StorageMart, an operator of self-storage facilities across the United States and Canada, is collecting donations at seven Columbia, Mo., locations in an effort to break the world record for longest shoe chain. The record-breaking attempt is being orchestrated by the Shoeman Water Project, a not-for-profit organization that donates shoes and clean water to the poor in developing and underdeveloped countries.

StorageMart facilities will store the shoes until May 7, the day of the attempt. After all of the donations have been collected, the University of Missouri's Stankowski Field, part of the university's athletic and student recreation complex, will be the site of the shoe chain. The goal is to set 30,000 pairs of shoes end to end, which shatters the previous record of 20,100, recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records.

According to a news release from the Shoeman Water Project, acceptable donations include any wearable pairs of shoes in all sizes. Shoes should have no holes or rips, and matching pairs should be bundled or tied together.

StorageMart owns and operates more than 135 self-storage properties. In addition to self storage units, the company sells supplies such as boxes, tape, Bubble Wrap, mattress covers and much more.

Access Self Storage and Truck Rental of Dallas partnered with the Chapel Choir and Orchestra of First Baptist Church in Dallas to host the group's annual garage-sale fundraiser. This year, the sale raised more than $20,000 to offset travel costs for the groups summer tour to Baltimore.

High school students from the church comprise the choir and orchestra, donating Saturdays throughout the year to collect and sort thousands of unwanted items at Access Self Storage's East Dallas location. The students then operate a weekend-long garage sale that attracts thousands of area residents.

Chapel Choir and Orchestra Garage Sale 2010 from First Dallas on Vimeo.

Established in 1872, First Baptist Church is located at 1707 San Jacinto St. in downtown Dallas. The choir and orchestra has about 125 members representing more than 20 high schools in the area. The yearly tour has taken students to perform across the United States and world.

Access Self Storage and Truck Rental has six locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area with moving trucks available at each location. The operation's website features a "Community" tab, which highlights contests, events and other community outreach.

SmartStop Self Storage, the retail brand for Strategic Storage Trust Inc., signed on as the presenting sponsor of the 2011 Team Mountain Khakis (TMK) cycling team of Jackson Hole, Wyo. TMK is focused on educating, developing and advancing a team of eight young riders (average age of 23). The team was created five years ago under the primary sponsorship of Mountain Khakis, an outdoor-lifestyle apparel company also based in Jackson Hole.

"Professional cycling is a relatively underappreciated sport in America, and TMK does a fantastic job of giving young riders the experience and the resources they need to pursue their dreams," said H. Michael Schwartz, chairman and CEO of Strategic Storage Trust. "One of our core values as a company is giving back from our success. When we saw the opportunity to step up and sponsor the team, getting involved and lending our support made sense. And it didn't hurt that we have a number of cycling enthusiasts in our company who were already following the team."

TMK competes successfully at the national level while preparing the next generation of cyclists for the opportunity to race professionally at the national and international levels. Competing in the USA Crits Series, TMK has won the overall title twice, with Mark Hekman in 2009 and Isaac Howe in 2010. TMK has also captured the team overall title three years in a row. The team kicked off its 2011 season at the Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, Ala., on April 9.

"Having SmartStop as our presenting sponsor enables us to increase the number of races we can target, and many of those will be in places SmartStop may not have reached otherwise, explained Pat Raines, TMK founder and managing partner.

Strategic Storage Trust is the first and only self-storage real estate investment trust in the public non-traded REIT marketplace. The companys portfolio includes approximately 41,000 self-storage units and 5.1 million rentable square feet of storage space. Its sponsor is Strategic Capital Holdings LLC, which manages a growing portfolio of more than 7 million square feet of commercial properties, including 5.5 million square feet of self-storage.

Extra Space Storage, a self-storage real estate investment trust based in Salt Lake City, acquired a facility in Cordova, Tenn., for $2.6 million. The seller, Georgia-based JF Storage Holdings LLC, purchased the facility in 2007 for $4.6 million.

The facility, 2855 Houston Levee Road, has 72,626 square feet. Built in 2006, the two-story facility sits on 3.7 acres.

The Shelby County Register of Deeds doesnt show a financing deed filed at the time of sale. The Shelby County Assessor of Properties appraisal in 2010 was $2.7 million.

Extra Space owns or operates 820 self-storage properties in 34 states and Washington, D.C. The companys properties comprise approximately 550,000 units and more than 59 million square feet of rentable space.

Janus International has enhanced its French Oak line of product offerings for the self-storage market.  The original product was a laminate that had limited applications, used mostly on flush-panel wine lockers. 

The new French Oak offers a rich wood-like façade, but is actually printed steel. It can be used indoors and outdoors, on flush or corrugated panels and on roll-up doors.  Backed by a 20 year warranty, the new French Oak is an alternative that offers an upgraded look to storage or wine units.

Headquartered in Temple, Ga., Janus is a manufacturer of commercial and industrial doors and building components for self-storage and an array of other industries. The company also has joint ventures in the United Kingdom and Mexico.

The city of Kirksville, Mo., is threatening to shut off water and sewer service to an operators two self-storage locations because the operator does not have a business license. In addition, the city filed a related municipal-court lawsuit against the self-storage operation and seven other businesses.

Collins Mini Storage has locations on South Halliburton Street and West Potter Avenue within the city limits. A man who identified himself as a representative of "Good Time Rentals" and said he answers the phone and rents space for Collins Mini Storage, said owner Steve Collins has "skipped town." The man, who asked not to be identified by name, said he hasn't been able to reach Collins for more than a month and a half, and at last contact Collins told him to "play stupid" when asked by tenants about the pending legal matter and the possibility of discontinued utilities.

The man said the Potter Avenue location is in fair shape and another party is looking to purchase it from Collins. He added the Halliburton Street location, however, is in disrepair and has many vacant units. He said the units are in such bad shape he's not comfortable renting them.

"It's a long, sordid story," he said. "You could probably start a soap opera over it."

The city is alleging the eight businesses violated probation terms related to 2010 court cases, which also pertained to businesses licenses, by failing to renew licenses by the 2011 deadline, which was Feb. 28.

The other defendants include a lumber business, which already had its water and sewer shut off; a plumbing and heating business; a heating and cooling business; an investment firm; a hardwood-floor merchant; a lawn service; and a Days Inn motel.

Kirksville is in northeast Missouri and has a population of about 17,500.

Though the investigation is still ongoing, fire officials in Killeen, Texas, stated in a news release April 26 they suspect arson in the case of a self-storage facility fire on April 23.

Bell Mini Storage on Reynolds Drive caught fire at about 10:30 p.m., causing damage to a combined 31 units and 11 vehicles at both ends of a storage structure. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they noticed two separate fires that likely did not start from the same spark. Firefighters had contained the blaze at the self-storage facility by midnight, but crews stayed until daybreak to watch for hotspots and ensure a flame didn't reignite.

Wildfires have been plaguing much of Texas for more than a week. Bell County, which is home to Bell Mini Storage, has a "burn ban" in effect, as sparks combined with windy and dry conditions could cause more uncontrolled fires. Killeen is 68 miles north of Austin and very near the U.S. military base at Fort Hood.

Highway 55 Self Storage and Wine Storage in Cary, N.C., sold last week for $2.95 million. The facility consists of 176 units and 29,350 square feet (22,720 rentable square feet) of dry storage, climate-controlled storage and wine storage. It offers U-Haul truck rental as well as outdoor boat and RV storage.

According to the property listing on Loopnet.com, the facility was built in April 2010 and reached 98 percent occupancy within the first three months of operation. The property recently received planning approval for an additional 51,650 square feet, bring the potential development to 81,000 square feet of gross building area. Site work for the expansion was substantially completed prior to the sale, and the new owner plans to build out the entire project immediately. The total property size is 6.9 acres.

Cary is a thriving community in The Triangle area of North Carolina, between Raleigh-Durham and the Research Triangle Park. The area repeatedly ranks among the top regions in the country to live, work, find a home, start or expand a business, raise a family, or retire. Well-known companies in the area include SAS Institute Inc., MCI WorldCom, IBM, Lucent Technologies, Siemens, John Deere and Cotton Inc.

N.J. Joey Godbold, of Percival McGuire Commercial Real Estate represented the seller in the transaction. Based in Charlotte, N.C., Godbold is an affiliate of the Argus Self Storage Sales Network, representing the network in North and South Carolina.

Based in Denver, Argus was formed in 1994 to assist self-storage owners and investors. It now has 36 broker affiliates covering nearly 40 markets nationwide.

Pogoda Cos., a self-storage operator and broker headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich., has hired John George as vice president of operations and Ken Neiman as northeast regional manager.

George has more than 15 years of self-storage experience working with many real estate investment trusts. His industry career began in 1994 with Storage USA, where he was instrumental in the companys growth to more than 650 facilities nationwide. When Storage USA was sold to General Electric in November 2002, George was promoted to divisional vice president of the Northwest, supervising six district managers in seven states. He later worked with Extra Space Storage Inc., and in 2006 took a position with U-Store-It Trust Inc., where he was the divisional vice president of the West, overseeing the operation of 132 facilities. John has expertise in all facets of self-storage operation, including revenue management, expense control, and producing growth in occupancy and profit.

Neiman has more than 15 years of direct retail-management experience through various companies, including some in the self-storage industry.

Founded in 1987 by Maurice Pogoda, Pogoda Cos. includes Pogoda Management Co. and The Pogoda Group Inc. The former is one of the nations 25 largest self-storage management firms. The latter provides real estate brokerage services, specializing in self-storage facilities and manufactured housing communities.