Did You Hear? Self-Storage Isn't Just For Grandma's Stuff Anymore, Executive Says

Steven Weinstock already has two pretty big jobs at Marcus & Millichap, where he serves as national director of its land group division and regional manager of the brokerage firm's Oak Brook office near Chicago.

Nevertheless, when the opportunity to add a third responsibility as national director of Marcus & Millichap's self-storage division presented itself, he jumped at it. In the role, Weinstock directs a group that has scores of brokers across the country.

"I like the industry. I like the business," Weinstock said in an interview. "I'm so excited to be working with them coast to coast."

Marcus & Millichap's self-storage division provides specialized, property-specific advice and transaction services for owners of and investors in self-storage facilities.

Weinstock joined Marcus & Millichap’s Detroit office in April 2001 and was named regional manager of its Oak Brook office in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, in 2009 after serving as sales manager of the firm's Columbus and Cincinnati offices in Ohio.

Weinstock takes over the division as the self-storage industry continues to evolve. Gone are the days when you'd have to travel to a rough industrial area on the outskirts of town to access your storage unit in facilities with dim lights and a musty smell.

New self-storage facilities are popping up in urban areas, some right next to luxury apartment high-rises and office buildings. This is happening, Weinstock said, because millennials who rent apartments need somewhere to store their things, especially items such as kayaks, skis and bikes that are part of their active lifestyles.

"It used to be that self-storage is where we store grandma's stuff that we didn't want to part with or a boat we'd use three to four times a season," Weinstock said. As such, people rarely visited their self-storage units, he said.