he Fletcher Storage facility in Redding, Conn., is a stunning development by Nick and Ryan Fletcher, who each brought their own unique talents to the team. Nick came from a background in technology, brother Ryan construction. Nine years ago, they joined forces to become operators and developers within commercial real estate.

“Our company started out as a high-end residential home construction company,” says Nick. “We build custom homes in Greenwich, Darien, the Hamptons, typically from $5 million to $50 million-type custom homes. We are involved in the whole process, soup to nuts, working very closely with architects as well as design build.”

The brothers used their experience to enter the storage arena with an impressive first foray into the industry. Notable features at this 2025 New Facility of the Year winner include Bluetooth locks, climate-controlled storage units, luxury vehicle storage, EV charging stations, superior security features, drive-thru access, 24/7 access to units, white-glove concierge service, and upscale wine storage with a dedicated wine tasting area.

One of the things that has set the Fletcher team apart is sticking to their roots and the region they know so well.

“Any of the deals that we have done, any of the projects that we’ve worked on, have always been local in Fairfield County or Westchester County,” says Nick. “We have an intimate understanding of the local market and the submarket. We understand the demographics and the main economic drivers of these towns and how they move.”

He goes on to say, “We look at things a bit differently. It’s almost a contrarian view on commercial real estate. We take a residential approach to commercial projects. Because we have such a good understanding of the demographics in this part of Connecticut, we tailor our projects and the deliverable to best suit our clients.”

The Fletchers started buying value-add office and multifamily projects in Greenwich, taking the same approach of inspiring through design and elevated aesthetic to inject an unexpected spark into the commercial setting.

“With Fletcher Storage, this was a project that we actually got under because it is located in our hometown of Reading,” says Nick. “It is a quiet residential town, but wherever they have commercial pockets, the zoning is all encompassing and generally pretty liberal.”

Securing a project in an area with generous zoning policies is key in an era of tougher and tightening restrictions on self-storage.

“We drove past this dilapidated vacant property for eight or nine years,” says Nick. “It was a 40,000-square-foot R&D/office building. Eventually it went on the market and there was just no interest. It was almost forgotten when my brother secured it under contract in 2017. There was some remediation and some environmental issues that we had to work through. Ultimately, we purchased the property in 2021, in the early days of COVID.”

The Fletchers had never done self-storage before but recognized it could be an interesting opportunity because it was allowable, a permitted use, and it had square footage and acreage that would enable the brothers to build density on the property.

“We spent close to two years studying self-storage really closely,” says Nick, “and ultimately decided this is the product that we wanted to build on this site. We went before the town, got it approved for self-storage, and started the design of the building and structure.”

In the process of gaining approval from the town authorities, it didn’t hurt that these were local sons of Reading and had built a stellar reputation in the region as quality developers.

“I imagine the fact that we were boys who grew up in town and were now trying to leave our impression and leave something positive behind helped the process go faster,” says Nick. “I think there was a great deal of confidence in us because the town of Reading knew about the Fletcher brand. We’ve built homes here before. They knew our project would be built right and it was going to be aesthetically pleasing and something that residents wouldn’t mind driving past.”

Although the personal connection with Reading might have helped dodge some slanted questions, it wasn’t a blank check for acceptance.

“We were the beneficiaries of really liberal zoning in a town that is so unaccustomed to commercial real estate [that] in some ways we were able to educate authorities along the way because of an inexperience with the asset class. The municipality had to outsource and go to other towns to figure out what self-storage even meant at the core. We helped guide them and there was a certain level of confidence because we were the boys from Redding.”

A growing trend in self-storage is the need to go beyond the basic steel box of the past to offer a product that is as pleasing to look at as it is easy for customers to use.

“I originally set out to recreate the historic mill,” says Ryan, “but then I asked, ‘Why recreate the past when we can engineer the future? We designed the 241 Ethan Allen facility to be a modern, sustainable marvel, off-grid, using continuous insulation and a full heat pump system, with above-ground water detention as an architectural feature.”

Blending design and future-proof sustainability in a beautiful way makes the project a standout.

“It’s about inspiring people to see that responsible design can be beautiful, resilient, and can last hundreds of years,” says Ryan. “We wanted people to drive by and think, ‘These guys did something extraordinary,’ because we can do better than just another white box.”

That personal connection with the area came into play when making decisions about aesthetics.

“This became kind of a personal project for us,” says Nick. “For one, it is in the town that we grew up in. It was also an opportunity for us to make a statement on what was otherwise a very forgotten piece of real estate in Redding. We took a great deal of care. Our process when we build is we don’t cut corners. We’re always thinking progressively about sustainability.”

At the same time, the Fletchers feel a responsibility to think about efficiencies when it comes to expenses and driving costs down.

“We try to be as mindful as possible about the user experience and how the property circulates. That all went into the pot when we were developing the design and coming up with a business plan for this real estate. We had a heavy hand in the design of the building and started construction at the end of 2022.”

Some of the challenges the world faced during the pandemic left its mark on the project.

“We ran into some hiccups along the way with site conditions, product delays, and some price increase consequences of COVID-19,” says Nick. “We were fortunate to dodge the more recent tariff issues we’ve been seeing with the most recent presidency, but we had to bob and weave through construction as discovery was occurring and as numbers started to settle. We stayed committed to what we’ve always done—building a best-in-class product that we have firm belief in and can be proud of.”

A fundamental aspect of building storage is ensuring the project stands on solid ground, especially due to the live loads that can be substantially heavier than other commercial buildings.

“One of the biggest ones which elongated both the timeline as well as the cost was this area has a lot of unsuitable soils for the superstructure and steel load,” says Nick. “The foundation needs to be really, really solid. What we learned as we started to drill was we had to go down a lot farther than expected. We weren’t driving into ledge; we had to drive in deeper, which took more time. Because the soils weren’t great, we had to install more piles to support the building. There were real costs associated with that.”

Even best-laid plans can run into unforeseen bricks walls, or lack thereof.

“We did a major architectural rehaul halfway through the project because the cost of brick skyrocketed and the cost of labor post-COVID went through the roof,” says Nick. “The masonry budget changed rapidly as we got closer to the siding stage. We made a dramatic change to the architecture and what the façade and the elevations of the building were going to look like to be more cost-effective.”

These changes didn’t mean abandoning the goal of a beautiful end result.

“We still wanted to deliver something that really was appealing to the eye,” says Nick. “An unexpected benefit of it was we found this really great paneling technology. It’s like a three-in-one paneling technology that serves as an interior wall, insulation, and exterior siding. You slap the panels onto the girts or steel of the building, and it creates an immediate, much tighter envelope. A lot of engineering went into this, and from a climate-control standpoint, the building becomes a much more efficient incubator holding temperature than if we had gone with the previous design.”

Tyler Divoll, chief sales officer of R.J.D. Associates, says, “R.J.D. Associates Inc. (NY) is proud to have been the industry representative of MetlSpan insulated metal panels for the Fletcher Storage facility at 241 Ethan Allen Highway project in Redding, Conn. The insulated metal panels not only enhanced the building’s architectural appeal but also delivered exceptional performance. Creating an efficient and weather-tight building envelope, simplifying the installation process, and meeting the design objectives.”

Turning a loss into a win made a more sustainable project product while maintaining the same level of design and aesthetic appeal previously planned.

“When we were looking at getting credits for solar and going through cost analysis, we received much higher marks,” says Nick. Higher scores meant more credit as a result of the product that we used.”

“Self-storage is a local game, and so we’ve been intentional about how we penetrate the social fabric of each respective town,” says Nick. “It starts with community engagement on all different levels. Local business partnerships, donations, Facebook groups, high school sports teams, etc. The architecture of the building generates a lot of organic inquiry via drive-by, and we want to reinforce that curiosity through digital campaigns and grassroot marketing that communicated the same message: There’s a better way to do storage.”

The beauty of the facility wasn’t the only element to elevate the project.

“We’re also unique because we have the high-end car and wine storage pieces,” says Nick. “We’re trying to take a rifle shot approach to our marketing strategy and it’s been yielding quality tenancy for us.”

One of the major considerations as the Fletchers got closer to the end of the project was making a plan to operate a kind of business they’d never managed before.

“A lot of the people that we spoke with in the industry had third-party operators and marketer,” Nick says. “One of the things that Ryan and I knew pretty clearly is that we wanted the exterior design to stay in keeping with this whole new experience and this new vision for self-storage—no giant flags or big chain signs the municipality might not love. We tried a third-party management group who would do the operations but allow us to brand it as Fletcher Storage. As we started to try and build out the framework of our unique product in the software, it became pretty clear that they didn’t operate like that. They weren’t interested in having luxury car storage, wine storage, moving programs, white-glove servicing; they wanted us to be a cookie-cutter [facility]—here’s your lock, here’s your unit, sign up for auto-payment, and goodbye. Those operators are just focused on keeping it lean, and we had a different vision.”

The brothers went through the process of learning about all the different software options and cobbled together a framework and an architecture that would foster the sort of specialty programming they were offering.

Having intimate understanding of prospective clients and the area led the Fletchers to develop a concierge-level offering of services they knew would fit.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about the customer experience,” says Nick. “There’s a lot of talk in the industry about automation and AI and eliminating your human capital expense. Our feeling is that in this market and the way people use self-storage in our area, that human component is really critical. They need to trust the person that they meet, so we spent a lot of time looking for the right people to manage this facility.”

The Fletchers felt it was important to simplify the user experience and make it an easier product to use.

“There is a barrier to entry when it comes to using self-storage.” Nick says. “It’s going to take up your weekend. You will need to find a mover, physically pack boxes—just all those things you don’t want to do. We’ve created white-glove service offerings by partnering with some exceptional moving companies and service providers in the local community. It makes that transition and decision to store easier, so that clients can be more hands off.”

When imagining a potential local client, the brothers thought of a busy mom taking care of multiple kids, handling work responsibilities, and still needing to get the garage cleared out.

“Call us up; we’ll take care of it,” says Nick. “We’ll coordinate somebody to come out; we’ll get them to pack it up. They’ll deliver it directly into your unit. I’m going to send you an email with a lease; you’ll get a text message or phone call with a code for your credentials. You don’t even need to show up at the facility. We take it all off your plate.”

In this community, time can be one of the most valuable commodities.

“That resonates with people because we absorb all the things that you don’t want to do,” adds Nick. “It’s about being solution-oriented to unlock more customers in your market. When you are considering high-end wine storage and luxury car storage, you need to be present and a reassuring face for people to trust in the care of their prized possessions.”

The facility boasts a tony wine tasting area, complete with tasting table, that looks out onto the area’s gorgeous Connecticut woodlands. The dedicated wine storage allows bottles to mature gracefully in climate-controlled self-storage units that ensure the perfect temperature and humidity for important bottles. Understanding that UV rays can ruin a wine’s complicated aging process, the facility protects bottles from light intrusion, maintaining their value and taste.

“Fletcher Storage is a state-of-the-art facility with a very distinct focus on ensuring customers are treated to an enhanced storing experience both on and off site,” says Jack Perrins, northeast regional sales rep for Nokē Smart Entry at Janus International Group.

The Fletchers think about storage as a mode of asset preservation.

“Whether it’s a financial asset, whether it’s a sentimental asset, whether it’s an emotional asset, this facility is intended to store and to maintain those in the best form that we can,” says Nick. “Our clients need to trust the people they’re engaging with, so we put a lot of weight and emphasis on the people that work here. We are here on site all the time. That’s the most important part—it’s the relationship.”

This has always been true in the industry: Relationships and trust go hand in hand.

“When a tenant is storing $4 million worth of cars in your garage, they want to have our cell phone number and they want to be able to pick up the phone and know who they are speaking with if they have a question about their car or access to the facility,” Nick says.

One of the benefits of being new to the industry is that it required the brothers to give a fresh look and browse all potential solutions when it came to security.

“The technology has been very helpful,” says Nick. “We have cameras everywhere. One of the biggest things for us has been the Nokē Smart Entry product. Access continuity was really critical. With a tech background, I was really focused on people opening one single app to access everything that they need. Janus delivers that product, and they deliver it very, very well.”

No matter how high the level of trust, some customers will want to personally put eyes on their goods.

“The integration with cameras was amazing,” says Nick. “Car storage customers can open the app and literally see their cars in real time at the facility. They can also share access if their mechanic wants to come and grab the car to do some work or detailing. They can remotely share that app with a 24-hour key, so that individual can get in and access the items. Security is something we take very seriously.”

Fletcher was sold on the broad benefits of the Nokē system for discerning customers.

“Janus International’s Nokē Smart Entry system is a complete digital smart access solution, comprised of keyless smart entry points, keypads, and electronic locks that fit seamlessly to both roll-up and swing doors,” says Perrins. “Nokē smart locks were built and designed with self-storage owners and customers in mind and help to improve the security of individual self-storage units, providing a more convenient customer access experience and automating labor-intensive operational processes like lock checks and overlocking.”

Best-in-class self-storage offerings fit nicely with the Fletchers’ philosophy of melding customer service with new and innovative technologies to redefine the total self-storage experience.

“Whether you’re enjoying our viewing area with a gorgeous view of the Connecticut forest or taking advantage of our white-glove moving service, we guarantee you’ll feel well-taken care of,” says Nick.