WACO Storage
Self-storage with drive-up access on two floors · Warminster, PA
WACO is a 799-unit self-storage facility on a 5.3-acre site in Warminster, Pennsylvania. We designed it for Patagon Ventures, and Public Storage operates it. The site is a large L. One leg reaches a busy residential street, the other reaches a more commercial street, and an unrelated parcel sits in the corner between them. The job was to get the most return out of that shape, so we designed two buildings and let each street shape the building in front of it.
On the residential street, a two-story building with a sloped roof sits at the front, with a single-story section behind it. On the commercial street, a three-story building is set into the slope so drive-up units can be reached on two different floors. We put the stormwater detention below grade, under the parking and loading areas. That kept about 8,000 square feet of building on the site that above-ground detention would have taken.
Project Stats
Status | Completed - July 2020
Location | Warminster, PA
Site Size | 5.30 acres
Number of Units | 799
Buildings | 2 (two-story with single-story section; three-story)
Storage Types | Climate-controlled and drive-up
Construction Type | Steel self-storage building system
Operator | Public Storage
Design Schedule | Mar 2018 - Dec 2018
Construction Schedule | Jan 2019 - Jul 2020
About the Design
One Site, Two Streets
Most of the design decisions on WACO came from the shape of the land. Each leg of the L touches a different kind of street, so each street set the rules for the building in front of it. The site connects to both streets. The leasing office sits right on the residential street, and the rest of the site is behind gated access.
Fitting In on the Residential Side
The residential street needed a building that belonged there. We held the front building to two stories, gave it a sloped roof, and dropped to a single story behind it. That keeps the storage facility at a scale that fits the street.
Drive-Up Access on Two Floors
The commercial end of the site has a lot of slope, and we used it. The three-story building is set into the hill so drive-up units can be reached from grade on two different floors. Renters can pull up to their unit on either level without using an elevator, and units with that kind of access rent for more.
Detention Below Grade
Every site has to handle its stormwater, and on most storage sites that means giving up land to detention. At WACO we put the detention below grade, under the parking and loading areas. Above ground, it would have cost about 8,000 square feet of the single-story building. Underground, that building (and its rentable space) stayed on the site.
Glass Facing the Busier Street
The residential street is the busier of the two roads. The three-story building sits farther back but can still be seen from it, so we used a lot of glass on the facade facing that way. The glass gives the building some visual interest, and drivers going by can see the storage doors inside. That is everyday advertising for the facility.
Climate-Controlled and Drive-Up Units
Both buildings have climate-controlled units and drive-up units. Both were built with a steel self-storage building system from Rabco.
Approvals
WACO needed approval from the Warminster Township Zoning Hearing Board. We worked with the owner and their land use counsel, and the project received the approvals it needed.
Built Through a Pandemic
Construction started in January 2019 and finished in July 2020, so the last months of the job ran into the start of COVID-19. The schedule took a hit, but A&E Construction did a really good job of keeping the work moving as much as they could.
Every successful project is the result of teams of talented people working together in order to make the project a success. The owners and stakeholder groups play a huge role in defining the goals and objectives of the project. It is their vision for what they want to accomplish that really allows us to be successful in our work. Architects and Engineers make up the design team that is responsible for planning out and documenting everything that goes into making a building. Once the project is fully documented it is then in the hands of skilled craftsmen and trade workers who make up the construction team that physically brings the design into existence.
We would like to thank all of those who worked on this project to make our vision a reality by giving credit here with links to their websites.
A Collaborative Effort
Design Team
Structural | Rabco
MEP | GNA Engineering
Civil | Eustace Engineering
Land Use Counsel | Eastburn and Gray, P.C.
Construction Team
General Contractor | A&E Construction Co.
Stakeholders
Architecture Project Management
Architecture Team
Managing Principal, Architect
& Project Manager | Jarod Hall
Designer | Jeremy Larsen
Support Staff | Ethan Barley, Marin Smith
Project Scope
Site Studies | Early site studies tested how much building the L-shaped site could hold and how the buildings could step into the hill to reach more than one floor from grade.
Approvals | We worked with the owner and their land use counsel to take the design through the Warminster Township Zoning Hearing Board and receive the approvals the project needed.
Building Design (SD, DD, CD) | A full scope of building design services, from the first schematic design concept through design development and complete construction documents.
Construction Administration (CA) | We stayed with the project through construction, answering questions from the field and walking the site with the owner and contractor through the final punch list.
Looking Ahead
Patagon Ventures has hired di'velept on many self-storage projects, before and after WACO. We think they keep coming back for the same things that made this project work: deep self-storage knowledge, creative problem solving on hard sites, and a team that moves fast and answers quickly.
If you have a storage site with an odd shape, a steep slope or a tough neighbor, we would like to help you get the most out of it. Thanks for taking the time to learn about this project, and take a look at the rest of our self-storage work.