Self-Storage Market Highlight: Canada

Self-storage development is booming in Canada, with significant amounts of new self-storage planned or underway. After years of continued success from coast to coast, it’s estimated that Canada’s self-storage industry could see growth of 5.3% by 2027. With all this new growth, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite facilities throughout the country below.

Lock-N-Store
Mission, British Columbia

Offering tenants premium security features was of the utmost importance for Lok-N-Store Self-Storage when building Mission British Columbia's premier storage facility. After determining that padlocks were not secure enough for their standards, Lok-N-Store called upon a trusted PTI Partner, SOS Integrated Security, for assistance. 

Our friends at SOS worked hand-in-hand with Lok-N-Store to develop a comprehensive security strategy to meet their goals. After evaluating their options, Lok-N-Store decided to install a fully integrated PTI access control security system. First, they placed PTI access control keypads at the gate perimeters of their facility to provide tenants with the convenience of 24/7 access to their units. 

Lok-N-Store went the extra mile and used its access control security system to implement PTI keypads within the elevators of the building to control tenant access to specific floors of their facility. For example, tenants with a unit on the 3rd floor of this Lok-N-Store facility will only have access to that specific level of the building. As a bonus, Lok-N-Store also has the option to customize access levels for a time of day, day of the week, and holidays as they see fit. 

Through their experience managing other self-storage locations within their portfolio, Lok-N-Store knew that traditional padlocks alone were not going to secure the units of their Mission facility. Subsequently, they equipped each unit in their facility with white PTI door alarms for the highest standard in self-storage security. SOS Integrated Security made sure to leverage customized notifications within Lok-N-Store’s access control security software so the operators and staff are always notified of suspicious activity through StorLogix Mobile, the operator-facing mobile app.

XYZ Storage
Toronto, Ontario

Just a few blocks from downtown Toronto, Canada, sits XYZ Storage (formerly known as All Canadian Self-Storage), a five-story building with all the bells and whistles of an award-winning self-storage property. The property was constructed on 1.5 acres of premium real estate overlooking the Toronto skyline after John Donald and Hal Spradling, founders of All Canadian Self-Storage, purchased the land that was the parking lot for a former bakery. After buying the property, the city of Toronto saw a substantial real estate boom. Rather than sell the land for two to three times what they paid, Donald and Spradling kept the land for its unique location and proximity to downtown.

Spradling’s vision featured a full drive-thru facility where tenants would directly access units from their vehicles. This vision proved challenging, as the property’s long L-shape made access to the main street difficult. To add to the hurdle, the drive-thru-only design had to meet Toronto’s strict fire codes. Adhering to codes was just the beginning of a very long and arduous approval process from the city, which ended up being a lengthy construction process. A new hurdle seemed to present itself at every turn, from zoning bylaws, including height limits, required parking, and gross floor area. After numerous uphill battles, XYZ Storage’s conditional site plan approval finally came in February 2018. 

Bond Securcom Inc. installed a fully integrated PTI access control security system for XYZ Storage. In addition to installing PTI access control keypads, XYZ Storage installed DoorBoss smart locks on their 1,592 units for individualized unit monitoring. With the implementation of smart locks and keypads, Bond Securcom Inc. helped XYZ Storage the EasyCode mobile app for mobile accessibility. This feature has kept both employees and customers safe during the coronavirus pandemic. According to XYZ’s cloud-based software, more than 50 percent of rentals have been contactless this year. 

Five years after purchasing the land, XYZ Storage – Eastern opened in October of 2019. Despite it being a challenging year, XYZ – Eastern has managed to attain 61 percent occupancy and is expected to reach full capacity within the next few years. 

Woodside Smart Storage
Agassiz, British Columbia

Unmanned facilities are a newer development within the self-storage industry. Although operating an unmanned site comes with its own unique set of challenges, the opportunity for growth with this property type is appealing—case in point: Woodside Smart Storage. 

In the small community of  Agassiz, located in the Eastern Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada, is the fully unmanned, one-of-a-kind Woodside Smart Storage. Just east of Vancouver, this self-storage operation utilizes the latest technology to successfully run a 24-hour facility without any on-site employees while still offering a top-notch customer service experience.

Most of the challenges one would assume Woodside Smart Storage would face is eliminated through integrated technology. For example, where human interaction is generally required for renting units or providing access at a traditional facility, Woodside Smart Storage’s customers can rent their units online or from a kiosk on the property. Either option is a straightforward process for tenants, and all rental payments are made online. If the customer runs into any issues, the kiosk provides a helpline available from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily.

What Woodside Smart Storage lacks in employees has been offset by their advanced security protocols installed by trusted PTI Partner, SOS Integrated Security. Woodside Smart Storage surpassed the gold standard for self-storage security from monitored video surveillance, motion sensors, and individualized unit-level security. In addition to individual door alarms, each individual unit is equipped with an electronic smart lock. This security feature aids Woodside Smart Storage in remotely performing lock checks and automatically overlocking delinquent tenants from entering the property until their bill is paid in full. \

Vaultra Storage
Toronto, Ontario

Our next facility on the list is the Vaultra Storage flagship facility in the Castlefield Design District of Toronto. It’s hard to believe this immaculate facility was originally a mattress factory that burned down, a factor that required builders to meet extensive environmental remediation of the land to make it compliant with provincial government standards. Despite encountering a number of challenges along the way, the Vaultra Storage company managed to create a successful template for future ground-up projects. Although the project scale and timing were daunting, the Castlefield Vaultra Storage was completed on budget and just eight weeks past deadline. 

Designed to resemble an office building, incorporating flexible office spaces geared toward small- and mid-size businesses has been a key differentiator for this facility. Vaultra Storage partnered with My Lauft Inc. on the workspaces and added a smart conference room that can be booked on demand through a mobile app. The six-story facility contains 260,000 square feet of climate-controlled space in more than 2,100 units. With a PTI access control security system, the facility is accessible 24/7 with PTI keypads, features drive-thru loading docks, 240 security cameras, and the EasyCode mobile app for mobile accessibility and contactless rentals. 

Now, with the Vaultra flagship facility filling rapidly and the new sites under construction, the team continues to focus on new revenue streams.