Storage Zone is a self-storage company with 20 locations in Northeast Ohio. The vast majority are free-standing buildings on the fringes of major metropolitan areas. One of the challenges for Storage Zone is finding new locations in middle to high income communities. Zoning in those areas often prevents their “use” from operating. Contrary to these restrictions, there is a need for self-storage and the units in comparable markets generally have high occupancy rates.

One such high-end market is Rocky River. Finding a site to build a self-storage in this municipality has never seemed possible…until October of 2016. The City of Rocky River told Wald & Fisher, the owner of Rockport Shopping Center, that it would consider self-storage for a conditional use as a part of the center’s redevelopment.  The city considered it a viable solution for anchor space that has been empty for many years. Jim Becker contacted Storage Zone immediately. They were excited about the opportunity to break into the market and made a deal with Wald & Fisher in record time. Storage Zone presented rough plans and elevations to Rocky River in mid-December and the city approved their application.

If all goes well, Storage Zone will open in the second quarter of 2017.

The residential boom in one of Columbus’ most trendy neighborhoods continues as it continuously begins to see new developments east and west of High Street.

The Short North, a Columbus neighborhood wedged in between The Ohio State University campus district to the north and the city’s central business district to the south, continues to be one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in the state capital. Growth in the area is so considerable that many new developments are popping up off the main drag of High Street and into the Short North’s smaller neighborhoods, such as Victorian Village to the west and Italian Village to the east.

When professionals in the real estate industry hear the term “1031,” they typically think of single tenant, triple-net leased properties.  Drugstores.  Restaurants.  Banks.  This certainly is a past and present trend, but compressing cap rates in these sectors have caused many private exchange buyers to look elsewhere for higher returns.  The retail model with perhaps the highest uptick in recent demand has been the newly-constructed two to three tenant buildings, especially outparcels to larger shopping centers.  Tenant categories many times include at least one, if not two, restaurants, and may include cellular phone stores, mattress, dental, and a host of other small format retailers.  While cap rates for these properties can dip into the 5% cap rate range, by and large they have been trading between 6% and 6.75% depending on tenancy and market. 

Fort Wright, Kentucky can now enjoy all there is to offer at Chick-fil-A! It is my pleasure to announce Richard Edelman, Senior Vice President & Principal of Goodman Real Estate Services Group LLC, closed the deal after a three-and-a- half year process. Beginning in 2013, Mr. Edelman contracted to purchase the piece of property for Chick-fil-A, but ran into a predicament of needing additional land.  Reaching out to the adjacent property owner, Mike Brandy, Richard attempted to purchase the property. Not willing to sell outright, they negotiated a deal where Mr. Brandy would buy the parcel Chick-fil-A was negotiating to buy and then Chick-fila would lease the combined parcels from Mr. Brandy. To make matters even more complicated, to meet parking codes the development required the acquisition of right-of-way owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Mr. Brandy, Chick-fil-A and Mr. Edelman worked well together to make this requirement attainable. When you have an ideal location, you strive to make it happen. All of the obstacles were worth it in the end!