The Suburbs Reign Supreme for Storage
The Florida suburbs of Wesley Chapel (near Tampa) and Wildwood, (adjacent to the
sprawling age-restricted community of The Villages) lead the nation on where self storage
capacity has increased the most over the last decade, according to research from
RentCafe, an apartment rental search website.
Florida lands on the top-10 list at No. 7 with Middleburg, which has also developed storage
at a rapid pace in respond to population growth and changes in how people work and retire.
Between 2014 and 2024, Florida’s population grew by approximately 4.5 million people, a
growth rate of 22.8% over the decade. In 2024, Florida’s population grew by 2.04%, the
fastest of any state.
Strong demand in the suburbs aligns with findings from the 2025 SSA Demand Study, which
found the majority of consumer rentals are happening in suburban storage, which also saw
an uptick of business rentals in suburban storage.
“We hunted quite a bit and made a number of o ers on developing and existing deals in
those three markets,” said Austin Khym, director of acquisitions for Liberty Investment
Properties in Orlando. “The reason why Florida suburbs are so attractive is population
growth. In all of these markets — along with other parts of Tampa, Orlando, south Florida,
Southwest Florida and the Panhandle — there has been such an influx of people that you
can always make the case for the need for storage.” Zachary Urow, a broker with Urow Real
Estate in Tampa, said Florida’s growth story isn’t new, but what has changed is where the
growth is happening.
“For years, developers concentrated around Miami, Tampa and Orlando,” Urow said. “Now,
the real movement is happening just outside those cores in the secondary and tertiary
markets.”
Wesley Chapel is a suburb of nearly 65,000 people. The city has been a catalyst for growth
in Pasco County, which is the 38th fastest growing county in the country. There, storage
inventory increased by 672% over 10 years and now has 587,656 square feet of storage
space. In 2014, the community had just 76,095 square feet of storage inventory, and by
2024 the town had 587,656. At the same time, the population of Wesley Chapel increased
53%.
Khym points out that because of the extreme interest, in 2019 Pasco County implemented
a 180-day moratorium on the construction of storage facilities. Following the moratorium,
new land use regulations for storage were adopted late that year.
He added that the many storage developers who flocked to Florida to capture demand
found the suburbs often more receptive to new storage development than some of the
more urban cities.
While a number of experienced and institutional investors made their way to the Florida
suburbs, Khym said a good number of new facilities came about from local investors who
caught wind of the trend. Some had access to available land and developed storage
without a structured exit plan.
It Takes a Village
Erik Henson, owner and CEO of SmarterSpace Storage based in Gainesville, opened a new
facility this summer in Wildwood, the suburb ranked second for development.
“It’s doesn’t take rocket science to tell you why,” said Henson. “It’s population growth.
Wildwood is the fastest growing community in the US.”
U.S. News and World Report in July ranked the nation’s top spots for net migration based on
population change from 2020 to 2024 and named Wildwood the fastest-growing spot.
Wildwood’s population of 34,933 experienced a net migration of nearly 20% over that time.
Wildwood has 16,000 residents northwest of Orlando. Its storage inventory increased 443%
in the last 10 years to 715,510 square feet. In 2014, Wildwood had just 131,750 square feet
of space.
Henson said Wildwood is growing fast because the nearby, popular retirement community
of The Villages is growing fast. The Villages, home to 79,000 people, also has some strict
homeowner’s association rules, including a prohibition against on-street parking, that drive
more storage use.
The vast majority of homes in The Villages are occupied by at least one person 55 or older.
No one younger than age 19 can live in The Villages. But a new development called
Middleton is designed for families who work and serve the community. Middleton will
include various housing styles and public schools.
“The Villages is no longer completely retirees,” Henson said, adding that the diversity of
development has promoted population growth.
Henson said he thinks the recent spate of hurricanes in Florida has attracted homeowners
to more inland locations where they have some bu er from strong storms and flooding on
the coastline and perhaps lower insurance premiums.
“The suburbs are where so much of the new development is,” Henson said. “It’s where life
transitions are happening.”
The Florida town of Middleburg, near Jacksonville, ranks seventh nationally for its 10-year
growth of self storage inventory. The suburb saw a huge surge in remote workers in recent
years. To accommodate new residents, self storage inventory increased 319%. In 2014
Middleburg had 115,901 square feet of storage and now has 485,552 square feet of space.
Urow said Middleburg is “quieter and more spread out” than Wesley Chapel and Wildwood
but has its advantages.
“What stands out there is the tenant behavior,” Urow said. “People rent and stay. You’re not
constantly churning units or relying on aggressive marketing. That kind of stickiness adds a
lot of value long-term.”
The suburbs in Florida, and in secondary markets across the southeast, can be strong
markets for a refresh of inventory, including institutional quality single-story self storage
with modern amenities, Khym said.
He also believes an influx of younger residents to Florida — which complements the always
strong retirement pipeline — means there’s more demand for storage. First-time home
buyers tend to use storage more than move-up buyers.
Suburbs often o er lower land prices and lower development costs compared to some
other places, Khym said. And suburban markets can o er developers less competition for
prime sites than they might encounter in larger MSAs. But challenges arise when elected
o icials are too eager for the development and swing toward a more permissive approach
to storage development, allowing the market to become saturated and creating a glut of
development for operators to contend with.
While the suburbs of Wesley Chapel, Wildwood and Middleburg have had their moment in
the sun, Khym said he believes there are still a number of other Florida suburbs with
opportunity.
The markets that have added the most storage could benefit from a cooling o period while
housing development and demand catch up, he said.
“It’s safe say you might want to take a step back at this point, but the long-term value
should be there,” Khym said.
Henson agreed that prudent developers must monitor new supply.
“I don’t think any area is largely untapped anymore, but are there pockets of select
opportunities? Yes,” Henson said. “The industry knows this already but we all have to be
careful about how much we built.”
Urow expects there are more Florida suburbs that will be ready for storage.
“I think we’ll be hearing about the next wave of small Florida markets making national
headlines for storage growth in the coming years,” Urow said. “Of course, for developers
and owners, it’s about getting in early in those communities that are starting to blossom.”
While not as explosive as the three towns ranked in the top 10, several more Florida
communities have seen substantial storage development over the decade. They include:
Englewood, which grew storage inventory by 235%; North Miami, which grew storage at
194%; North Miami Beach at 178% inventory growth; and Deltona and Homestead, both
with 177% growth. Cape Canaveral had 174% growth and Summerfield with 166%, while
Davenport and St. Cloud grew 161% and Port Orange rose 160%.
Laura Williams-Tracy contributes monthly to SSA Magazine and writes the weekly “Self
Storage Industry Report” column on the SSA Magazine website.
