In 2017 when Ron and Peggy saw the old Citrus Packinghouse they fell in love with the building. They were a little overwhelmed by its size of 52,000 square feet and thought it might be a project a little bit above their resources but they were in love with the building and decided to take the plunge. 

 

Both had many years of construction experience and realized the building would need extensive renovation to bring it building back to its original glory understanding when the building was built a hundred years ago and was meant to be a jewel of the citrus Industry.

 

They decided any work done to the outside of the building would have to be done to preserve the original beauty and integrity of the building. So, they started cleaning and many dumpsters of debris revealing unique features of the building. 

 

In order for the building to work for them they built an apartment for themselves and another apartment for a future manager and a suite of commercial offices. All existing renters were left intact and nobody’s rent was raised. Meantime the coquina on the outside of the building was chemically cleaned and all trim was painted a clean white. All the large barn doors were stripped down to bare wood and given a clear coat finish. Each individual door taking a little over a week to do.

Next came the large open area of the building which was a little over 22,000 square feet. It was thoroughly cleaned and the ceiling given a new coat of white paint. All the windows were trimmed out and the floor leveled and given a fresh coat of paint. A state-of-the-art sprinkler system was installed and fifteen ceiling fans were installed for circulation as well as a huge dehumidifier to service the entire area.

 

When Ron and Peggy first looked at the building, they realized that it was the best candidate they had seen to re-purpose as a sell-storage facility. The area was growing and almost all new houses that are built in Florida have no basements and are truss built meaning there are no attics. Everyone was going to need a place to store and they were sure a mom-and-pop facility would be a welcome change from the large corporate storage-facilities where market conditions dictated rent increase and renters were treated like numbers instead of people. In addition to supplying a real service to the community a self-storage facility would make it feasible to maintain the building and would not relegate it to an industrial use.

They designed a facility with 161 self-storage units with many different sizes to accommodate all kinds of needs. And then they started building the units. In March of 2022 they opened with 88 of the units completed and after the ribbon cutting all 88 units were quickly rented and in the process Ron and Peggy made many new friends. To this day they continue to build and every time they complete a new isle of units, they offer a special of one free month if a customer pays two months’ rent up front.

 

Ron and Peggy really enjoy the community and all the friends and their customers. As everyone knows Lake Alfred is a great place to live.