A FIELD GUIDE TO SITE SELECTION, ENTITLEMENT, AND DESIGN

David Meinecke, AIA

Principal, Jordan Architects, Inc.

 

 

About This Guide

This guide condenses more than a decade of hands-on self-storage design and entitlement work into one practical reference. It draws on the thinking behind David Meinecke's contributed writing for Inside Self-Storage, Mini-Storage Messenger/Modern Storage Media, and an SSA-affiliated keynote presentation between 2016 and 2024 — rewritten and consolidated here into a single, scannable field guide rather than reprinted as individual pieces.

David is vice president of Jordan Architects, Inc., a San Clemente, California design firm that has specialized in self-storage since 1981, alongside custom residential, hospitality, and brewery/winery work. He has more than 14 years of experience in self-storage design and development and is a member of the Self Storage Association's Young Leadership Group.

Whether you're breaking ground on your first facility or you've built a dozen, the goal here is the same: fewer surprises, faster entitlements, and a better-performing building at the end of it.

 

 

What's Inside

1. Picking the Right Site & Market

2. Avoiding the Common Development Pitfalls

3. Site Layout: Getting the Bones Right

4. Maximizing Land Use & Working Around FAR

5. Unit Mix: Where the Money Is Made

6. Working With Difficult Topography

7. Going Vertical: When Multi-Story Makes Sense

8. Zoning & Entitlement: Winning Over the Jurisdiction

9. Mixed Use & Creative Zoning Solutions

10. Design That Gets Approved (and Leases Up)

11. Materials That Actually Perform

12. Specialty Storage: Wine, Art & Beyond

13. RV & Boat Storage: A Category of Its Own

14. Quick-Reference Checklist

 

 

1. Picking the Right Site & Market

Every project's fate is largely decided before a single line is drawn. Get the site and market read right, and everything downstream gets easier.

Start with zoning, not design

Before anything else, pull the zoning and development code for the property. Most jurisdictions post this online now, and doing that homework yourself — before you ever call the city — makes every later conversation with staff faster and more productive. Identify the zone, then find the setbacks, density limits (lot coverage and/or FAR), height limits, and parking requirements that apply.

Rule of thumb: City staff don't always interpret their own code consistently. Bring a design professional to that first real conversation — you'll get better answers.

Let the market tell you the facility type

• Suburban, land-rich sites tend to favor sprawling single-story, drive-up-heavy layouts.

• Dense, land-constrained urban sites usually point toward vertical, multi-story development.

• Treat this as a starting assumption, not a rule — always confirm against a real feasibility study.

A third-party feasibility study is worth the cost almost every time. Ask any firm you're considering for sample studies before hiring them, so you know exactly what you'll get and whether it actually answers your questions.

Location still matters — even in the internet era

Online search has genuinely reduced the importance of drive-by visibility, but it hasn't eliminated it: a meaningful share of new leases still start with an in-person, drive-by first contact. A well-designed, well-located facility with a strong web presence beats either advantage alone — "location, location, location" hasn't fully retired, it's just sharing the stage with search rankings now.

Hire experience, not just credentials

Nearly every lender will require a project team with a real self-storage track record. The developers who cut corners here almost always pay for it later — in redesigns, delays, and frustrated investors. Ask specifically about the experience of the individuals who'll be on your project, not just the firm's resume. The same logic applies to third-party management: bring a management partner on board early, since their percentage-of-income structure aligns their interest with yours, and their read on local unit sizing and operating costs is hard to replace.

 

 

2. Avoiding the Common Development Pitfalls

Self-storage development involves millions of dollars in acquisition and construction costs, and a genuinely competitive market for available property. That combination pushes some developers into brash decisions. Most of the common pitfalls are avoidable with the right diligence up front.

The land-acquisition squeeze

Sellers in a hot market can force short exploratory periods, leaving little time for real due diligence. If zoning questions remain unresolved, it's worth negotiating the longest due-diligence window you can get rather than rushing into escrow on faith.

Reading the market correctly

The standard method for gauging demand is rentable square feet per capita — population in the market area weighed against existing competitive supply, then benchmarked against national, state, and regional averages. It's not a perfect tool, but it's a reliable starting signal for how long lease-up might take.

• Watch for markets where older, unsophisticated facilities run at 100% occupancy — that usually signals room to push rates on new supply.

• Watch equally hard for markets absorbing multiple new projects at once — that's a setup for a rate war and a longer, lower-rate lease-up than projected.

• A healthy target is roughly a 5–10% vacancy factor, which gives management room to push rates on new tenants without starving cash flow.

Where flexibility becomes an asset

Self-storage's biggest structural advantage is flexibility: easements that would sink a typical commercial layout can still support RV storage; low traffic generation makes storage a workable use even where the surrounding infrastructure is already strained. Developers who lean into that flexibility — rather than treating tricky sites as automatic pass-throughs — often find real value in properties other product types can't touch.

If you're new to self-storage specifically, get a feasibility study before you get too far into a deal. It's a small cost relative to the downside of misreading a market.

 

 

3. Site Layout: Getting the Bones Right

Site layout is where functionality gets baked in — or baked out. A good layout makes a facility easy to operate for decades; a bad one costs money every single day it's open.

Let the site's constraints work for you

Self-storage is unusually flexible — odd shapes, topography, and easements that would kill other product types can often become an advantage here, sometimes even a discount on land price. Bring your design team in before you commit to a layout concept so they can find that advantage.

Know your market's unit-size expectations

You don't need to guess. There's plenty of data available, and some secret-shopping goes a long way — but translating that data into an actual buildable layout takes real experience. Get this wrong and you'll be discounting units for lease-up, not because the market doesn't want them, but because you built the wrong ones.

Watch for these layout traps

• Travel distance: keep unit-to-exit distances reasonable — 160 feet door-to-door is a common ceiling before discounting becomes necessary.

• Hallway width: five feet is a typical minimum — don't shave this to gain a few extra units.

• Loading & cart storage: undersized loading areas are one of the most common — and costly — layout mistakes.

A layout that looks efficient on paper but ignores travel distance and loading flow will quietly cost you in rental rates and lease-up speed for years.

 

 

4. Maximizing Land Use & Working Around FAR

Land costs keep climbing, and Floor Area Ratio limits can cap a project's yield hard. A handful of design moves can meaningfully recover square footage and rentable dollars a strict reading of the code would otherwise take off the table.

Parking: don't accept the default ratio

Some jurisdictions apply warehouse-era parking ratios to self-storage — as high as one space per 500 square feet — resulting in a sea of unnecessary asphalt. A traffic/parking study using Institute of Transportation Engineers data can make the case for a more realistic ratio; some jurisdictions have gone on to formally adopt those recommended ratios for future storage projects. Where that negotiation doesn't succeed, parallel parking and one-way drive aisles (commonly 20–24 feet, with 8–10 foot parallel stalls) can meet the requirement without consuming valuable site area.

Recovering square footage the code doesn't count

• Lockers: accessed via rolling ladder, often excluded from FAR entirely — a cost-effective way to add rentable area in dense urban markets.

• Basements: frequently excluded from FAR calculations, and naturally climate-moderated year-round — worth checking with the jurisdiction before assuming the exemption applies to a commercial use.

• Excluded building elements: elevator shafts, mechanical rooms, stairwells, and exterior wall thickness are excluded from FAR in some jurisdictions — on one project, that exclusion alone added roughly 6,000 square feet.

Turning height and grade into revenue

Drive-in loading areas at grade require extra floor-to-floor height for vehicle clearance — but that extra vertical space doesn't have to be wasted; it can become additional rentable area on the level above. Similarly, pushing building walls to the extents of setbacks and running parking and loading within the building envelope forces a higher second-level finished floor, which opens the door to lockers above the standard units.

Every jurisdiction treats FAR exclusions differently. Confirm the specific exemptions with planning staff early — don't assume a technique that worked in one city will apply in the next.

 

 

5. Unit Mix: Where the Money Is Made

If site layout is the skeleton, unit mix is where the facility actually earns its keep. This is where the gap between an experienced self-storage designer and a novice "drawing boxes" shows up fastest.

General sizing benchmarks

• Urban infill: average unit size can run as small as 80–90 sq ft.

• Rural / suburban with boat & RV demand: average can push to 140–150 sq ft.

• Smaller units: typically internally loaded via hallway.

• Larger units: typically drive-up along the access drive.

These are starting points, not formulas — every sub-market is different. A healthy mix contains a genuine range of sizes, matched to what your specific competitive set is actually leasing.

Bring management in early

If you can get a management company involved before the unit mix is finalized, do it. Their read on what's leasing in the market can meaningfully change decisions on climate control, elevator count, and resident manager space — decisions that are expensive to unwind later.

 

 

6. Working With Difficult Topography

Flat, rectangular parcels are increasingly rare. Rather than passing on a site with real grade change, it's worth understanding the toolkit for turning topography into an asset instead of a liability.

Cut, fill & retaining walls

Exporting soil is expensive — and if it's contaminated, the developer bears the cost of treatment before disposal. Designing with the topography, rather than grading it away, can dramatically reduce cut and fill. Where retaining walls are unavoidable, using building walls to retain (rather than freestanding walls) means every dollar spent on retention also produces rentable square footage.

The over/under approach

For decades, the over/under method has been a reliable way to resolve topography without elevators: long, rectilinear buildings with a roughly 10% ramp up the short side, using a 10-foot floor-to-floor height. The result functions as a one-story building on each of its two levels, with drive-up access throughout. This approach typically runs 85–88% efficiency, well above the roughly 75% efficiency of an elevator-served building — and because access stays consistent at both levels, there's no need to discount upper-floor rates. A minimum ramp landing of 100 feet is recommended to make the top of the ramp functional for both loading and drive-up units.

Importing soil — and combining approaches

In some markets, importing soil to manufacture topography is a viable alternative to an elevator-served building, and the cost is often comparable to elevators without their ongoing maintenance burden. The over/under and multi-story-with-elevator approaches can also be combined on a single site to maximize the square footage a jurisdiction allows while minimizing the number of elevators needed.

Basements & sightlines

A partially below-grade basement level can add square footage that's excluded from FAR in many jurisdictions, while naturally moderating temperature and cutting energy costs — though height-restriction interpretations vary enough by jurisdiction that this needs early confirmation. Designing to preserve a site's natural topography and view corridors, rather than fighting it, is also often the path of least resistance with skeptical neighbors and jurisdictions during discretionary review.

Not every topographic site fits these solutions — but with an experienced design team, grade change is far more often an opportunity than a dealbreaker.

 

 

7. Going Vertical: When Multi-Story Makes Sense

Multi-story used to be a last resort. In today's land-constrained, high-cost urban markets, it's often the only way a site pencils at all.

When to consider it

• Usable site area is under ~2 acres after setbacks, landscaping, and parking are accounted for

• Land costs are high enough that single-story yield can't support the basis

• The jurisdiction's FAR doesn't count basements — creating an opportunity to recapture square footage below grade

Watch these cost and schedule risks

• Elevators: long lead times are common — build this into your schedule early, not as an afterthought.

• Travel distance: centralize elevators near covered loading to keep unit access efficient.

• Parking: on tight urban sites, stacking parking, loading, and the office all at grade can solve the problem even when it looks inefficient on paper.

Topography isn't always a dealbreaker

Sites with real grade change can sometimes support a ramp-served, two-story facility with no elevators at all — functioning like two stacked single-story buildings, each with drive-up access. When it works, it delivers single-story rental rates with multi-story square footage. See Section 6 for the full over/under approach.

 

 

8. Zoning & Entitlement: Winning Over the Jurisdiction

Even a perfectly zoned property can come with real red tape. The developers who move fastest treat entitlement as a relationship to manage, not a form to fill out.

Start the conversation early

Most jurisdictions offer some form of preapplication review. Use it — ideally with a designer already involved, since a more detailed plan tends to generate more useful feedback. This step does two things: it gets you honest early feedback, and it builds relationships with staff that pay off for the rest of the process.

In tough jurisdictions, bring in reinforcements

In cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or San Diego — or any major metro with a reputation for difficulty — an experienced expediter or land-use attorney is usually worth the upfront cost. It shows up later as a faster, smoother process.

Know the common objections — and how to answer them

• "It'll create traffic." Self-storage is actually one of the lowest traffic-generating commercial uses. A side-by-side comparison (a grocery store's trip count vs. a storage facility's) is usually persuasive.

• "It'll look like an old storage facility." This is a design problem, not a use problem — solve it with materials and articulation (see Section 10), not argument.

• "It won't generate tax revenue." This is the single most common objection jurisdictions raise, and it's often the opening for a mixed-use conversation (see Section 9).

• "It'll bring crime." A dated perception from earlier-generation facilities — modern security features and design quality are usually enough to address it directly.

Use renderings as a negotiating tool

A growing number of jurisdictions want 3D renderings, and even when they don't require them, they help. Renderings surface shadow lines, sightlines, and massing issues that 2D plans hide — and double as a pre-leasing marketing asset once you're through entitlement.

When you need to compromise, compromise on materials — not square footage

Every project needs some room to give. Material swaps, added glazing, and small design concessions are almost always a better trade than giving up rentable square footage.

 

 

9. Mixed Use & Creative Zoning Solutions

Mixed use isn't new to self-storage, but its popularity — and in some markets, its necessity — has grown. It's rare for a jurisdiction to react warmly to a storage proposal in preliminary talks; mixed use is often the tool that changes the tone of the conversation.

Why owners consider it

• To appease a skeptical jurisdiction by offering a more "tax-friendly" use alongside storage

• To capitalize on excess land beyond what the storage program needs

• To satisfy "active space" or street-level activation requirements in dense, pedestrian-focused districts

Uses that pair well with storage

• Artist studios, postal annexes, and executive suites — low operational impact, genuine street activation

• Flex space and warehousing — low traffic generation, often permitted in the same zones as storage

• Restaurant or retail pads on excess frontage, especially on big-box-conversion sites with an existing parking field

• Multi-family or senior housing on shared parcels — storage's low traffic profile complements residential well, and shrinking unit sizes in new multi-family product is itself driving storage demand

Be the hero: big-box conversions

As big-box retail continues to empty out, plenty of jurisdictions are actively looking for a viable reuse — and self-storage can be exactly that hero. These sites typically come with a large existing parking field; expect the jurisdiction to resist filling that entire field with storage buildings; carving out street-fronting pads for a drive-thru restaurant or retail use is a proven way to get a conversion approved.

Start with what the jurisdiction actually wants

A pre-application meeting is the fastest way to surface a jurisdiction's real vision for a property, while giving the applicant a chance to correct common misconceptions about how storage actually operates. As more jurisdictions reach saturation with prior storage approvals, expect this conversation to matter more, not less, in the years ahead.

 

 

10. Design That Gets Approved (and Leases Up)

Design isn't just about winning over a planning commission anymore — it's about winning the customer once they drive by. The two goals usually point in the same direction.

The office is your calling card

It's the first and last thing every tenant sees. Budget extra here even on a highly automated site — clientele still need to feel safe completing a transaction. Large, well-lit glazing at the office does double duty: it satisfies design-conscious jurisdictions and signals safety to prospective tenants (worth noting: nearly 60% of new lease signers are women, and visible, well-lit spaces consistently test better with this group).

Break up the box

Long, unbroken walls are self-storage's biggest design liability. Combat this with:

• Wall articulation — jogs and setbacks that create shadow lines

• Material and color changes concentrated at high-visibility areas

• Awnings, trellises, and canopies at entries and loading areas

• Strategic glazing at the office and street frontage

 

 

11. Materials That Actually Perform

Good material choices do three jobs at once: they last, they look good, and they satisfy the jurisdiction without blowing the budget.

Where to spend

• Concentrate high-end materials at the office and street-facing facade — where they're seen and where jurisdictions scrutinize hardest.

• Concrete block remains a cost-effective way to add color and texture without sacrificing durability.

• Modern veneers (even ones mimicking wood or stone) are good enough now that from right-of-way distance, they're indistinguishable from the real material.

Where to invest for the long term

• Insulated metal panels (IMPs) cost more upfront but pay back through energy savings — especially valuable where energy codes are tightening.

• Covered loading areas cut down on weather-related maintenance and let you centralize elevators, shortening travel distances.

• Awnings aren't just decorative — they shade entries, reduce cooling costs, and give jurisdictions a facade-breaking element they tend to like.

A one-time material upgrade, placed strategically, often pays for itself over the life of the project — both in energy savings and in avoided design-review delays.

 

 

12. Specialty Storage: Wine, Art & Beyond

As competition intensifies in booming markets, a smaller "specialty" storage component can be a genuine differentiator alongside a traditional self-storage program. Over the years that's included RV condos with man-cave mezzanines, stacked boat storage, high-security art storage, and wine storage.

Know the (much smaller) audience

Specialty storage serves a far narrower demographic than general self-storage, and success is highly dependent on region — wine storage works best with genuine proximity to wine country, though a well-run private element can succeed elsewhere too. Overbuilding this niche is a real risk: a feasibility study is essential, and "boots on the ground" market knowledge matters more here than in a standard storage project, since national data travels less well for a specialized product.

What makes wine storage different

• Climate control is non-negotiable — temperature and humidity control is the single most important design element, and it's worth consulting a wine-industry-specific refrigeration expert rather than a general HVAC contractor.

• Presentation matters more here than almost anywhere else in storage — tasting rooms, patios, water features, and high-end entry finishes (etched glass, ornate doors, murals) all help sell the space.

• Security features (biometric access, monitored temperature/humidity displays) double as marketing — they reassure clients storing genuinely high-value goods.

• Materials should echo the surrounding wine-country architecture and, where possible, the site's natural context — one Sonoma County project used a barnwood-textured masonry product to complement protected oak trees on the site.

A design tip that applies broadly

Design the space the way you'd want to experience it yourself. For wine storage specifically: think about the ambiance of a favorite tasting room — lighting, materials, surroundings — and let that guide the design, even though most clientele won't be drinking on site. A 3D walk-through rendering is a worthwhile investment for owners weighing this kind of build.

 

 

13. RV & Boat Storage: A Category of Its Own

RV and boat storage has become one of the most in-demand accessory — or standalone — product types in the industry, driven by rising RV/boat sales and increasingly restrictive HOA rules on residential storage. It deserves its own design playbook.

Site selection & layout basics

• Target markets near vacation corridors (desert, lake, state/national parks) or large master-planned communities with HOA restrictions

• Odd-shaped or encumbered parcels — often unattractive to other uses — can be excellent, affordable RV storage sites given the product's flexibility

• Main drive aisles should run a minimum of 32 feet wide (depending on stall depth) to accommodate large-vehicle maneuvering

• Design with a wide margin for error — the typical customer is a "weekend warrior," not a professional driver

• Consider a lower and a higher keypad at the gate — a second, elevated keypad saves RV drivers from having to exit the vehicle to enter their code

Perimeter ("fortress") layouts

A perimeter building layout screens stored vehicles from public view — often a jurisdictional requirement — while the perimeter buildings themselves can house enclosed RV/boat spaces or ancillary self-storage units, turning a pure screening requirement into revenue. This beats a site wall or fence, which costs money without producing any.

Product types, price-to-value

• Uncovered storage — cheapest to build, lowest return, but the most flexible: foundations can be poured early and used for uncovered parking until a future building phases in.

• Canopy storage — roughly 25% of the cost of enclosed storage, commanding 30–40% more rent than uncovered; needs 14–16 ft of clearance, and some fire departments require sprinklers under canopies.

• Internal (demised) storage — the highest cost and highest revenue tier; typically 12 ft wide x 14 ft high roll-up doors (often motorized given their weight), with electrical outlets a popular upsell for trickle chargers.

• Open warehouse storage — cheaper than demised units but less secure, since other tenants share access to the same space.

• Valet storage — an attendant parks and retrieves vehicles by appointment; a genuinely different business model with more operator risk, since the operator takes physical control of the customer's vehicle.

The office: still more traditional than self-storage

While general self-storage offices trend smaller and more automated, RV and boat storage clientele still favor more person-to-person, traditional office interactions. A single-story office of 1,000–2,000 square feet is typical, but a taller tower element can give the appearance of a larger facility. Large vision glass, a clear sightline to the gates, and a modest retail section (RV/marine toilet tissue, security straps, lighting kits) round out a well-designed office — and if a resident manager's unit is included, placing it on a second floor above the office with its own access and a clear view of the facility works well.

Amenities worth the investment

On any RV storage facility over roughly an acre, a wash rack and dump station should be considered a baseline amenity — and can even generate outside revenue if opened to non-tenants for a fee. Place it centrally and screen it from view; most states require a roof structure for stormwater compliance, and elevated walkways on both sides of the wash rack let customers reach the entire vehicle.

RV storage looks like a simpler product type than general self-storage — but the details (aisle widths, door heights, keypad placement, amenity siting) are what separate a facility that works from one that frustrates its own customers.

 

 

14. Quick-Reference Checklist

Before you commit to a site, layout, or design direction

• Pulled and reviewed the zoning/development code for the site

• Confirmed setbacks, FAR/lot coverage, height, and parking requirements

• Commissioned (or personally vetted) a feasibility study, including sq ft per capita analysis

• Checked the market for oversupply risk — multiple projects coming online at once

• Hired a design team with real self-storage experience — not just general commercial

• Scheduled a preapplication meeting with the jurisdiction

• Identified whether an expediter or land-use attorney is worth bringing on

• Checked unit mix assumptions against actual competitive-set data

• Explored FAR exclusions (basements, lockers, excluded building elements) with planning staff

• Evaluated whether topography can be used to advantage rather than graded away

• Considered whether a mixed-use element would ease entitlement or capture excess land value

• Planned material concentration at office and street frontage

• Confirmed travel distances and loading layout before finalizing unit mix

• If multi-story: confirmed elevator lead times against your construction schedule

• If RV/boat component: confirmed drive-aisle widths and product-type mix against local demand

 

This guide draws on David Meinecke's published articles for Inside Self-Storage and Mini-Storage Messenger/Modern Storage Media, and an SSA-affiliated keynote presentation (2016–2024), condensed and rewritten here as a single field reference.

Jordan Architects, Inc. — San Clemente, CA — 949.388.8090 — www.jordanarchitects.com