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Trojan Storage in Camarillo, CA: A Self-Storage Development Triumph in a Challenging Municipality
It isn’t uncommon for a self-storage development to come with unexpected challenges, but with the right expertise, many impediments can be overcome. Trojan Storage in Camarillo, California, is a great example of how obstacles can be turned into triumphs. Read about this stunning site that fits snugly into a desirable location.
4 Min Read
The road to opening a self-storage facility can be curvy and bumpy. You might even need to take a detour or two. This was certainly the case in the development of Trojan Storage in Camarillo, California, which opened in August 2023. The owner faced a number of challenges that extended the project timeline by about 18 months. Thankfully, the final result—a beautiful facility in a high-demand location—proved well worth the trouble.
Based in El Segundo, California, Trojan was launched in 2007. It currently operates 50 self-storage facilities, 31 of which it owns and 19 it manages on behalf of other operators. Most of its properties are in California, Oregon and Washington, with a handful in Illinois and New Jersey. The Camarillo project was launched in 2018, not long after the company decided to set its sights on the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
About an hour north of L.A., Camarillo is a “really attractive” location for self-storage, says company president Brett Henry. It’s a densely populated area in which many homeowners’ associations restrict the storage of items in people’s yards, including recreational vehicles. “With the affluent household income in the area [and] a really packed-in density, it's a market where, generally speaking, residents need a lot of storage,” Henry says.
Seeing that the area had high demand for self-storage and relatively low supply, Trojan chose a parcel on a busy freeway that offered good visibility. The company just didn’t realize it was in for a bit of a turbulent development ride.
The Parking Problem
At 91,000 square feet, Trojan Camarillo comprises two single-story buildings and one three-story structure, offering 874 storage units. It also offers 82 RV-storage spaces totaling 30,000 square feet. However, that wasn’t the original plan. In the beginning, the municipality wanted to see 252 spaces for customer parking—a number that far exceeds the typical requirements for a self-storage facility.
“Most cities realize that self-storage is parked differently than other industrial or commercial uses,” Henry says. However, this municipality wanted parking typical of a warehouse. Thankfully, the property was large enough to accommodate it, so long as one of the buildings was multi-story. In fact the parking requirement really drove the physical layout, Henry adds.
Two and a half years into the entitlement process, the planning commission finally recognized its folly and granted Trojan permission to turn some of that parking area into RV storage. The company ultimately created covered parking with solar panels as well as uncovered spaces.
In the end, the operator got more storage to rent, increasing its revenue-generating ability. However, working with the city to make these changes added about 60 days to the project timeline.
Aesthetic Requirements
The parking challenge was just one way in which the City of Camarillo complicated the development process, Henry says. It also imposed hefty architectural requirements. The zoning rules for the area surrounding the self-storage facility call for Spanish design elements; however, city officials didn’t offer any specific parameters or examples to follow, which meant Trojan had to bring its own ideas and hope for subjective approval. This led to a lot of back-and-forth discussions, says Henry, who estimates that his company spent about nine months negotiating the design plans.
Despite this frustration, the finished product is “the nicest storage facility in the market,” Henry says. The site features Spanish-style red tile roofing, smooth stucco, ornate windows, and variations in articulation and roof height.
Lessons Learned
Looking back, Henry realizes that spending more time with city officials at the beginning of the project would’ve provided a better understanding of the expectations for the overall process and the design. This might have potentially reduced delays and improved efficiency.
“If you don't understand the whole process, then you're kind of at the whim of the city to drive the project,” Henry says. “You really do need to understand it, so that you can help move them through in a proactive way and keep everybody on track.”
He also warns against relying on rules of thumb to gauge how much time a self-storage development project will take. Instead, he advises that you really understand the project you're doing, including the constraints and challenges.
Rachel French is a freelance content writer and copywriter. Her background is in business-to-business media and copywriting for web applications. She’s covered a range of industries and markets including self-storage as well as financial, food and beverage, healthcare, and nutraceuticals. She previously worked for Inside Self-Storage as an intern turned associate editor.
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