CHARLOTTE, N.C. Self-storage units house businesses

Business owners are turning self-storage units into offices.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Just one year after she opened a custom drapery shop, Birdie Godlock is looking at an unusual location for expansion -- the self-storage unit next door.
Godlock, a 40-year veteran of the apparel and furniture industry, opened shop about a year ago at the Shurgard Self Storage Center in Pineville, a place better known for storing furniture than incubating businesses.
Orders for drapes and bedspreads are coming in so fast to her living-room-sized unit that she is already thinking about leasing more space and getting help. "It's like a snowball," said Godlock, 58.
The ranks of entrepreneurs like Godlock have grown as companies downsized in the economic downturn. And if the Shurgard in Pineville, N.C., is an indication, more of them are turning to these low-cost, inconspicuous units, and some are so confident they're talking about hiring their first employees.
Create jobs
The government does not break out estimates of hiring by small businesses, but it is widely acknowledged they create the bulk of new jobs in the economy, particularly in the early stages of a recovery.
Small-business hiring plans hit their highest level in December since 1999, itself a record year, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.
Janis Burand, who manages the Pineville self-storage center for Charlotte-based Morningstar Properties Inc., came up with the idea to refurbish some of the center's boxy metal storage units into small work areas two years ago. At the time, many small business people came to her office looking to cut costs or store equipment from idled businesses. Today, more are leasing space so they can move thriving businesses out of crowded homes and garages, Burand said.
Morningstar rents 25 percent to 30 percent of the 30,000 units it manages to businesses. The company manages 48 self-storage centers in the Carolinas for Seattle-based Shurgard Storage Centers Inc., as well as nine of its own.
Luring tenants
As competition has grown, Morningstar has looked for new ways to lure tenants. So it's now offering converted units with carpeting, finished walls and a telephone line. Roll-up garage doors have been replaced with a window and walk-in doors.
How many units can be converted is limited by parking restrictions. The company has added 50 since 2001, and Burand is overseeing the addition of three more at her Pineville location.
"People don't want to work for corporate America anymore, and that's why they are coming to me," she said.
The low rents and month-to-month leases are big draws. At Pineville, Billy Meredith said he would not have been able to hire his first employee a month ago if he was paying $1,000 a month in rent. He moved into his 20-by-20-foot space -- the base for his security-gate installation firm -- six months ago.
Morningstar is leasing new work units like his in Pineville for about $11.25 a square foot per year. Office buildings in the area are charging on average $16 a square foot for space while retail centers are getting $21, according to Karnes Research Co.
A few doors down from Godlock, bookkeeper and tax preparer Jeanie Davis said an increase in small-business clients prompted her to quit her job as a corporate auditor in February to work full-time at the side business she had run for 13 years.
Getting calls
In 2002, Davis said, she was getting a lot of calls from people who had lost full-time jobs and wanted to know if income from side businesses would affect how much unemployment benefits they could receive. These days, most clients ask about the tax consequences of adding employees or investing in equipment.
Davis is in an "office suite" with fancy molding. The 14-by-22-foot space costs her $450 a month. She said she loves the location near an interchange with Interstate 485 and Shurgard's 24-hour security cameras. And she has been picking up fellow tenants as clients.
"People are just becoming more common-sense oriented and are not willing to pay several thousand dollars a month to be in a strip mall," she said.