I-5 Self Storage

Extra Space Storage, May 12 2016 – 9:41pm by Winnie Hsiu

Randy Scott Wong is the founder of I-5 Self Storage in Tustin, California. With an 84-percent occupancy rate and a commitment to a customer-centered experience, Wong recently secured permanent lender financing.

A motorcycle enthusiast, Wong credits part of I-5 Self Storage’s success—there are currently more than 1,200 customers storing at the facility—to the unique motorsports theme he helped create.

Wong’s concept for the project—which involved the renovation and expansion of a 30-year-old building—began with a simple idea: people need storage not just for household belongings, but for their vehicles as well.

“I was National Director of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and had a staff of over 100 people that were involved in recreational motorsports,” Wong said in a recent press release. “I had test driven powerful motorcycles for BMW on the world famous Nurburgring racetrack in Germany. My staff kept coming to me and telling me they needed to find a place to store their vehicles.”

Wong continued, “I thought to myself, that’s crazy, how difficult could it be to find a dirt lot,” he said. “So, I started intensively studying the industry at all levels, starting from the ground up, and I became intrigued.”

Wong’s facility was awarded the Mini Storage Messenger Organization 2009 National Industry Award for Facility of the Year in the conversion category. This award was in recognition of his determination to develop the facility despite many obstacles, including complying with constantly changing zoning and safety requirements, earning an exemption to the moratorium on storage from the Tustin city council, and the theft of thousands of dollars of copper from the construction site. The process took 5 years to complete.

I-5 Self Storage is proud of its architecture and design, which were carefully considered to create easier navigation along its many corridors.

“I thought about what Disney did, and the way they have all the distinct lands,” said Wong. “I said, why not make every area themed, and I named each area after world-renowned, international race tracks and then I made street signs named after cars and designers, like Mustang Avenue or Camilo Road.”

I-5 Self Storage provides personal and business storage units, complimentary moving vehicles for new customers, free wifi, a children’s play area and DVDs, a conference room available for use, work stations, as well as free coffee and filtered water.