Lansing community criticizes self-storage business proposal

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Photo by Katie Finkbeiner

City council members (left to right) Patrica Spitzley, Chris Swope, Lansing mayor Andy Schor, Carol Wood, Jeremy Garza and Adam Hussain talking once the meeting ended. Photo by Katie Finkbeiner.

“I know folks who are in the business and they will admit to me, off the record, that it is a cash cow business. Creates almost no economic impact, really preys upon transient and vulnerable populations frankly… the industry tends to absolutely trap you in this vicious cycle of financial dependency,” said Adam Hussain, Lansing City Council’s 3rd ward member.

At a Lansing City Council meeting on Feb. 13, Mike Olsen represented Devon Self-Storage during a presentation in front of council members and Lansing residents. Olsen has been vice president of acquisitions at the company since Jan. 2022 and was previously an acquisition analyst at the company from Jan. 2018 till Dec. 2021.

Photo by Katie Finkbeiner

The Lansing City Council meets in the Tony Benavides Champers, where meetings are held every other week on Mondays. Photo by Katie Finkbeiner.

The Lansing City Council meets in the Tony Benavides Champers, where meetings are held every other week on Mondays. Photo by Katie Finkbeiner.

Devon Self-Storage was started in 1988 and is currently run by Kenneth ‘Ken’ Nitzberg, the company’s CEO and co-founder. Devon Self-Storage has locations in 25 states with seven different locations across Michigan, four of which are currently located in Grand Rapids. 

Devon Self-Storage requested a land-use permit for 340 E. Edgewood Blvd, Lansing, MI, which had previously been filled by a Sam’s Club. The store closed in January 2018 during a nationwide decision by Walmart to close 63 Sam’s Club locations, including two in Michigan.

“The property is currently zoned SC [suburban commercial] which does permit self-storage if a special land-use permit is approved by the Lansing City Council,” said Patricia Spitzley, a member of the city council since 2016.

According to Olsen, the company had been involved in the project location for about 11 months. “We recognize self-storage is probably not the first option people want, but the landscape in retail is changing… but we believe we would be a great tenant,” said Olsen.

The Edgewood Town Center is currently occupied by T-Mobile, Great Clips, Target, Five Below and LL Flooring. Devon Self-Storage surveyed the surrounding businesses in the strip mall where Olsen said there was “a general consensus of ‘we don’t want vacancy’.”

Once the self-storage company finished talking to businesses nearby, they spent two hours collecting public opinion across the street to talk to 33 people, in which 29 approved of the self-storage space and 4 opposed, according to Olsen.

Photo by Katie Finkbeiner

City council members (left to right) Patrica Spitzley, Chris Swope, Lansing mayor Andy Schor, Carol Wood, Jeremy Garza and Adam Hussain talking once the meeting ended. Photo by Katie Finkbeiner.

“Frankly, I’m surprised people signed this [the public opinion form]. We had a Logan Square conversation on January 31st… and people were there, about 130… When things were being discussed and the consultant actually said ‘have you guys thought about self-storage,’ the boos from the crowd were so incredibly loud I started laughing,” said Hussain.

Hussain throughout the meeting was not shy about sharing his disapproval of the self-storage facility, even shaking his head in opposition after finishing his initial statements and questions for Olsen.

“It’s an issue in South Lansing that a lot of constituents have been reaching out and are definitely in opposition of another storage facility in South Lansing,” said Jeremy Garza, vice chair and 2nd Ward member of the city council.

Photo by Katie Finkbeiner

The data represents the past 12 months, starting in April 2022 till early March 2023, for google searches of “Lansing storage”. Source: Google Trends. Graph by Katie Finkbeiner.

According to Google Trends, in the week between March 5 till March 11, the phrase “Lansing storage” was only searched 16 times. The demand for self-storage is an ongoing topic with all of the council members stating they believe more storage facilities are not needed.

“I think we need to do a better job of looking at the city as a whole and figuring out what we want there and market it that way versus if they check all of the boxes, then putting it there,” said Spitzley.

At the following Lansing City Council meeting on Feb. 27, Wood, Brian Jackson, Spitzley, Hussain and Garza all openly stated they were a ‘no vote’ to the warehouse location becoming another self-storage business. The city council’s vote for granting the special land use permit ended with a unanimous vote of opposing the storage development.

“The storage unit is problematic to me, I’m gonna tell you right now. I live on the southside and for me to go to my mom’s house, if I go down Martin Luther King, I pass at least three in a half mile,” said Spitzley at the Feb. 13 meeting.

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