Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com August 24, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 3 Ex-Shaw's redo sates public's need for more closets By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com A n idle New Britain supermarket store- front is about to become the newest U.S. testbed for a West Coast realty investor's concept for satisfying Americans' growing appetite for extra closets to stash their stuff. DealFirst Merrill LLC, of Los Angeles, recently closed its $2 million purchase of the vacant Shaw's Supermarket building at 1045 West Main St. DealFirst Merrill (D-M) portfolio manager Roger Burgin says conversions of underused or vacant "big box'' retail sites are climb- ing nationwide, particularly as the appeal of brick-and-mortar locations yields to the exploding presence of online shopping. Mass-market retailers, including Sam's Wholesale Club, Kmart, and, more recently, bankrupt grocer A&P Stores, are shedding small, unprofitable store locations in favor of ever-larger, "super'' stores that stock a broader merchandise assortment, or focus- ing on online "e-tailing." That means, Burgin says, plenty of oppor- tunity exists throughout Connecticut and other states for adaptive reuse of retail real estate. D-M is scouting other Connecticut sites that Burgin declined to identify. "Fortunately, we do well in good times and bad times,'' Burgin said. From next to nothing more than 30 years ago, self-storage facilities in the U.S. alone generated about $25 billion in revenues in 2014, according to Virginia self-storage con- sultant Jim Chiswell. Widening self-storage facilities' appeal, too, Chiswell says, has been Americans' pen- chant for accumulating mass quantities of almost everything — from furniture, clothes and automobile parts to sports equipment and memorabilia to wines. The average American needs about seven to eight square feet to store all of what they own, Chiswell and Burgin said, citing industry data. "Self storage has become a way to literally serve as substitute for the lack of space in your home,'' said Chiswell, the founder/president of Chiswell & Associates LLC, of Purcellville, Va. That's not all. Increasingly, entrepreneurs use self-storage sites as merchandise ware- houses. More sophisticated, manned opera- tors and their customers have turned some into actual shipping/delivery depots, sending or receiving goods to their vendors and customers, Chiswell said. Sel f- stora ge, too, is a cheaper option for storing tax files and other vital paper docu- ments and records than hiring a third- party repository like Iron Mountain Inc., he said. Finally, the self-storage indus- try calculates that at least 1,200 more such facilities, each averag- ing 500 units apiece, are needed to fully satisfy consumer demand for third-party storage. So, buying and converting an idle supermar- ket, or other large, former retail space makes good business sense, Chiswell said. Indeed, self-storage is at its core a retail service. Also, self-storage operators often find it difficult to crack into a community's zoning codes, to build a facility, especially in resi- dential neighborhoods. That's why, Chiswell said, ex-retail store sites like the Shaw's in New Britain appeal to owners and operators like DealFirst Merrill. But communities also are coming to appreciate owner/operators for restoring idle big-box retail sites to consumers and to the property-tax rolls. Repurposing old retail sites, especially ones with acres of parking spaces, can lead to new or redevelopment of parking lots into Continued A California realty investor paid $2 million for this former Shaw's Supermarket in New Britain that it will convert and reopen as a self-storage facility. H B J P H O T O | G R E G O R Y S E A Y This West Coast self-storage facility was once a supermarket. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D www.kelsercorp.com 111 Roberts St, Suite D East Hartford, CT 06108 860 610 2200 24/7/365 - hackers are incentivized to adapt tactics and attack persistently. How secure is your network? www.kelsercorp.com/cybercrime

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