Better Management Systems is excited to announce the grand opening of the first ever full service self-storage facility in Manaus, Brazil, the capital city of the Amazon. Better Management assisted Jose Benchimol, the owner and developer of Para Guardar, www.paraguardar.com.br , to convert a vacant industrial building located on one the the busiest throughfares leading from the Manaus International airport into downtown Manaus, into a first class US style self-storage operation.

Jose recently commented he “Choose self-storage because it offers the excitement of retail and the stability of a real estate business”. He also stated, “It’s very though and very risky to be the first one in the market. However, building a self-storage has been a fun, yet an expensive experience”. Finally he hopes “to build a business that has satisfied customers, is profitable, and that I have fun at the same time”.

The project, which began as two separate buildings with just over 4,000 square meters of

floor area, added mezzanines in both buildings and can grow to over 7,000 square meters of rentable units. In addition, the buildings sit on only 50% of the available land with will offer additional expansion opportunities. Jose completely remodeled the office area, placed a keypad controlled security gate, video cameras and installed Manaus’ tallest and largest billboard sign. Some materials were imported from the US while much came from local Brazilian suppliers. Jose is using SiteLink as his operating system.

Manaus, with a population of just over 2 million people, is the center of all distribution to the central part of Brazil. Many foreign corporations have assembly plants located in Manaus in addition to the very active port, which is a Duty Free Zone. Brazil has seen a steady growth of self-storage projects. Not only in the major city centers of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but, in many of the secondary markets like Belo Herizonte, Curitiba, Brasilia, Porto Alegre to name just a few. Better Management is currently working with clients in several such cities throughout Brazil. Interest in the segment was strongly evident this past November when Better Management Systems co-produced the first ever-Self Storage Expo in Sao Paulo. Attendance exceeded everyone’s expectation, with significant interest shown by new developers looking to enter the market.

“Every week I get calls for different interested parties inquiring about one or another market and what the business is like in Brazil” said David Blum, president of Better Management Systems. The whole Latin American Market seems to be on fire.” Visit www.bmsgrp.com for additional information.

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