Condo storage fills niche

Jerry Gilbreath’s new condo is a bright, airy space – with marine décor that showcases mementos from his 40 years as a professional speedboat racer.

But neither Gilbreath nor his wife, Donna, will ever live there. The 1,000-square-foot condo is for their boat.

The 27-foot Hallett pleasure craft became a loose end when the couple moved from a six-acre spread on the Pend Oreille River into a high-rise in downtown Coeur d’Alene. Jerry Gilbreath contemplated buying land and building a storage shed before a Garage Town development caught his eye.

The Coeur d’Alene company sells “condominium storage” units. For about $60,000, the couple got boat storage, plus a shop for Gilbreath to tinker in.

Thirty years ago, storage units became an American phenomenon, allowing families to stash stuff that overflowed from their basements and garages. “Why rent when you can own?” has become part of the industry mantra.

Condo storage units are popping up all over the U.S. In Florida, people buy them to store valuables during hurricanes. In booming construction markets, they provide warehouse space for small contractors. The Inland Northwest, with its wealth of recreational vehicles, is particularly fertile ground for the concept, local developers say.

Per capita ownership of ATVs, boats, snowmobiles and RVs runs high here. But not everyone has acreage or a three-car garage, and neighborhood covenants increasingly frown on outdoor storage.

Bill Robinette, a Hayden Lake Realtor, spent a decade shelling out monthly storage fees on three boats and a 1988 Porsche before deciding it was time to buy his own storage unit.

“For lack of a better term, I was looking for a personal toy box,” Robinette said.

He’s currently developing Dakota Park Warehouse Condominiums, 20 units near the Coeur d’Alene Airport.

The metal-sided units, located behind an electronic gate, are selling for $139,000 to $175,000. With heat, restrooms, oversized garage doors and optional office space, the units are versatile enough to run a small business out of, Robinette said. But he’s expecting to sell about half to guys like him, who need car and boat storage.

Robinette adapted his business model from Garage Town, one of the first companies to sell the storage units in the Inland Northwest. Garage Town’s initial, 65-unit project opened two years ago in Coeur d’Alene. The company now has units in Hayden, Spokane Valley and Kennewick, plus a second development in Coeur d’Alene.

Other Garage Town developments are in the planning or construction phases in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Alaska.

“We’ve got plans for five projects in Arizona,” said Carri Berglund, Garage Town’s director of sales and marketing. Last month, she was in Chandler, Ariz., promoting the units at the Men’s Luxury Toy Expo & Auction at Cardinals Stadium.

Garage Town’s storage units start about $40,000 and can cost more than $100,000. The units come with lighting, heat, cable and phone hookups. A restroom and shower are located in each project’s clubhouse.

Some buyers keep their spaces simple. Others, like the Gilbreaths, customize. Teal and white walls in the couple’s storage unit coordinate with the sleek paint job on their boat. Jerry Gilbreath has installed a crane in the storage unit powerful enough to haul motors out of boats, and last week he was putting down rubberized flooring.

Gilbreath, a 57-year-old designer of custom boats, spends about 20 hours a week at the storage unit. “This is just a hobby, playing,” he said. “It suits my needs.”

The storage unit also promotes marital harmony, he joked. The wall space in the unit is covered with an extensive collection of framed photographs from Gilbreath’s racing days. “My wife won’t let me put them up in the house,” he said.

His neighbor, John Condon, stores a ‘57 Cadillac Coupe deVille and ‘54 Chevy pickup in his unit, plus two boats and household items. When Condon drops by his unit to work on his cars, he meets other men doing restoration projects. The clubhouse’s restroom even stocks a hand dispenser of GOJO grease remover.

“If you’re into boats, cars and RVs, that’s the clientele,” Condon said. “It’s a neat group of people, with common interests.”

Garage Town’s partners – Tom Johnson, Cliff Mort and Jae Enos – first floated the idea for the business in the early 1990s. At the time, the concept was so new that banks weren’t willing to lend. Now, some buyers pay cash; others finance, according to Berglund.

In addition to people stowing recreational equipment, Garage Town’s units are popular with small businesses, she said. Title companies and doctor’s offices have purchased units for file storage. Small vendors buy them for warehouse space.

“Each project is a mix,” Berglund said. “In North Idaho, it’s more people with snowmobiles and boats.”

Where developers see a shrewd business plan, others wonder what condo storage units say about the state of American consumption. Some of the condo storage units cost more than a Habitat for Humanity house. The organization’s North Idaho chapter recently finished two houses in Post Falls. Built without garages, the houses cost $70,000 to $80,000 each.

Apprised that a storage unit could cost $175,000, Jim Brannon, executive director of Habitat for Humanity’s North Idaho chapter, said: “You could build two Habitat homes for that.”

Statistics, however, support the viability of the condo storage trend. One in every 11 U.S. families rents a storage unit, according to the Self Storage Association, which is based in Alexandria, Va. Last year, Americans paid out nearly $19 billion in rental storage fees.

Those fees add up, said Robinette, the developer of the Dakota Park Warehouse Condominiums. “I thought, ‘I’m in the real estate business. Why am I paying someone else’s mortgage?’ “

Reservations at his development indicate that others are thinking the same way. The units, projected to open in late October, are finding takers.

“I’m still not sure how deep the market is,” Robinette said, “but I know there are at least 20 people out there who will want one of these.”