Update 10/8/14 – Southern Self Storage held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 25 to celebrate the opening of Southern Self Storage – The Villages. Mayor of Lady Lake Ruth Kussard officiated the ceremony, which included several members of the Lady Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.

“We are absolutely thrilled to serve the storage needs of those residing within The Villages,” said Marketing Manager Tresha Powe. “It’s a fast-growing community, and our goal is to continuously improve our facility and services to meet that demand.”

Since the acquisition, the company has made several improvements including offering use of the facility’s moving truck to new tenants. Plans are also underway to remodel the office to add more space for moving and packing supplies, Powe said.

2/3/14 – Southern Self Storage has purchased its first facility since it sold its 21-property Florida portfolio last year to real estate investment trust Public Storage Inc. The acquisition at 4150 E. County Road 466 in Oxford, Fla., has been rebranded as Southern Self Storage – The Villages.

Formerly Village Self Storage, the facility sits on 6 acres and includes 792 units and outdoor vehicle parking. It’s near retail outlets including a Walmart and The Colony Plaza. The facility also sells packing supplies and offers free truck rental for new customers.

“We are very excited to start up again,” said Tresha Powe, marketing manager. “We believe it’s very appropriate that our first facility is here in Florida where it all began.”

Owner’s Peter Cowie and Robert McIntosh started the Southern Self Storage brand in Florida in 1985. The business partners also operate three Northern Self-Storage facilities in the Ontario, Canada, market.

Based in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed REIT that primarily acquires, develops, owns and operates self-storage facilities. The company has interests in more than 2,110 self-storage facilities in 38 states with approximately 135 million net rentable square feet. It also has 188 facilities in seven European countries operating under the Shurgard brand name.