During the pandemic, sales of boats and RVs skyrocketed as people looked for ways to get out and enjoy themselves amidst lockdowns and social distancing protocols. Recreational Storage Group (RSG), a New Jersey-based company led by industry veterans Erik Johnson and George Hristodoulou, took advantage of the spike and haven't looked back.
The company has facilities in Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, with two new storage projects in the works: A 135,000-square-foot self-storage facility, with exterior Boat-RV storage, in Ocala, Florida (below) and a 166,000-square foot Boat-RV storage facility in Savannah, Georgia. This brings RSG's total facilities to seven, and they're eyeing more.
“We’re actively looking at both primary and tertiary markets,” says Johnson. “We’re following popular locales in fast growing areas. … If you know a market that has low square feet (of storage) per capita as the population grows, those are two major drivers in which we’re going to target a market.”
According to Johnson, RSG sees areas along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico as ripe for development. In addition, the company sees Louisiana and Alabama as Gulf states with a lot of potential for expansion.
Hristodoulou adds that RSG typically develops facilities in areas with five square feet of storage per capita, but that the company will also consider areas with higher per capita rates of storage if they’re in fast growing markets, such as in Florida where population continues to grow – along with the need for boat and RV storage.
While RSG does offer traditional storage units (the new Florida facility, for example, will include more than 750 units), boat-RV will remain its bread and butter. “There’s a huge unmet need for Class A facilities with covered exterior and interior climate-controlled storage, and that is what RSG is providing," says Johnson.
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