After 30 years speculating on building a storage facility, Korey Purcella, 55, turned his dream into a reality by purchasing land in Las Cruces, N.M., and designing a Class A site. The design of the facility and institution of Class A standards set his facility–aptly named Premier RV & Boat Storage–far above the local competition, turning heads and ultimately attracting high quality and likely long-term tenants.
“Our biggest competition is on a dirt lot,” he explains. “Some of their customers had easily paid a half-million for their coach and were parking it in dirt. So we decided to pave ours and make sure it was a Class A-plus facility.” That decision won over a few tenants and has put Premier RV & Boat Storage on the best trajectory possible–giving tenants an exceptional storage experience while ensuring a steady income stream for the facility, long into the future.
Korey has been in the construction industry for most of his life, based in New Mexico for the past 46 years. In his late-20s and early-30s, he developed an interest in establishing a storage business. At the time, he thoroughly researched the self-storage industry, always contemplating the future prospect of developing his own.
“”It’s taken me a long time to get where I was comfortable about doing it,” he recalls. “I’d find some land but then realized that in self-storage you can get involved with a lot of problems.” He’s glad that he hesitated to move forward with developing a traditional storage business, because, he says, ”RV storage is a whole other deal; operating this business is a pleasure!”
The Venture Begins
Several years ago, Korey located a “flat piece of dirt” in an agricultural field just outside of town and decided he was ready to take the plunge. “I just took the plot plan of the land and started from scratch,” he said, adding that he and his son, Trey, 23, “had done a lot of ‘reconnaissance’ in the Phoenix area” to gain insights on successful designs.
“I sketched out at least three or four designs to get the most coverage of the space,” he continues. “We ended up with just shy of 200,000 square feet of units covered with a roof. We don’t offer any open parking; all units are either fully enclosed or canopy-covered.”
Development on the 8.5-acre plot commenced in March 2022. Almost a year to the date later, the neon-lit Premier RV & Boat Storage sign was installed, marking the grand opening of the site, which offers 98 garage-style units ranging from 12x15s to 12x42s, plus 248 of mixed sizes housed under canopies.
“We’ve had some customers who prefer to store their Class A buses in a fully enclosed space, and others who own a fishing boat that they’re really proud of, and they’ll rent more space than they need,” shares Trey. “We’ve learned that fully enclosed is definitely in demand. We’ve got more of those spaces percentage-wise. It’s a really hot commodity.”
Both Trey and Korey wear a lot of hats in the business, as does Korey’s wife of 34 years, Anna, who oversees the office throughout the week. Korey is still gainfully employed in construction management with the federal government on a full-time basis, but checks in twice a week and over the weekend to ensure operations are running like a top. Korey and Anna’s eldest son has recently returned to the family business as well.
“Anna takes care of all the financial transactions and day-to-day operations, and we monitor everything on cloud-based software,” says Korey. “We have a great staff, which makes everything a lot easier. We’re all family, all trust each other and we’re building a great brand.”
Trey concurs: “This is definitely a good career for me in a field with lots of opportunities. RV and boat storage is blowing up. And if I get to work with my family, that’s even better!”
Building the Best Tenant Base
The site is currently 40% occupied with the goal of reaching 80%. The Purcellas are content with their progress within one year of operations, ensuring they attract the right tenants for the long haul.
“Everyone can check us out online and reserve a unit, but they have to come into the office with a driver’s license and insurance,” says Korey. “We don’t discriminate against anyone, but we clearly won’t take vehicles that are out of service or have leaks. Everything needs to be in a well-maintained state.”
Premier also restricts commercial vehicles from storing there, choosing to emphasize the management is focused on RV and boat owners exclusively. “We’ve turned some people away mad, but this is our policy,” Korey explains. “We’ve sold ourselves to the current clientele that we have a set of standards that we won’t deviate from. Our renters feel better and we don’t want to open the door to unnecessary trouble.”
Both Trey and Korey recognize that offering Class A services and storage allows them to interact with Class A tenants. “Working in the office I’ve come to know tenants on a first-name basis,” says Trey. “They ask about the family. We’ve met a lot of good people.
“Since we’re dealing with people’s leisure items,” he continues, “they’ll come into the office just to talk. We’re building really great relationships and it’s so easy-going.”
In addition to local RV and boat owners, Premier has attracted plenty of snowbirds from as far away as Wisconsin and Indiana. “Our furthest customer is from Hawaii, but they keep their RV near Las Cruces,” adds Korey, adding that the facility is 70 miles away from the state’s biggest lake, Elephant Butte Lake, a popular site for boating, fishing, jet skiing, camping and more. Also within a few hours’ drive are White Sands National Park, the winter wonderland of Ruidoso and Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
No Regrets
Although it took him decades to finally venture into the world of storage, Korey is grateful he took his time to learn everything he could about the business to build the best brand possible.
“If you’re not learning everyday, you’re probably not doing something right,” he says. “The biggest thing that I’ve learned, and it’s really odd: People pay a lot of money for an RV, but some people don’t care if it’s parked in the dirt. They may be paying $300 a month to store their big rig, but they’ll keep it outside and uncovered to save $20 a month.
“We feel as though we are commanding the best tenants by offering premium storage. We like nice things and wanted to make our facility reflect that. It’s kind of our style. In the 
long term we’re going to confirm the best rental rates and have the best customers.”
To learn more about Premier RV & Boat Storage, visit the website.
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