GarageTown: Storage Ownership

Tri-Cities Herald
Published: 4/9/06
Page: B8

Upscale storage
By Mary Hopkin
Herald staff writer

Some people need bigger toy boxes than others. A Spokane-based company is hoping to attract those
Mid-Columbia residents with its new storage units concept called GarageTown.
But the 90 units under construction at the new GarageTown at 725 N. Edison Street aren’t for rent. They’re
for sale.

“The people who have the need, get (the concept) immediately,” said Terry Carlson, of Liberty Lake, who
bought four units at the Liberty Lake GarageTown before they were even built to store his RV and classic
car collection.

“I took one look at their Post Falls facility and said this is exactly what I need,” Carlson said.
Carlson, a former Peterbilt dealer, said he and his wife are downsizing, moving from an 80-acre spread out
of town to a Spokane townhouse.

They want to be able to spend winters in Florida and summers in Eastern Washington, where Carlson can
show his 10 classic cars, including a 1958 Chevrolet Impala. “We needed some place to put our stuff,” Carlson said. And not just any place will do, he added.

Regular mini-storage units generally aren’t large enough and are just uninsulated shells.

But at GarageTown, a concept created two years ago by three Coeur d’Alene developers, the units are
48-feet long and the doors are 14-feet high, tall enough for RVs.

The buildings are insulated. Each unit is prewired for cable and telephone and has individually metered
electricity.

Carri Berglund, GarageTown’s sales and marketing director, said the complex also includes a common
clubhouse, with a television, comfortable furniture and a refrigerator.

During the summer months, GarageTown becomes Boys Town.

“There are guys working on cars and they go to the clubhouse to watch a ball game,” she said. “It’s very
social — kind of like a small-town community.”

Carlson bought two units that were back-to-back. He also insisted no wall be erected between the units,
giving him a pull-through unit that is 96-feet long and 24-feet wide — perfect for storing his RV and cars.

He also bought two adjacent units. He installed a lift in one, so he could work on his cars. And the second is
used for equipment and tool storage.

And he liked the concept so much that he and a partner bought an entire building with 15 units, which they
sub-lease out.

The concept attracts three different types of users, Carlson said: People who live in housing developments
with strict covenants that prevent them from parking boats, RVs and other toys in their driveways; business
owners who need extra storage for inventory or files; or others who need a place to park equipment over
the weekend or winter.

“The only restriction you have is that you can’t hang a shingle out and sell retail out of the place,” Carlson
said.

Depending on the size, the units range in price from $53,000 to $80,000, Berglund said.

The company, which is spending $1.5 million to develop Kennewick’s GarageTown, also has storage complexes in
Liberty Lake, Coeur d’Alene, Spokane Valley and two locations in Denver.

They also are planning to build GarageTowns in Hayden, Idaho, north Spokane, Vancouver, and Kalispell, Mont.
Owners pay a monthly homeowners association fee, which takes care of maintenance of the common areas, such as
snow removal.

Carlson said there is a sense of camaraderie and community among the owners, and he loves the security that provides.

Everybody knows each other and “nobody is going to mess with your unit,” he said.

Carlson said when he retired, he and his wife took off in a motor home for five years.

Meanwhile, his car collection was stashed in a storage building on his rural property.

“I worried about it all the time,” he said. “I don’t think this would have been popular 20 years ago, but now I think there is a niche. I can’t find a downside.”

* Reporter Mary Hopkin can be reached at 585-7207 or via e-mail at mhopkin@tricityherald.com.