Together with its affiliates, Prime Group Holdings, LLC, a vertically integrated private equity real estate firm and top operator in the United States, recently expanded into the British Columbia market with the acquisition of a self-storage property in the inner Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The acquisition was made by the firm’s investment vehicle, Prime Storage Fund III, LP. Located just east of Vancouver, the 1,018-unit facility is comprised of 67,476 rentable square feet and includes 63 parking spaces. It is visible from and easily accessible to the Trans-Canada Highway. Prime Group will manage the facility, which will operate under the Prime Storage brand. This transaction follows Prime Group’s previous acquisition of a facility in Sherwood Park, Alta., which was the firm’s first Canadian self-storage property.

In June, Apple Self Storage opened a new facility in London, Ont. The brand-new, modern facility is Apple Self Storage’s 51^st location in Canada. Conveniently located at Highbury Avenue North, just north of Trafalgar Street, it is part of the Apple’s adaptive reuse initiative, which seeks to repurpose existing historic buildings for self-storage use, provide a useful service to the community, and minimize the company’s carbon footprint. Formerly Vaughn Hockey Equipment, Apple Self Storage – London has more than 50,000 square feet of storage space and heated indoor units. Its amenities include individual unit alarms, retail merchandise, indoor loading bays, and 24/7 access.

This spring, due to concerns of collapse resulting from structural problems, a city-issued evacuation order for an apartment building in Winnipeg left many residents with moving trucks full of personal belongings and nowhere to go. In response, U-Haul Company of Central Canada offered 30 days of free self-storage to the 250 tenants of the Birchwood Terrace complex. The 30-day free offer applied to new storage rentals and was based on availability at U-Haul Moving & Storage of Notre Dame. Speaking at a health-care announcement in Carberry on May 10, Canada’s Premier, Wab Kinew, said the province will also be able to help if needed, ensuring medical services are covered, such as prescriptions or missing health cards. “Our government is in there as a supporting capacity right now, and we’ll be there in the long-term.”

According to media sources in the area, residents of the apartment building were notified that their leases were terminated and that they would be receiving compensation of approximately $2,000 per person to cover their damage deposits and May rent. The displaced residents were not able to return to their apartments until repairs were completed.

Broccolini, a real estate developer and investor, has entered the Canadian self-storage market with three ground-up projects in Montreal. Totaling nearly 400,000 square feet, the facilities will be branded as Pandora Self Storage and financed through Broccolini Self-Storage Fund LP, which aims to address the growing demand for self-storage in urban centers, especially Quebec and Ontario. The projects include a $39-million, multistory building in Kirkland that will comprise 150,000 square feet in more than 1,100 units and up to 5,000 square feet of coworking space. It’s scheduled for completion in April 2025. Broccolini is also investing nearly $5 million to convert a multistory building in Pointe-Claire; the 115,000-square-foot structure was built two years ago but never occupied. It will offer 900 units after it opens in early 2025. The third is a 120,000-square-foot facility in Brossard; construction on the $35-million project may not be completed until 2026.

PTI Security Systems has introduced two new products designed to improve facility security and convenience: the ProEdge smart latch and the AP1 keypad. The ProEdge smart latch, which is suitable for new and existing (corrugated or flat) doors, integrates with PTI’s StorLogix Cloud for real-time access data, advanced security monitoring, and overlock capability. Its durable stainless-steel build ensures long battery life and all-weather reliability; its tamper-resistant design has an accelerometer that alerts operators and tenants of interference. Features of the AP1 include a larger OLED display for expanded operator messaging and branding, next-generation Bluetooth with an increased range, increased surge protection capabilities, an optional heated keypad, and raised, backlit buttons. AP1 also integrates directly to StorLogix.

To enhance and streamline the payment processes, Tenant, Inc.has launched a one-time payment link. The functionality allows tenants to complete online payments in as little as four clicks, a greater than 90 percent reduction in steps to pay. The easy, fast, and secure payment process allows businesses to collect more money in less time, while also providing a better customer experience. Per the company’s press release, including payment links in automated delinquency communications enables tenants to complete payment without having to login. There is one click to follow the link from their text or email, a second click to autofill billing address from their browser, a third click to autofill credit card information from their browser, and a fourth click to complete payment. One-time payment links can also be sent on demand in text and emails from the Hummingbird Communication Center. In addition, Tenant, Inc. has released several other new features to help self-storage operators significantly streamline their business processes and gain valuable data insights, including targeted and filtered tabs on landing pages, Google Analytics 4 Advanced Setup and Looker Studio dashboards, unified communications, rent management, tenant warehouse, and promotions management. Details are available at www.tenantinc.com.

Janus International Group, Inc., recently announced the addition of Nokē Ion, an inside-the-door, magnetic, hardwired smart locking system into its award-winning line of Nokē Smart Entry products. In addition to the all-new, hardwired smart locking solution, the Nokē Smart Entry platform also offers a high-tech, battery-powered, external smart lock known as Nokē ONE. These two smart locking technologies, paired with a full suite of smart entry point products and mobile technology, offer a solution for all self-storage smart access applications. Visit www.janusintl.com/noke-ion for more details.

MSM has unlocked its vault of archives, granting website visitors free access to 43 years’ worth of storage-specific content—the equivalent of 40,000-plus pages. Users can search the archives by keyword (topic, person, facility, company, market, etc.) on MSM’s website and view or download issues as high-resolution PDFs. Since 1979, Messenger (formerly Mini-Storage Messenger) has been providing the self-storage industry with invaluable information about the latest trends, news, advancements, data, and more. To browse the archives for free, visit www.modernstoragemedia.com/msm-magazine-archives.

After more than 20 years, the Legal Monthly Minute, published by Scott Zucker, a partner in the law firm of Weissmann Zucker Euster + Katz P.C. in Atlanta, Ga., will now be published by MSM. MSM’s partnership with the Legal Monthly Minute will enable Zucker’s pertinent, industry-focused legal information to be disseminated to self-storage owner-operators throughout the United States on a larger scale. Zucker’s Legal Monthly Minute articles have been reprinted in numerous trade association newsletters and magazines, including MSM’s Messenger. They’ve also been used to create his “Legal Topics in Self Storage” books (First and Second Editions). To subscribe, visit www.modernstoragemedia.com/legal-minute.

For self-storage operators needing to overlock delinquent tenants at their facilities, SpiderDoor now offers comprehensive unit overlocking solutions. SpiderDoor’s overlocking solutions enable tenants to request their lock code via their mobile device at any time. Once a lock has been assigned to a delinquent unit, SpiderDoor promptly sends out a pre-text message. Following full payment of their bill, Spiderdoor dispatches a post-text message and email notification containing the unlock code. Existing SpiderDoor users can take advantage of these delinquency management tools at no extra cost. Non-SpiderDoor users can gain access to all the overlock features for just $10 per location. For more information about Spiderlock’s security and access control products, visit www.spiderdoor.com.

The self-storage automation platform swivl has partnered with online self-storage rental system Storagely to introduce Unit Connect. This latest feature is designed to change the way potential tenants find and rent storage units by making the process faster, more efficient, and user friendly. Unit Connect is expected to enhance the rental journey by directly guiding potential tenants to the specific unit they’re interested in, complete with all necessary details pre-populated. This will eliminate the need for customers to navigate through multiple pages, thereby accelerating the rental process by more than four times compared to traditional methods and boosting conversions.

Storelocal, a membership organization, has launched its Storelocal Storage Brand Licensing Program. Storelocal Storage is a unique business model designed to allow independently owned storage facilities to compete with much larger self-storage conglomerates. Leveraging the “power of more,” Storelocal Storage enables individually owned facilities to rebrand as Storelocal Storage with national brand recognition and SEO domain authority. The program includes everything needed for operations, including a complete brand kit, a dedicated team of SEO specialists, and a tech stack powered by Tenant, Inc. Visit www.storelocal.com for details.

PFlow Industries’ M Series 2-Post Mechanical Material Lifts are ideal for most material lifting applications. The PFlow M Series moves materials faster and more safely than forklifts, with standard travel speed of 25 feet per minute (FPM) and up to 400 FPM available. The M Series can lift up to 10,000 pounds, reach an unlimited number of floor levels, and perform under demanding, continuous-use applications. More information can be found at www.pflow.com.

Elevate Structures has expanded its product offerings to include doors and hallways. Elevate’s expanded package will now include primary structure, partition, exterior metal walls, roof, doors, and hallways. The company’s door offering will feature a variety of national manufacturers. Doors and hallway systems are available to customers through a simple inclusion to the contract for the metal building package.

Boxwell has announced a product line expansion that now includes roll-up doors. Available for standalone orders or paired with Boxwell relocatables, the doors are customizable by size, color, and latch type. The doors can be incorporated into traditional buildings, hallway systems, multilevel facilities, and more. This development underscores their commitment to evolving customer needs, with in-house door manufacturing eliminating the reliance on third-party vendors. Clients enjoy a streamlined ordering process, fewer site deliveries, and consistent customer service.

OpenTech Alliance recently announced the launch of the StorageTreasures online storage auction app, which was created to streamline the online auction experience for storage auction bidders. With a user-friendly interface and tools designed to trigger higher participation rates and final sale prices, the app engages buyers at every stage of the bidding process to help storage operators maximize auction success. It was built with features to improve the auction experience and increase bids, such as effortless bidding, real-time notifications, and enhanced mobile searching. To download the app, visit Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Onity has integrated sensors into its Passport smart locks that can detect temperature, motion, water, rodents, and more. The Passport locking solution’s Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN®) gateway enables facility owners and managers to collect and transmit information from the sensors to Onity’s Passportal cloud-based management system. The data then triggers early detection and alerts for potential security breaches or environmental abnormalities such as temperature fluctuations, water leaks, or pest infestations. For more information, visit www.onity.com.

On Aug. 6, Apple Self Storage joined the community in Simcoe, Ont. Apple Self Storage is managing the facility previously known as Mini Storage 101 at 101 Donly Drive South. It will continue to bring a variety of storage solutions to community under the Apple Self Storage brand through its new remote management model. The Simcoe facility offers drive-up units, vehicle storage options, flexible daily rental rates (billed in four-week cycles), and online payment options; it also provides key-coded access, a fully fenced perimeter, well-lit driveways, and 24-hour surveillance.

Storage Boom, a new software product, has released its platform worldwide. Designed to support various storage operations, Storage Boom offers tailored solutions to meet the market’s diverse needs. Regardless of size or location, facilities can leverage Storage Boom’s software to optimize their operations and engage more effectively with their customers. Storage Boom’s storage facility software offers a suite of marketing tools that simplify the promotion of storage facilities online, including SEO strategies and social media planning, ensuring facilities can effectively reach their target audience. Additionally, the software enhances customer communication through features like two-way messaging and phone calls, directly contributing to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Movables, a portable storage company that provides deluxe container boxes to residents and businesses, has opened its first site in Canada. Located at 120 Federal Road in Welland, Ont., the company will be storing as many as 300 containers outside its facility, while others can be placed on its renters’ residential or business properties. Movables owner Anthony Continelli, who also owns Abbot Self Storage, a traditional, 400-unit facility in St. Catharines, Ont., created Movables to meet the demand of a growing population facing a shortage of homes. Movables containers, which measure 7.5-by-16, can accommodate up to 10,000 pounds of stored items. With Movables, a container can be delivered directly to a home or business, eliminating the cost and time associated with renting a truck and then loading, driving, and unloading it. Instead, the company’s specially equipped truck transports the containers, some of which may be stored within its climate-controlled facility. While others are placed outside, they still provide additional protection through thermal breaks to minimize condensation. Movables is staffed during regular business hours, but it’s also equipped with 50 high-definition security cameras and a PIN-code access system that is monitored 24 hours a day.