From Dump to Dollars
Bob McCue saw a diamond in the rough along Highway 93, and opened Eagle Self Storage
By JILL FITZSIMMONS for the Missoulian
Bob McCue of Missoula has found his treasure in a former landfill that once was thought to be impossible to develop into anything that would make a buck.
That property, 8.5 acres that run along the banks of the Bitterroot River as well as along Highway 93, was seen as prime real estate to the four investors who bought it in the 1970s. Instead, it was turned into a landfill site for dumping gravel, concrete, street sweepings and even old tree stumps. The owners eventually capped the site with a 5-foot gravel cover. State officials would tell them later that nothing in which people could live could be built on the site. That prime piece of property had turned into a headache for its owners.
But what could be built on the property was a self-storage facility. And who knows self-storage better in Missoula than McCue? McCue’s father brought one of the first self-storage businesses to Missoula – Vigilante Storage near the Missoula International Airport. McCue saw something in the property, and that was cars – lots of ’em. A study showed that every day 38,000 vehicles drive by that piece of property. And that’s only one way.
McCue has taken this property and capitalized on its high visibility. Combining an outstanding location with his years of experience in a family business, McCue has turned a former landfill into the site of a viable business – Eagle Self Storage. The 700-unit storage facility is the largest in western Montana, he said.
“We want to be the premiere storage business in Missoula, and I think we’re there now,” McCue said. “And with a lot of hard work, we will stay there.“
McCue has learned over the years that mini-storage is an interesting business because of the many different people who walk into his office and the stories they bring with them. He hears stories of the soon-to-be ex-husband who needs a place to store his belongings. Or the wife who just wants her garage back and orders her husband to put that old fishing boat in storage. Businesses use the units to store merchandise. And sometimes retired couples setting off to travel the country need a place to store their belongings because they traded their homes in for RVs.
McCue has accumulated a number of stories over the years. But his starts as a child when, in 1974, his father, also named Robert McCue, built Vigilante Storage. People thought his father was crazy. Who would take their belongings somewhere to be stored, they asked.
All seven of the McCue kids worked in the family business. But this McCue never thought he’d actually follow into it. One day, McCue also recognized there is a future in mini-storage. Though he had graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in economics and worked in state government for several years, McCue returned to his roots full time.
There are several forces at work in Missoula that are making Eagle Self Storage successful, McCue said. For one, many older, wealthy people are moving to Montana to retire. We also live in an outdoor-oriented community, which translates to boats, RVs, four-wheelers and campers. Missoula also is plagued by land issues, so many homes built today are smaller. And, we’re a consumer-driven society; we have lots of stuff. All these facts mean people need storage.
Together with his wife, Sydney, McCue opened for business in August 2001. At that time, the storage facility had 600 units. The additional 100 were added last month, and there’s still room for another 100 units in the future, McCue said.
Eagle Self Storage is an eye-stopper from the highway. It has the look of a new business – clean and modern with attractive landscaping along the highway frontage. The storage area is fenced, lighted and has a security gate and cameras. It’s also spacious, with about 30 feet between the long buildings so people can drive their cars past one another on their way to their storage units. Semi trucks can back easily into the facility with all the room available.
Unlike most self-storage businesses, Eagle also has an office on site that’s open six days a week. “We’ve tried to take a more professional view of the moving industry,” McCue said.
The business offers 12 different unit sizes that vary in price. A closet-sized unit (good for storing such things as holiday decorations) can be rented for $30 a month, or a 13-foot-by-40-foot unit with 16-foot high ceilings (an inside RV center) can be rented for $229 a month. McCue also offers a 12-foot-by-30-foot drive-through unit for boat and RV storage. Customers can drive in one door of the unit, drop the RV or boat, and drive out the other side.
“We can manage just about everybody’s level of storage needs here,” McCue said.
All storage units are enclosed with a garage door. Customers buy their own locks to put on the doors. Lock checks are done daily on all the storage units as a service to the customers, who have controlled access to their units from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
McCue holds a monthly auction – usually the last Wednesday of the month – on site. At the auction, the contents of abandoned units are sold to the highest bidder.
Eagle Self Storage also is an authorized U-Haul dealer that sells retail storage items such as locks, boxes, tape, rope and wrapping paper. So the facility is really a one-stop moving center, McCue said. People can buy boxes to pack their belongings, rent a trailer to load it up and bring the contents down to the storage unit.
After two years in business at Eagle Self Storage, McCue, like his father before him, has much faith that the mini-storage industry will only grow in the future. He admitted his father looks pretty smart today to any naysayers of the past.
“I’ll just improve on his ideas,” McCue said.
This article originally ran in the Missoulian.
Bob McCue of Missoula has found his treasure in a former landfill that once was thought to be impossible to develop into anything that would make a buck.
That property, 8.5 acres that run along the banks of the Bitterroot River as well as along Highway 93, was seen as prime real estate to the four investors who bought it in the 1970s. Instead, it was turned into a landfill site for dumping gravel, concrete, street sweepings and even old tree stumps. The owners eventually capped the site with a 5-foot gravel cover. State officials would tell them later that nothing in which people could live could be built on the site. That prime piece of property had turned into a headache for its owners.
But what could be built on the property was a self-storage facility. And who knows self-storage better in Missoula than McCue? McCue’s father brought one of the first self-storage businesses to Missoula – Vigilante Storage near the Missoula International Airport. McCue saw something in the property, and that was cars – lots of ’em. A study showed that every day 38,000 vehicles drive by that piece of property. And that’s only one way.
McCue has taken this property and capitalized on its high visibility. Combining an outstanding location with his years of experience in a family business, McCue has turned a former landfill into the site of a viable business – Eagle Self Storage. The 700-unit storage facility is the largest in western Montana, he said.
“We want to be the premiere storage business in Missoula, and I think we’re there now,” McCue said. “And with a lot of hard work, we will stay there.“
McCue has learned over the years that mini-storage is an interesting business because of the many different people who walk into his office and the stories they bring with them. He hears stories of the soon-to-be ex-husband who needs a place to store his belongings. Or the wife who just wants her garage back and orders her husband to put that old fishing boat in storage. Businesses use the units to store merchandise. And sometimes retired couples setting off to travel the country need a place to store their belongings because they traded their homes in for RVs.
McCue has accumulated a number of stories over the years. But his starts as a child when, in 1974, his father, also named Robert McCue, built Vigilante Storage. People thought his father was crazy. Who would take their belongings somewhere to be stored, they asked.
All seven of the McCue kids worked in the family business. But this McCue never thought he’d actually follow into it. One day, McCue also recognized there is a future in mini-storage. Though he had graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in economics and worked in state government for several years, McCue returned to his roots full time.
There are several forces at work in Missoula that are making Eagle Self Storage successful, McCue said. For one, many older, wealthy people are moving to Montana to retire. We also live in an outdoor-oriented community, which translates to boats, RVs, four-wheelers and campers. Missoula also is plagued by land issues, so many homes built today are smaller. And, we’re a consumer-driven society; we have lots of stuff. All these facts mean people need storage.
Together with his wife, Sydney, McCue opened for business in August 2001. At that time, the storage facility had 600 units. The additional 100 were added last month, and there’s still room for another 100 units in the future, McCue said.
Eagle Self Storage is an eye-stopper from the highway. It has the look of a new business – clean and modern with attractive landscaping along the highway frontage. The storage area is fenced, lighted and has a security gate and cameras. It’s also spacious, with about 30 feet between the long buildings so people can drive their cars past one another on their way to their storage units. Semi trucks can back easily into the facility with all the room available.
Unlike most self-storage businesses, Eagle also has an office on site that’s open six days a week. “We’ve tried to take a more professional view of the moving industry,” McCue said.
The business offers 12 different unit sizes that vary in price. A closet-sized unit (good for storing such things as holiday decorations) can be rented for $30 a month, or a 13-foot-by-40-foot unit with 16-foot high ceilings (an inside RV center) can be rented for $229 a month. McCue also offers a 12-foot-by-30-foot drive-through unit for boat and RV storage. Customers can drive in one door of the unit, drop the RV or boat, and drive out the other side.
“We can manage just about everybody’s level of storage needs here,” McCue said.
All storage units are enclosed with a garage door. Customers buy their own locks to put on the doors. Lock checks are done daily on all the storage units as a service to the customers, who have controlled access to their units from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
McCue holds a monthly auction – usually the last Wednesday of the month – on site. At the auction, the contents of abandoned units are sold to the highest bidder.
Eagle Self Storage also is an authorized U-Haul dealer that sells retail storage items such as locks, boxes, tape, rope and wrapping paper. So the facility is really a one-stop moving center, McCue said. People can buy boxes to pack their belongings, rent a trailer to load it up and bring the contents down to the storage unit.
After two years in business at Eagle Self Storage, McCue, like his father before him, has much faith that the mini-storage industry will only grow in the future. He admitted his father looks pretty smart today to any naysayers of the past.
“I’ll just improve on his ideas,” McCue said.
This article originally ran in the Missoulian.
