3 selfstorage facilities proposed
LOWER POTTSGROVE >> This township may soon become the region’s self-storage capital.
No fewer than three plans are now before township officials for new self-storage unites on North Charlotte Street, South Pleasantview Road and East High Street.
The most recent proposal, which has been presented to the township commissioners but not formally filed, would located a new $3 million facility at 2148 E. High St., the site of several former car dealerships.
Called Moove-In Self Storage, the company has just had a facility approved in Amity Town-
ship, owns and intends to spend $500,000 on expanding the existing self-storage on South Pleasantview Road and now wants to add the former car dealership to its holdings.
“We also have 20 other locations in Maryland and New Jersey,” said developer John Gilliland of Investment Real Estate Group.
The investors had informally met previously with staff and Township Commissioners Chairman Bruce Foltz, “and we told them we weren’t interested, that they needed to improve their plan, and they did.”
Gilliland said self-storage facilities are in demand — he said there is a waiting list at the South Pleasantview Road location — offer tax base with low impact, no school children, little to no impact on police services and low traffic.
He said studies show the average unit renter visits only twice every 13 months.
Gilliland said the units would be a neutral color and face inward, so as not to disturb residents of the town homes neighboring the rear of the property and would generate much less light pollution.
The existing office/showroom building would be gutted and converted to climate-controlled storage units, he said.
Township Manager Ed Wagner said the proposed expansion at the South Pleasantview Road site was previously approved when the plan was first built.
That site currently has has 267 units and plans call for adding 89 more, for a total of 356 units.
It was not immediately clear how many new units are being proposed by Moove-In Self Storage at the High Street site.
On the other side of town is a proposal before the township planning commission spearheaded by GEG 663 Storage, said Wagner.
Located on four acres most recently occupied by a used car dealership opposite Planet Fitness, the proposal calls for between 175 and 300 self-storage units, depending on their size, Wagner said.
A use variance for the project, which is located in the commercial office district, was approved last year by the zoning board, said Wagner. The site plan for the project is now in the process being revised for its next appearance before the planning commission.
Once it passes muster there, it must still win approval from the township commissioners.