Self-Storage Success and CSSA Napa Conf Recap with Lauren Feeney

THE SELF STORAGE REPORT — EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode: Self-Storage Success and CSSA Napa Conference Recap with Lauren Feeney Guest: Lauren Feeney — Director of Acquisitions, Trojan Storage (Los Angeles) Host: Chris Berg — Abernathey Development Published: May 23, 2025 (live) Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olZJMd43rg0 Key topics: Takeaways from the California Self Storage Association conference in Napa and how West Coast sentiment differs from the national shows, groups winning by being laser-focused on hyper-local data, AI for operations and remote facility management, the REITs cutting marketing spend 6–12% in Q1, getting deals done through assumable loans, seller financing, seller-fee negotiation, JVs and adaptive reuse, why institutional capital outbids value-add buyers on REIT-managed sites and why Trojan prefers "messier and hairier" deals, SB 709 (Menjivar) as a disclosure bill rather than a rate cap and the risk of a 10% annual cap for lease-ups, reframing ECRI as removing a discount, Trojan's revenue team web-scraping REIT street vs. web rates, vertical integration (tenant insurance, an in-house AI-assisted call center, and the QuikStor revenue-management acquisition), Noah Springer's Extra Space third-party-management panel and the data that 92% of their 3PM clients own fewer than 10 stores, the Extra Space bridge-loan "loan to own" program (~$600M of properties taken as collateral; 24% of loans by volume ending as acquisitions), REITs at ~40% market share, development math needing roughly $2.50/foot to pencil, defensive underwriting against incoming supply, the Gary Sugarman/CSSA coalition and the $61M education-funding argument, the Phoenix Metrocenter Mall and TSMC example of demographic-driven underwriting, and the full story of how Lauren unlocked the Inglewood site by buying the two houses next door. Note: Speaker attribution reconstructed from YouTube captions. Light cleanup of transcription errors only; wording preserved. ————————————————————————————— Chris Berg: Welcome to the Self Storage Report. Just got back from the California Self Storage Association event in Napa — absolutely epic event. So we're going to give you the inside scoop on what took place in Napa, what's happening here in California self-storage, with our very special guest today. She is the director of acquisitions at Trojan Storage, has got seven years in the business. Trojan just built a beautiful portfolio. Lauren Feeney — Lauren, it's great to have you here. Lauren Feeney: Hey, happy to be here. Big fan of the podcast, and love the industry data you're always sharing. I think it's really important for the industry. Chris Berg: Thank you. I'm a huge fan of you and what you guys are doing at Trojan. Let's jump into Napa. So, other than you sitting at the kids' table Monday night for dinner — rocking the kids' table, actually the biggest kid at the kids' table — serving margaritas all day Monday at the golf course. In all seriousness, for the audience: what do you think is the single most important thing they should have known or taken away from the Napa event? Lauren Feeney: Yeah. And you'll have to forgive me, because my voice is like gone after talking everyone's ear off at the conference this week. But I love the Napa conference. There's kind of this element of sophistication — it's a lot of owners, it's a lot of the C-level execs at companies. So it's a great place for everyone to get together and talk about California, which is extremely topical right now with legislation and pricing and the state of emergency. So that was a big subtext to what people were talking about. But we also have to realize it's a biased subset, because California operators are going to have a little more of the West Coast experience, and it's slightly different takeaways than what I would typically have at the national shows. But I would say for the most part, what I noticed is that the groups that are the most successful and seeing the most deals get across the finish line are really the ones laser-focused on data trends and hyper-local trends. Embracing AI for operations was a huge topic. I think using those pricing models to really handle remote facility management was a big topic of conversation, and there's a real push to run leaner operations to increase revenue. I mean, you even saw on the Q1 REIT reports — I think Public, Cube and Extra were all down 6 to 12% on their marketing spend this year. So a lot of people were asking how we're refining that. And then from an acquisitions perspective, one conversation I was having pretty repeatedly with people was: how are people getting deals done in this new era of competition? We have a pretty good industry reputation, and sometimes we get to best and final, and it's been harder and more competitive to get deals done. And so I'm seeing more groups exercising discipline but creativity — and maybe that's through assumable loans, seller financing, negotiation of seller fees, JV opportunities. Adaptive reuse plays is a big one too, so a lot of conversations around that. Chris Berg: Do you think that's because there's just a lot more capital coming into the space as well? Like institutionally? Lauren Feeney: Institutional capital tends to have more flexibility on returns, and so they're more likely to offer more on a site than someone who's more driven by a value-add play. They can handle assets that are REIT-managed and that don't have a lot of room to grow market rents. For a group like us, it's tough to offer on a REIT-managed site because there's not a lot of juice to squeeze. So yes, I think they're able to take down sites that are more institutionally run by the REITs, and so it's harder to compete with that, because they're more likely to pay top dollar — where a group like us, we like the messier and hairier deals, where there might be an expansion or there might need to be a $2 million capex project because it's a really tough site. So that's kind of been our edge in order to get deals done. Chris Berg: At some point I hope we get a chance to dive into your Inglewood site and give us an update on that. But you mentioned a lot of conversations that you had — I think that's really the power in going to these conferences, you just get a chance to meet a lot of different people. Is there any one or two conversations — don't disclose with who — but any one or two conversations that really jumped out to you, you think, "Oh, that was a really interesting piece of information I got," that you want to share with us? Lauren Feeney: Yeah, I think inevitably at the events and at broker dinners, you sit by a lot of your acquisition peers. And some of my best friends in the industry are acquisition folks. It's so nice to have that network of people I can call and say, "Hey, how are you looking at this deal? Am I missing something?" Or, "Hey, can you give me some background on this market? I've never underwritten here." So I've really cherished those relationships. My focus is meeting with brokers, but sometimes you learn the most from talking to your peers in acquisitions, because we're all doing the same job at the end of the day, with slightly different intentions of what we're buying. So some of the things I've learned through conversations at the conference was, a lot of people are focusing on opportunity funds rather than this core-plus that we've seen over the last few years. We can get into more details of what that looks like, but: how can we balance our portfolio outside of California right now with some of the trepidation we're seeing in the next few years? Development especially is going to be hard when you're leasing up a building with a 10% cap on — or there's not going to be the 10% cap, but with some of the new legislation coming out around what rate increases are going to allow. And so kind of the next frontier of where people are looking at deals was really interesting. And I'd love to get into that a little more, of the pros and cons later on in our conversation of looking at a new market — one that's not in your backyard, because you're competing against REIT data, and as a midsize operator you're limited to data platforms on what that looks like. So that was topical. I thought it was interesting that there wasn't a lot of fear around tariffs. A lot of people, especially developers, thought that would be a temporary pain, and I agree with that. Chris Berg: That's a very good tidbit right there. I'm curious — internally, your guys' conversation around SB 709 initially, and then where do you stand on it now, knowing it's not going to really cap rates, it's just going to be more of a transparency bill, if you will? Lauren Feeney: I think it's going to be more of a transparency bill. We obviously are monitoring it very closely, but to me it's more of a disclosure to the tenant, and making it very clear that there's going to be amendments on our lease agreement with them, that the probability of a rent increase is high, and making sure that our site staff is communicating that very well. Pedro and our operations team are really great with our site staff, and our education at our company is really strong on how we're going to start relaying that at our California sites. You know, we've never been operators that like to price-gouge or do massive rent increases. It's a bit of a "can't beat them, join them" with the REITs. So we are doing them, of course, and we're pushing revenue where we can, but we're not doing it every three months. And so I think just making sure we're extremely honest and clear with our intentions on our lease agreement, and that the customer walking through the door knows that might be a possibility — which is the industry standard now. Chris Berg: Yeah. I don't know if you were in the room at the time, but there was a gentleman, John LaRoy, who talked about, "Hey, I think we need to get rid of this ECRI conversation. Just say, hey, we're simply removing your discount. You came in, you got a great discount, we're going to remove it after so many months." And I just think that's sort of how we language it, frame it, reframe it — however you want to say it — can be a lot more palatable to people, because at the end of the day, that's really what it is. You're coming in, you're getting a good deal, and then all of a sudden that goes away after a certain amount of time. Do you agree? Lauren Feeney: Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, even when you rent an apartment, that conversation's had. Every lease agreement, if you're reading them, there's some kind of language around that already. I don't think it's going to be a fundamental shift. Where we'll have a problem is if there is a 10% cap every year of what you can grow it to — because it's a little bit of like, all the ships of the same tide rise together. If we all just really implement stronger street rates and move people in at higher rates, we're not going to have a problem. It's with lease-ups where there's a little more concern, because you're really focused on occupancy to drive that revenue. And so we have a really, really intellectual revenue team who is tracking ECRI strategies across the board. They're hyper-focused on what promotional strategies are at play, what the deficit between street rate and web rate is for all of the REITs. We're constantly web-scraping to see what's going into that, how we can align our strategies to our very localized market so that we're not missing anything. And anytime there's a rise to street rates, we're making sure that we're adjusting accordingly. So we're very on top of that, and I think that will help combat some of what's going on with the legislation. Chris Berg: You know, there's so much data in this industry. So how are you analyzing — even just the data you just mentioned, with all the different rates, how it changes? How are you guys analyzing that, and then obviously utilizing that to increase your NOI? Lauren Feeney: I mean, it's a loaded question — we have a lot going on. But I think from a vertical integration standpoint, we're looking at everything. One of my major focuses — and I'll get into the acquisition side too, because I think it's twofold — in order to be a successful operator or acquisition in purchasing assets that make sense for the portfolio, you have to understand your operations. So I'm constantly looking at our daily reports and what sites are doing really well, where we're struggling a little bit, and that needs to help shape where I want to buy sites. Similarly in new markets, I'm always looking at data of what markets are seeing the biggest year-over-year shift. But one thing I'm noticing, and this has been very topical, is vertical integration. So when I was looking at the REIT reports, I was looking at their P&L to see what was driving the most growth year-over-year, as operations have been flat for all of us. I think all of the top three REITs were relatively flat, maybe 1% growth year-over-year for Q1 from a storage revenue perspective. But what was driving growth was third-party management efforts — and I have a lot of friends in the 3PM space — and tenant insurance. Based on the Q1 REIT reports, I was fascinated to see that Public and Extra Space had 10% of their total revenue driven by tenant insurance programs. Which is massive, and it's simple to implement. So that's something that we're building out — it's called Braco, a tenant insurance program there. And then we also inputted our own call center, which is very helpful for site efficiency, and we're using AI for that, which is amazing. And then we bought QuikStor, which is the revenue management system, and we've had some great success getting new customers on that. But I think one of the biggest trends I'm seeing with the REITs is third-party management. And I was at the Montana ski conference — which, you have to go to the ski conference next year, it's so fun, and talk about cap rates while you're going down the slopes. But Noah Springer, the chief strategy officer at Extra Space, gave one of the best industry panels I've seen, on their third-party management program. And some of the data he shared was so interesting, and it really speaks to the fact that the industry is shifting so much. So I know, based on their REIT report, like 5% of their total revenue for Q1 was from third-party management, but they had a 33% increase in third-party managed sites from Q1 of '24 to now, which is crazy. And same — I think Public Storage was in the 30% increase range. But the biggest takeaway was that he explained that 80% of their third-party managed sites only own one to three stores, and then 12% of their third-party managed sites only own four to nine stores. So that means 92% of their customers that use third-party management own less than 10 stores. And that's like consolidation happening in real time, big time. Chris Berg: And then when they've got their bridge loan program — I don't know if you looked at what they're doing there and what that means for their bottom line as well, but that's a very powerful program for the REITs. Lauren Feeney: There's a stat on that bridge loan program. I don't know if you listened to the Extra Space earnings call, but I found this fascinating: that they've been able to purchase almost $600 million of properties as collateral. So 24% of all of the loans they have, by volume, end up as company acquisitions. Chris Berg: That's broker — I don't know if you want to go there, but I would love to, because I've had some brokers call me and we've had the conversation. And I don't want to use any specific names, but I will say that they refer to it as a "loan to own" program. Like, yeah, we'll give you a bridge loan and certain kind of terms, but next thing you know, they're coming in and owning that thing. And I think it's obviously great for their bottom line. But your thoughts on that? Lauren Feeney: I don't know too much about the bridge loan programs, but yes, I think one, it gives smaller groups an opportunity to get into the space, but it's also an acquisition tool. And it's a no-brainer to me. If I had a company of that scale, I would be utilizing those resources too. Chris Berg: Yeah. All the data on the site, obviously how it's operating — it's just a complete no-brainer. So anything else you want to share there? Because I do want to back up to the SB 709 conversation for a second. Lauren Feeney: Yeah, I guess one other thing — it's a little bit of a "can't beat them, join them" mentality, of course, but the whole tie into that was: as they're building out this third-party management system, and these very small ankle-biter owner-operators are choosing more than ever to third-party manage with the REITs in the industry, because it just makes sense with the cutting-edge marketing and branding and capabilities that they have and market rent knowledge — we're seeing it grow so much, and industry consolidation. I think the REITs own 40% of the market share of self-storage at this point. Which means smaller opportunities for us to buy, because it doesn't make sense necessarily for us to buy REIT-managed sites. But also on top of that, it's easier for new people to get into the space. So the last data point that wows me is that Public Storage has like 96 prospective clients for their third-party management program, and 90 of those are new developments. So the entry point to get into storage is easier, because these are developers that might be in retail or might be in office, and they want to build a self-storage facility down the street — they just tack on Public and they lease up the site with the best in business. So it's an interesting model. I'm fascinated with it. Chris Berg: What's so interesting is you framing it this way, because I guess I just didn't tie it together until now as you're sharing this. But as you were mentioning going into other markets, right? That's one of the benefits for us being associated with PS — we can talk to our area manager and go, "Hey, what do you think about this area? What are you seeing? What are your district managers telling you?" So I've been so used to those kinds of data points that I didn't realize how much of an edge that is and could be with what you guys are doing. So thank you for sharing that with me. It's obvious, but I just didn't put it together, because I just had access to it the whole time. Lauren Feeney: Right. And that's our — I mean, we utilize our tools and our resources available to us. But to be honest, we don't just make assumptions when we're underwriting. It's a lot of calling people I know in the market, really understanding what I know to be effective rents, doing incredible data research on the back end — but I still might be 15 cents off. And that's why I really have to do best case, worst case scenario every time I underwrite, because if there's a 15-cent swing, that could turn into millions of dollars of NOI change at the 10 years. So we just have to do more homework when we're underwriting. Chris Berg: Yeah. And I want to get into that sensitivity analysis that you guys, I'm assuming, do in some way, shape or form, when we get into the underwriting piece. But you do bring up a really good point I want to table for a second, because I want to go back to the SB 709 thing — but around development too, where you've seen this unbelievable spike in supply. According to Yardi, it's going to start to come back down over the next several years. There's obviously a myriad of reasons for that, but let's discuss that as well in a moment. First, I do want to just acknowledge Gary Sugarman, California Self Storage Association, the National Self Storage — like the coalition they built to go into Senator Menjivar and have this conversation to change this bill. And I want to get your thoughts on this. The one piece — and I actually had a chance to talk to Rob Lapsley about this from the California Business Roundtable — and I said, "Hey, I don't know who came up with this, but I just want to say thank you," when they came up with the line item saying, "If you guys want to go out and put on these caps on rental rates, you're going to actually lower the property values, which is going to cause you to miss out on $61 million per year in education funding." And I've been around a lot of politicians — I don't know a single politician that's willing to give up $61 million a year in education funding for one constituent complaint. So whoever came up with that line item, I think was fantastic. But your thoughts on that? Lauren Feeney: Yeah, I track how it impacts our revenue and everything, but I'm not super well-versed in all of the nitty-gritty of what the law was. But yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think we have a lot of really intelligent people that are backing up the legislation. And I know one of the head guys at West Coast Self-Storage is now combating it in Washington state. But I think because we got ahead of it so early, and the CSSA has such a strong group of people behind it supporting it — I've been on three or four meetings with my CSSA committee talking about it and the implications and long-term defense strategies. And it's a matter of getting extremely intellectual people in a room, and you really realize the power of our industry to have the capabilities and resources to combat something like this. I mean, other industries have been doing it for years — look at the hotel industry, look at the airline industry. Why is it so hyper-focused on storage? And I think we've really honed and crafted arguments that support our case very well. And so, not too sure how it all impacts the education fund, but it is really interesting and we're definitely tracking it. Chris Berg: Yeah. I want to go back to the development — as in the 3PM you mentioned, where in private conversations we've talked about, you said, "Yeah, development isn't maybe as much of the forefront as it has been in the past for us," as we see development numbers go down again, per Yardi. You kind of heard it in Napa, that hey, it's tough to build right now. You mentioned a really important piece with the 3PM, where now kind of anybody can go, "Look, I can get a GC, I can go do this, go do that, put up this structure, let Public manage it." Do you think that has made it — I don't want to say too easy, because it's not easy — but that much more simple and easy to build, that thus we've seen this incredible increase in supply in certain areas? Lauren Feeney: Yes and no. I think it's still very expensive, and I think it's hard to find land that makes it work. It has made it easier from like the 2021 to 2023 burst of new supply we've seen come in — for new people to get into the market when conditions were a little easier. I don't think that necessarily means it's easier to have a successful project. I think it means that more research has to be done than ever before. We look at land prices and the trends and the cost of development all the time, and realistically right now, unless it's a market that's achieving like $2.50 a foot, it's hard to get it to pencil — or unless you get an unbelievable price on the land dollar-per-foot-wise. But ways we're combating that is just being extremely meticulous on how to anticipate trends in market, so we negate risk in a big way. And then exercising way more granularity with our demographic approach: what's happening in the market, what are the pros and cons of entering a new market. That's something we've been talking a lot about as we look outside of California from a development and existing perspective. We can't just drive down the street to get a lay of the land like I can here — our Inglewood site is a good example of that. But I think that is the biggest way we're combating that as the conditions kind of fluctuate on pricing. Chris Berg: So overall, what's your stance on California from a self-storage perspective? I mean, are you long California? A lot of people are scared of California. What's your analysis of it? Lauren Feeney: Yeah, it's funny you say that, because the sentiment in Napa was so much more positive than it was at the ISS show in Vegas last month, where everyone was like, "Oh, you're in California — you're brave." Meanwhile, I'm going to leave out names, but I talked to three major acquisition groups about development and what their strategies are — and all three of them were still super bullish on California long term, actively looking for land, super keen on developing. Now, it's mostly in those core metros of like the Bay Area and Southern California. But it's funny how the sentiment really shifts when you go to the national conferences versus California. Internally, we do have a lot of projects in the pipeline that we're not worried about. They're in great markets because we've done our demographic research on them, and so it makes sense. But you really have to do your homework. And we're overall really bullish on it. Chris Berg: So yeah, us too. I've always enjoyed our conversations, because you've got really a great mind when it comes to underwriting. So let's dive into that. If you want to go with your Inglewood site, if you want to make something up — but I want to know, like, okay, a piece of dirt comes to you, or even if you want to talk about an acquisition: where do you start? What's your underwriting process? Lauren Feeney: Yeah, I have a few examples I can share of that. But I kind of touched on this — I would say demographic trends and shifts are so important right now. And in markets where you aren't — you can go on ChatGPT and really use a qualifiable approach, where you can type in like, "Give me the average household income. What is the reputation of this space?" But unless you get boots on the ground, you're really not going to be able to have that full 360 perspective on an area. I'll share an example of a site we looked at, I believe it was like 2023, but it was in Phoenix, Arizona, and it was the Metrocenter Mall area. I think the city was putting in $850 million to kind of create one of those functional living scenarios — we have one in Playa near where I live — but it's like everything you could possibly need is within like a half a mile of where you live, work, eat, work out, go to the doctor. And so it was this huge mall redevelopment play. And then about a mile away, this Taiwanese microchip manufacturer was coming in — I think they were called TSMC — and they were developing semiconductors. But why it was interesting to buy in this area: because with all the new residential development comes a huge need for storage. But this massive plant — I think they were putting in $160 billion into this plant — they were also bringing in 10,000 jobs. And while Phoenix has been tough the last few years with oversupply, the opportunity was super interesting because it had proximity to all of this expansive growth that was going to drive huge population traffic. And it made us look at that market a little differently, because storage was going to get difficult to build and the demand was going to skyrocket regardless of the supply that had happened the prior three to five years. So that's just an example of like, okay, if you really do your homework, you walk the area, you see what's going on, you see the sophistication of the area that you're buying into — makes it a lot more compelling for investment, and it's an easier sell for our internal investors as well. Chris Berg: Amen. I'm curious then — you talked about rates, and sometimes, if I don't have all the data, I can be 15 cents off, and that can be very costly once the doors open. What are you doing to help mitigate that? And are you doing like a sensitivity analysis? And are you underwriting — for example, do you look at current rates and go, "Okay, that's where we're going to underwrite from"? Or do you go, "You know what, over the last probably 15 years there's been 4% growth annually in rates, we're going to maybe up the rates a little bit as we underwrite and then think into the future when we open doors"? Lauren Feeney: I think anyone would be making a mistake if they had one blanket way of doing it. Every market is so different. There are certain markets where I'm a lot more conservative with my underwriting. And I'm really lucky in the sense that our investment committee is me and Brett. And so if I really like a deal, him and I will sit in the office together and really go through all the scenarios of why or why it doesn't work. And that's our decision-making process. But yes, we always stress-test our deals on a swing of — okay, if this pencils at our threshold at the worst case scenario, then it should be a no-brainer. And so we'll do kind of a compilation of a lot of different things: looking at trended rates over time, and what the REITs are doing, and what the mom-and-pops are doing, and especially incoming supply. That's a really big one. How easy is it to build? Are they converting 99 Cent Stores down the street? Because that's probably a problem. So those are just very broadly some of the factors we look at. But it's also really looking at a lot of the growth of what's happened the last few years. We don't want to compete against a brand new lease-up that's right down the street. And what is the quality of the assets? You know, we looked at some markets where it's the only new build since 1980. And so what is the offering and the value attribute of that site in that market? Chris Berg: So walk me through that, because I don't know a lot of people that spend a ton of time on the defensive strategy. It sounds like you and Brett are doing a pretty good job of that. So are you looking at each parcel and going, "Hey, what's the zoning here? Could potentially be built on this?" Like you talked about conversions. How much time, as you're doing the underwriting, are you spending on that defensive strategy? Lauren Feeney: A pretty significant amount of time. If we're getting close to offering on a site — like, you want to see, if you have three sites coming in in five miles, we're going to do our due diligence to see what stages they're in, if there's any city updates, if they're stale projects or not, how big are the sites, and can that demographic area really digest that new supply, and how is that going to impact our annual growth? Like, you're not going to forecast 10% year-over-year growth if there's three sites coming in the year after you buy a site. So you have to temper accordingly. Chris Berg: I'm curious, when you sit down with Brett. I'll give you an example and I want to hear how you and Brett do the process. So Stephen Schwarzman from Blackstone — obviously very, very successful, but his second investment didn't go well. So from there on out, every time they sat down in front of the investment review committee, the guy pitching the deal had to start with, "Here's why we shouldn't do this deal," right? Let's get all the bad things out of the way, let's start with why this should be a no, and then defend the thesis on talking me into actually doing it. So do you and Brett start the same way with, "Hey, here's why we shouldn't do it"? Or walk me through when you guys sit down — how are you pitching Brett on deals? Lauren Feeney: Yeah, it's not all rose-colored glasses. I'll start with some of the positive takeaways, but yeah, we're very realistic with what we can and can't do in a certain market. And you have to have those hard conversations. I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't saying what the risks associated with every deal are. That's a huge part of the conversation. Chris Berg: What market are you most excited about right now? Lauren Feeney: I don't want to share all the secret sauce, but we're definitely looking outside of California — I'll say that. And still interested in the West Coast in general. But yeah, we're looking at expanding to states close to California. And I think if something's a very compelling dollar-per-foot market, then we'll take an extra added look at it — but using a lot of those strategies I mentioned on demographic and where we're seeing businesses grow, to really dictate what our future strategy and pipeline looks like. Chris Berg: I want to give you a big tip of the hat, because of the way you pulled off the Inglewood site. So I'd love for you just to share that story. I mean, I just think it's a great site. Have you guys broken ground yet, or — Lauren Feeney: No, we haven't. We're close to, though. So, demolish existing structures, and there's a few entitlement things we need to wrap up. Chris Berg: How's the entitlement process going with the city? Good? Lauren Feeney: Good. I'm not handling that personally — we have someone on our team named Mark who handles that. But so far it's been pretty smooth, because technically the land was entitled for storage. We were just expanding what we were doing with it based on the land we were able to buy nearby. So it was something that was already accepted in that area with the zoning, but it was more of just an expansion on top of that. So from what I know and from the conversations I've had with Mark, it's going well. Chris Berg: So just to give people some context: there was a great site in Inglewood. It was going to be built up — I think it was five or six stories, correct me if I'm wrong there, Lauren — Lauren Feeney: Yeah, six. Chris Berg: Six. And they had it built almost like the hospital. Like, the construction just didn't work, but you knew from a location, like, man, this is a great location — the fact they even got, like you said, entitled for storage, like there's a there there. But because of our inexperience, I just couldn't see it through the purview that you guys did. And all of a sudden you guys were like, "Wait a second, we can make it work if we do X, Y and Z." So walk us through how you got creative to do the X, Y and you're done. Lauren Feeney: It's a funny story. And I think it's one of those deals that will be like a once-in-a-lifetime situation. But the deal was good on its own — I know you were also looking at it, I think that's how we really became friends actually. And the land was already entitled, but there wasn't much — we didn't love the existing plans for it. It was tall and skinny and not a lot of room on the property for parking and unloading. And it all stemmed from a conversation. Our head of construction, his name is Ed — we were sitting there and he's just like, "God, I just wish, if we had more land in Inglewood, this would just be an unbelievable home run deal." And it got my wheels turning, and I was like, "What can we do here?" And so, it's only about 15 minutes from our corporate office. So I actually got in my car and I drove over there — and I'm not kidding, it's like on the same street as the Clippers stadium, right there, the Intuit Dome, and one straight over is — so I drove by the site in the dark, like right after work, and I noticed there were two homes on the west side of the property, or like northwest side. And I was like, "That's interesting, because I know the zoning is the same." And so I got back to work the next morning, and — you know how on Google Maps you can look through time at a site? So you can Google a property and then you can go through, like, what did the street view of this look like at 2020, 2021, etc. So I did that, and I saw a "for sale" sign outside of one of the residences. And I found a phone number on the for-sale sign, and I called the agent, and it was a local real estate agent from Inglewood. And I said, "Hey, I noticed that you had this listed about a year and a half ago. What's the deal?" And he said, "Oh, it's so interesting — the owner didn't want to sell it until the Intuit Dome opened." And I said, "Well, good news: the Intuit Dome is open." And so he said, "You know what? That's super interesting. Let me call him." And so it was someone who had lived at the home for decades — his kids were raised there. And we ended up working out a deal with him. And I ran into Brett's office and talked to him about it, and he's like, "Yeah, if we can grow the size of the parcel, we could build a much, much bigger building there." And so we both got very excited, and then ended up buying the house next door too. And so it made our construction team very happy, because we were able to make the building not quite twice as big, but substantially bigger. And then instead of six stories, it's four, as of the most recent plans. But it'll be over 100,000 net rentable now. And so, much bigger footprint and a much better deal long term. Chris Berg: Yeah. I mean, congratulations — that is going to be a gem of an asset. And I remember we had Brett on the podcast and I asked him about it, and he like froze. He's like, "Wait, how's this cat know about the Inglewood deal?" Lauren Feeney: Oh yeah. Chris Berg: And I had no idea. It was just one of those things like, "Hey, I love this site, let's talk about it." But yeah, I just really — kudos to you. Do you want to share any more about the story? Because I know there was some other snippets where you had to go do some negotiations and — Lauren Feeney: It was — I'll say it was a really good one to have across the finish line. It was a lot of different characters that we had to come across to get it done. So I'm excited to finally break ground on it, that's for sure. Chris Berg: Yeah. Anything else you want to add or share that we haven't talked about? Lauren Feeney: Not that I can think of. We didn't really get to entry into storage, but I'm really excited about the industry and where it's going to go, and I think the best is yet to come. Chris Berg: So tell me more — what makes you… because I think many people may not see it through that perspective. So why do you say the best is yet to come? Lauren Feeney: I think there's more players in it than ever before, but I'm happy with where we're at. Just as a midsize operator, I think we're in a little bit of a unique position. We have the ability to be a little more entrepreneurial, and like I said, we're really scaling our vertical integration with QuikStor and our revenue management software. And I'm really excited for that and the growth we're seeing there, as we're growing beyond just storage. And so I'm really looking forward to that, and our tenant insurance program, to help grow the business. And we have a lot of different levers we're pulling. So I think that will be kind of the next frontier for us. Chris Berg: And you did raise the suggestion around your story into self-storage. I just — like, I see you at all these events, I'm like, "Oh, everybody knows Lauren." Lauren Feeney: Yeah. Chris Berg: Your story into storage — the floor is yours. Lauren Feeney: No, it was more just like — I actually found the job on Craigslist, which is hilarious. And you know, it's funny working in self-storage. I'm sure you feel the same way, but it's not necessarily what everyone wants to talk about at a dinner conversation, like when I'm out with my friends. But it's such an intelligent, awesome and unique industry. And I remember I was in marketing at first, and I was interviewing with Brett after I found the job on Craigslist. I was 22, and I was just so enamored with his passion about the industry, and being like a very sophisticated operator at a time where there wasn't the technology and sophistication that we have today in the industry. And now it's sharper, faster and more competitive than ever. But it was an incredible experience, and getting the revenue management side experience was incredibly critical to how I underwrite sites — and the background of knowing capex and knowing how to do site takeovers and marketing strategies and customer length of stay. I think all of those factors really set a foundation for me to be able to underwrite sites incredibly differently. So, grateful for that experience. Chris Berg: Yeah, so funny you bring up the dinner. I always tell like, "Yeah, it's a super boring business, you don't want anything to do with it, just keep doing what you're doing." Lauren Feeney: But I'm really good at selling it. Like, I'm like, "No, storage is so cool. Like, hear me out, guys — we go to Napa for conferences." I mean, how great was Napa? I just think that event is epic. It was refreshing from like the Vegas landscape, so I was excited for that. Chris Berg: Very well said. Well, Lauren, thank you. I'm a huge fan of yours and Trojan Storage. I just think you guys — amazing, amazing work. So appreciate it. If people want to reach out to you, maybe they've got some deals they want to send your way — are you okay if I share your email address right now? Lauren Feeney: Yeah, that's fine. Chris Berg: Anything else that you want to share with people, to reach out to you and contact you? Lauren Feeney: No. Feel free — LinkedIn is great, or email is the preference. But I'm a big fan of yours too, and thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Chris Berg: Let's do it again. So, this is the Self Storage Report. Again — Lauren Feeney, Trojan Storage, putting together some great sites, and hopefully we'll have her back in the future. — END OF TRANSCRIPT —