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32
December . 14 2006
well-regarded specialist" in the stor-
age industry, "a real professional and
a visionary who exudes confidence in
all of his ventures."
Added Shevin: "That's why we rec-
ommend him highly to investors for
his storage facility projects." Polk &
Associates has been doing accounting
work for Pogoda for 15 years.
Self-storage was far from Pogoda's
mind when he attended a Hebrew day
school in Brooklyn, studied math and
science at a specialty high school, and
majored in history and English at the
University of Pennsylvania.
"Then I took a few years off and
lived in Charleston, S.C., which is a
charming city; it was a great learning
experience:' he said. "But I returned
to reality and got an MBA at the
University of Michigan, where I met
my wife. That's when Lever Brothers
recruited me."
He and Lori have been married 24
years and have three sons.
The new Redford facility has
already exceeded projected sales
since opening in August, which
Pogoda attributes to the good vis-
ibility on Telegraph. "This is the first
site in several years that perfectly
meets our selection criteria:' he said.
"There's lush, new landscaping, a
park-like green space that replaced
an asphalt area, and the attractive
building itself. It really provides a
sharp contrast to our retail and light
industrial neighbors!"
Range Of Space
National Storage Center rents units
ranging from 50 to 300 square feet
in a two-story, interior climate-con-
trolled area, most accessed from
interior hallways. Two covered areas
allow sheltered loading and unload-
ing. Drive-up units along the sides
and rear range from 100 square feet
to 20-by-30 feet, a size in demand by
small contractors, who use the larger
spaces to store inventory.
"But a typical rental is a 5-by-10
area that costs $69 a month," pointed
out Tom Berlin, vice president of
operations for Pogoda Companies.
"The larger areas go as high as $269
monthly. People can adjust rental
areas in five-foot increments. The
sizes are displayed in our showroom.
Rental space is about 70 percent corn-
mercial and the rest personal. We also
sell packing and moving supplies to
customers, which gives our storage
centers a one-stop shopping feature."
National Storage Center attracts
customers through Yellow Pages ads,
Internet ads, and plenty of direct
mail contact, mainly through Val Pack
coupon mailers. "We constantly keep
our name in front of prospective cus-
tomers:' said Berlin. "If people need
storage space, they'll know we're out
there!'
According to Pogoda and Berlin,
customers have a wide variety of
reasons for using self-storage: people
who sell a home and need some place
to put their furnishings because they
can't get into their new place when
expected; when someone dies and the
family can't immediately decide how
to dispose of their belongings; phar-
maceutical representatives who store
their medical samples; inventories
of small businesses; people who just
want to relieve their homes of clutter.
"Some of our customers are here
every day," Pogoda observed. "It's
hard to believe, but a murderer put
a dead body in cold storage at one
of our places — unbeknownst to
us, of course. After he confessed, the
police came and took the body out.
The bank robber who made off with
$400,000 in cash probably figured no
one would look in self-storage for it.
Police came and got that, too.
"The FBI showed up to get the
drug dealer's inventory.
"The strangest case was the home-
less man who lived in his small rental
space. Our employees got suspicious
when they saw him here so often,
coming back and forth on a bike. I
guess it was cheaper than renting an
apartment."
In his mobile home park venture,
Pogoda says the biggest challenge is
the ups and downs of the economy.
"When the economy is poor, people
can't afford anything more than a
mobile home, so business is good
at our locations," he said. "When
the economy is good and interest
rates are low, that allows tenants
to upgrade themselves into regular
homes and our business drops off!'
Pogoda's seven mobile home parks
average about 200 units at an average
size of 14-by-70 feet. Last year, he
reaped a bonanza by selling six other
mobile home parks for $26 million
to a national organization. "It was an
offer I just couldn't refuse," he said.
Pogoda shares the fruits of his
success with many charities through
his Pogoda Family Foundation.
These include Congregation B'nai
Moshe, where he serves on the
Endowment Committee, Yad Ezra,
JARC, Karmanos Cancer Institute and
others.