMERCO Real Estate has withdrawn its application for a zoning variance and decided to proceed with the township’s previous approval for a self-storage facility on the Route 9 property, zoning board secretary Eileen Rubano told a source.

Giunco sent a letter to the zoning board on April 20 requesting the removal of the application but didn’t specify why, a source reported. However, during a zoning meeting last June, board members were concerned the retail portion of the U-Haul proposal, particularly an increase in truck-rental activity, was a much more intense use than the self-storage project the board approved in 2007.

Though zoning-board engineer Jack Mallon indicated during the June meeting that the 2007 application included some vehicle rentals, the U-Haul request would have been at a much higher volume, a source reported.

After AMERCO provided some additional testimony in July, the variance application was carried five times before its withdrawal was announced during an April 24 zoning-board meeting, according to township documents.

It isn’t clear if AMERCO will reconfigure its plan to align with the 2007 approval or what additional approvals may be required for the project. Board attorney Ronald Troppoli told planners during the April meeting that “anything [AMERCO] may want to do at a later date would require a new application to the board,” according to minutes from the meeting.

5/18/16 – Phoenix-based AMERCO Real Estate Co., the acquisition and development entity for The U-Haul Co., is seeking a zoning variance to build a self-storage facility on a property it owns in Howell, N.J. The Howell Township Zoning Board will consider the project at its June 6 meeting.

The vacant 4.84-acre lot is on northbound U.S. Route 9, between Casino Drive and West Farms Road. The proposal includes a three-story building comprising 105,000 square feet of space as well as a 3,900-square-foot, single-story structure. The site previously received approval for an 118,000-square-foot building, but the former owner didn’t pursue development, according to the source. John Giunco, the attorney representing AMERCO, has requested the board renew or grant the same approvals for the U-Haul project.

The proposal was first presented to the board on April 25 but was continued because committee members had the incorrect forms and plans, the source reported. Board officials also sought clarification on the site’s parking, as U-Haul rental vehicles would be displayed and use these spaces. The facility would include 22 parking spaces for storage customers, 20 spaces for retail customers and 13 spaces for display vehicles, according to Jason Fichter, project engineer.

“Part of U-Haul’s model is to display their rental vehicles there. This is something U-Haul controls very carefully. If it gets low, they replenish,” he said.

In addition to self-storage, the facility would offer hitch installation, moving and packing supplies, truck and trailer rentals, and U-Box portable-storage containers.

Established in 1945, U-Haul has more than 44 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,200 owned facilities throughout North America.

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