Real estate developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc. (SMR) intends to build a 185,000-square-foot self-storage facility in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. The four-phase project would eventually comprise seven storage buildings, including a pair of three-story structures. If approved, Big Jim Self Storage would be built on about 6.7 acres at 15107 Garnet Trail, in an area with no residential development, according to the source.

Phase one of the project would include a three-story building comprising 81,624 square feet and two single-story structures. Phase two would include a second three-story building comprising 50,859 square feet.

Though the project’s plat and site plans are finalized, Manatee County, Fla., officials are waiting for staff recommendations before proceeding, principal planner Margaret Tusing told the source. SMR has also been involved in the development of Lakewood Ranch, a 31,000-acre master-planned community that includes corporate business parks, medical facilities, recreation areas, residences, retail and schools, according to the company website.

SMR will sell the Big Jim project to another developer once it receives county approval, according to Kirk Boylston, president of Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty. “We have a real lack of self-storage,” Boylston told the source.

In addition to commercial and residential development, SMR is a land manager and agri-business, with interests in aggregate mining, cattle, citrus, turf and other activities. It’s developing another 80,000 square feet of self-storage in Lakewood Ranch Business Park, near 44th Avenue E.

Big Jim operates eight self-storage facilities in Florida.

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