A new 81,745-square-foot Extra Space Storage facility in Carteret is the latest self-storage project by The Hampshire Cos.
By Joshua Burd
The Hampshire Cos. has continued its expansion into the self-storage business, marking the opening of a new 82,000-square-foot complex in Carteret.
The developer and real estate investment firm on Thursday unveiled the Extra Space Storage facility at 6640 Industrial Hwy., joining local officials and other firms involved in the project. Made up of four building, the complex is Hampshire’s 38th with Extra Space and the 53rd that it has repositioned or developed since 2012.
The 53 facilities have an aggregate value of more than $585 million, Hampshire said. What’s more, the Morristown-based firm has 15 self-storage development projects underway, representing $240 million of total investment.
“We’ve come a long way from the old self-storage model of three walls and a garage door,” said James E. Hanson II, CEO and CEO and president of The Hampshire Cos. “The industry has certainly changed, but our formula for success has remained the same. We search for underserved residential areas with a high barrier to entry and leverage the experience of our team and our project partners to execute our vision.”
Photos courtesy: Hollister Construction Services
SNS Architects designed the project in Carteret, while Hollister Construction Services served as the general contractor. The facility consists of 784 storage units spread across a four-story main storage building and three exterior metal buildings, with flexible sizes ranging from 25-square-foot lockers to 300-square-foot units.
Other features include a contemporary design with all the requirements of a modern self-storage facility, including state-of-the-art security, after-hours electronic card access, two elevators, full climate control and three off-loading locations, Hampshire said. With a location at the edge of a residential area between Industrial Highway and Lefferts Street, the firm sought to tap into Carteret’s 24,000 residents along with those of surrounding communities.
“Carteret, under the leadership of Mayor Reiman and the Borough Council, has been a great community to work with to create projects like the Carteret self-storage facility that took a former brownfield site and turned it into a facility that serves the community,” Hanson said.
Hampshire’s experience with self-storage has grown from the late 1990s, when it first entered the market as a Storage USA franchisor before becoming a developer and owner-operator. The firm has benefited from a longstanding partnership with Extra Space Storage, which manages its self-storage portfolio.
This project is the seventh that Hampshire has completed in Carteret over the past five years. The firm also noted that the Hanson family has done business in the borough over 65 years through three generations, starting with James E. Hanson’s acquisition of 250 acres for industrial development in 1951.
