Self Storage Construction in 2022: The Southwest & Florida Lead While Staten Island Levels Up

After self storage became an increasingly essential service during recent challenging years, in 2022 its activities cooled somewhat. However, the sector’s customer base is now wider and the momentum for building new facilities remains strong, with Sun Belt cities and places experiencing population growth leading the way.

Last year, storage construction matched a strong self storage market, bringing 552 new facilities online with a total of 40.4M rentable storage space, as per Yardi Matrix data. While that represented a small 16.9% decrease from the exceptional self storage year of 2021, it is still considerably more than the inventory additions of a few years ago — 32M and 25M square feet were added in 2016 and 2015, respectively. Even with exceptional needs diminishing as the pandemic wound down, the sector’s increased appreciation among the public will have persuaded many real estate investors to continue favoring the storage sector over others.

Analysis of self storage completions in 2022 reveals that the Sunbelt continues to have the most enthusiasm for the sector — paralleling recent real estate development — with Florida cities in evidence. Understandably, places with expanding populations — for example in Texas, Nevada and Arizona — often developed the most new rentable storage space. Tennessee also built confidently, while Staten Island upped its inventory to challenge other New York City boroughs, and Indianapolis led construction in the Midwest.

Phoenix spearheads Arizona’s increases to its storage inventories

Phoenix self storage lead the nation in construction last year, adding square footage approaching the previous year’s figure, consistent with the city’s reputation as a magnet for businesses and people. Elsewhere in the Valley of the Sun, upscale Scottsdale placed 44^th, increasing its already-generous 7.7 square feet per capita, while the city of Surprise in 29^th position had a double-digit inventory increase, in keeping with a population that has more than quadrupled over the last 20 years.

Tucson, just outside our list in 21^st place, boosted its already ample storage stock of 8 square feet per capita by adding rentable space in two new large facilities. And just a few miles north of town, Tucsonians can also benefit from another new store with more than 100K square feet in suburban Oro Valley.

The Tucson Suburb of Oro Valley Arizona

Texas adds more storage to the US’s biggest inventories with San Antonio leading

San Antonio had 2022’s third-best construction figures, and it may be no coincidence that, apart from Phoenix, it is the only one of the US’s top-10 largest cities currently seeing population growth, 1.2% between 2020 and 2021. San Antonio’s sizable addition of space further swells the country’s second-largest self storage inventory of over 18M square feet. The city is also a pioneer in the tiny homes trend, a style of living which rapidly motivates a need for extra storage space.

Although having Texas’s second-highest 2022 storage construction activity, Houston self storage’s storage provision is already far and away the US’s largest at 27M rentable square feet. Development as a percentage of inventory is therefore one of the nation’s lowest — 2022’s addition represents a modest 1% increase. Toward the other end of this spectrum, the small-yet-expanding Central Texas city of Temple, with its thriving medical services sector, grew its inventory by no less than 17% in 2022.

The Riverwalk in San Antonio Texas

Nevada’s Las Vegas Valley area ramps up storage in 2022 and looks to add more

Las Vegas is another city which already built a large storage inventory, the nation’s third-highest at around 13M rentable square feet. But while the square footage currently under-construction — equal to 5.6% of the city’s total inventory — is a drop from the double-digit figures of recent years, it still puts Vegas in the top five in this regard, per Yardi Matrix data.

Rounding out top 20, Henderson, NV, provides further proof that self storage is well appreciated in the Las Vegas Valley, having increased its inventory by 6.7% in 2022 — this is compared to Vegas’s 2.7%. The top-5 population increase of 15% that Nevada experienced between 2010 and 2020, per US Census data, will be giving developers continuing confidence.

Las Vegas Nevada Skyline Over The Strip

Florida has most top-20 self storage constructing cities and double-digit inventory increases

Florida contributes no fewer than seven places to the top 20 of storage-developing cities in 2022. The state’s rapid population growth — 14.6% during the period 2010-2020— strongly motivates demand for storage, as does its enduring popularity with retirees, who are often downsizing and finding that they have excess possessions.

Orlando, with its tourism and other thriving sectors, lead the state in providing new storage, followed closely by Jacksonville — both cities also experienced 2020-2022 population expansions of over 2%. Florida’s biggest 2022 storage-building surprise, however, was tiny Niceville in 19^th place, out on the Panhandle and with a population of not much more than 10K.

Confirming Florida’s snowballing enthusiasm for storage, inventories in Sarasota, Lakeland, Bradenton and all had increases hovering around 10% despite already having very generous storage provisions of more 8% — Clearwater‘s inventory got an even greater 15% boost.

Clearwater Beach Florida

Tennessee & North Carolina lead other Southeastern states’ 2022 storage development

No new self storage was completed in Nashville in 2022, but similarly-sized Memphis registered the nation’s second-highest rentable space addition, while Knoxville, just a third the size, added a quarter of a million rentable square feet. Tennessee’s storage provision is generally above average — Knoxville’s is a high 9.5 square feet per capita — but both these cities had confidence to grow their inventories by more than 6% in 2022.

North Carolina is also generous with storage, but the 6.9 square feet per capita offered by Charlotte self storage is around the national average. In this growing city with strong education and economic pluses, the local storage sector saw fit to generate a top-10 inventory boost in 2022. The Tarheel State is currently experiencing a popularity similar to Tennessee’s, the populations of both places having risen by around 9% between 2010 and 2020.

Marshall Park in Uptown Charlotte North Carolina

The Midwest completes the top 5 with Indianapolis & also brings tiny Box Elder, SD

Indianapolis self storage has an ample supply compared to other Midwestern cities — 6.7 square feet per capita compared to just 3.4 in Chicago and 3.6 in Milwaukee, for example. Indy’s 2022 inventory increase of 4.4% is also more self-assured than in many other nearby locations, with the Windy City only managing a 1.4% increase last year.

Box Elder, South Dakota, with only about 12K residents, was the only Midwestern city that came close to Indy, increasing its storage inventory by half as much again in 2022. Sioux Falls — in 65^th place overall but adding three new facilities last year — helps South Dakota punch above its weight and provide for a population that increased around 9% between 2010 and 2020.

The Falls at Sioux Falls South Dakota

New York’s ‘Cinderella’ borough levels up to its more glamorous sisters

Staten Island self storage‘s three new stores in 2022 boosted its inventory by a considerable 17.2%. This was despite it being easily the least-populated NYC borough in terms of both numbers and density, and also having the lowest population growth between 2010 and 2018 at just 1.6%. With Staten Island neighborhood’s residential sales dropping more sharply than in other NYC boroughs, the local self storage sector may have calculated that its lower-cost space will become increasingly welcome to residents not so able to purchase homes.

The other NYC boroughs had a relatively quiet 2022, and while Brooklyn self storage registered a space increase of only 3.0%, Queens and the Bronx built no new facilities. These trends may change, however. The Big Apple as a whole has long been undersupplied with storage and currently has development in the pipeline representing 5.9% of total inventory, the fourth-highest such figure in the nation.

Staten Island Ferry and Lower Manhattan Skyline New York

The vigorous ongoing development of new storage space in 2022 certainly indicates widespread investor confidence. The pandemic-related increased demand for self storage ensured that, despite the difficulties, development of new facilities continued apace, and while 2022 was unlikely to replicate the banner year of 2021, it also rode the wave. Growth in populations and business opportunities also continues to fuel the sector, making some of America’s most in-focus cities and states shine brightest for storage developers right now.