By Zachary Urow
Buyers love expansion stories in boat and RV storage. It’s all about more land, more spaces and more upside. But the best operators know that building isn’t always the first move. The real decision is sequencing: expand, optimize or hold. Each strategy has a different mix of risk and timing. Expansion can compound value when demand is proven and execution is straightforward, but it can also compound problems if pricing and operations aren’t dialed in yet.
Fort Myers Boat RV Storage in Florida was successfully brokered by Urow Real Estate in February of this year and is a useful case study as it shows both dynamics in the same transaction. The property has clear room for expansion, while also offering opportunities to improve performance within the existing footprint. Here, we break down how buyers value expansion vs. optimization and what to prioritize in the near term.
The Property
Fort Myers Boat RV Storage is located in North Fort Myers, within the Cape Coral–Fort Myers metropolitan area. The facility includes 160 units totaling approximately 23,545 rentable square feet across a mix of indoor, covered and uncovered parking designed for boats, RVs and other large vehicles. Sitting on roughly 8.3 acres, the existing facility occupies only a portion of the site.
What makes the asset particularly interesting is the amount of remaining land that could support future development. Approximately 5.9 acres of the site remain available for expansion, creating an opportunity for additional storage spaces if demand continues to grow.
At the same time, the facility’s existing operations provide stability, with strong physical occupancy but a lower economic occupancy to consider. Thus, the property already benefits from proven demand with additional upside through operational improvements.
The Market
The facility is located in a growing area of North Fort Myers with more than 151,000 residents and nearly 65,000 households within a 5-mile radius, with population projected to grow by approximately 7.5% over the next five years. Continued residential growth in Southwest Florida supports long-term demand for storage as more households look for offsite solutions for boats, trailers and recreational vehicles.
Within the same trade area are 11 storage facilities totaling roughly 881,949 rentable square feet, which equates to about 19 square feet of storage per capita. Based on the development pipeline, supply is projected to increase to 13 facilities and approximately 1.04 million rentable square feet in the coming years.
Additionally, a review of nearby facilities also provided useful pricing context, indicating some properties achieve higher rents for certain unit types, suggesting potential upside through operational improvements.
Call for Offers
When Fort Myers Boat RV Storage was brought to market, buyers were not just deciding between expansion and operational potential. Instead, they evaluated how much value each strategy could realistically produce.
Some buyers focused on the expansion potential across the remaining acreage, viewing the property as a long-term development opportunity. Others placed more weight on the existing operations and the ability to improve revenue within the current footprint. In reality, most buyers priced both. The question wasn’t expansion versus optimization, but how much each component contributed to the total value of the deal.
Expansion Opportunity
Expansion potential is often one of the first things that attracts attention in boat and RV storage investments. Additional land creates a clear opportunity to scale. More spaces mean more potential revenue and, ultimately, higher NOI. In growing markets where demand is already present, this type of upside can be very compelling.
Fort Myers Boat RV Storage sits on approximately 8.3 acres, while the existing facility occupies only about 2.4 acres, leaving roughly 5.9 acres available for potential future expansion. The site includes approximately 3.45 acres along the west and north sides and another 2.45 acres at the front of the property, both of which could support additional storage spaces depending on a future operator’s strategy.
Optimization Opportunity
At the same time, expansion was not the only source of value. Buyers also evaluated how the existing facility could improve its performance within the current footprint. Operational optimization can take many forms, including bringing rents closer to market levels, improving tenant quality, refining marketing efforts, or improving day-to-day operational efficiency.
The facility shows strong physical occupancy but lower economic occupancy. So, demand for space is already proven while revenue from existing units could still improve. For many buyers, this created a near term opportunity to increase income before pursuing expansion.
Comparison
Because both dynamics were present, buyers approached the opportunity from different angles. Expansion requires higher upfront capital for site work, utilities and construction, and carries risks related to entitlements, construction timelines and lease-up. Optimization generally requires less capital and focuses on operational improvements such as pricing adjustments, marketing and tenant management.
The timelines are also different. Expansion can take several years to realize its full value, while operational improvements can generate results more quickly. But as mentioned, investors did not evaluate these strategies separately. Instead, they considered how both expansion and optimization could contribute to the total value of the investment.
Strategy
In practice, the question for owners and investors is rarely whether to optimize operations or pursue an expansion. The more relevant question is, how do both strategies fit together and in what order they should occur?
Operational improvements and expansion often depend on each other. Optimizing the existing facility can strengthen revenue, show that there is a demand for the facility and create a more stable base from which expansion becomes easier to justify. At the same time, expansion potential can significantly increase the long-term value of a property if market demand supports additional supply.
Fort Myers Boat RV Storage already has a strong physical occupancy, confirming that demand for boat and RV storage exists in the surrounding market. At the same time, the site includes substantial undeveloped land that could allow a future operator to increase the number of spaces significantly.
Because of this combination, the most logical strategy is not choosing between optimization or expansion, but sequencing them. Improving pricing and operations within the existing footprint can strengthen performance in the near term, while the available land preserves the opportunity to expand the facility as demand continues to grow. This type of sequencing is often what turns a property into a compelling long-term investment.
Should You Expand Your Boat & RV Storage Facility?
Owners evaluating their own facilities often face the same question raised in this case study. Should the focus be on expanding the property or improving the performance of what already exists? The answer depends on a combination of factors such as market demand, current occupancy, available land and how the property is currently operating.
Zachary Urow is the founder and president of Urow Real Estate, a boutique investment sales firm exclusively focused on the sale of self-storage facilities across the United States. Recognized as experts in the boat and RV storage, the company successfully brokered the sale of the largest Class A facility of its kind in the country in 2025, Oakley Executive Boat & RV Storage. Located in Oakley, Calif., this 546-unit, 273,105 NRSF property set a new benchmark for large-vehicle storage in Northern California. To help owners decide whether or not expansion is a good strategy for their own RV/boat storage property, Urow has created a feasibility form that will allow their team to share a brief analysis about the site, outlining local demand and potential expansion capacity. Access the form here: https://forms.office.com/r/88XSFKAE68. Zachary Urow be contacted at 813.668.3039 or [email protected]. To learn more about Oakley Executive Boat & RV Storage sale, visit: https://www.urowrealestate.com/listings/oakley-executive-boat-rv-storage. To learn more about the Fort Myers Boat RV Storage sale, visit: https://www.urowrealestate.com/listings/fort-myers-boat-rv-storage.
