CubeSmart storage facility to double Brainerd complex

The Dollar General store in Brainerd will close at the end of August to make room for a doubling of the self-storage CubeSmart facility in the former Hills Department store shopping center.
The Dollar General store in Brainerd will close at the end of August to make room for a doubling of the self-storage CubeSmart facility in the former Hills Department store shopping center.

Four months after its opening, a new CubeSmart storage facility in Brainerd is already full and its owners are planning to double the size of the complex to add more than 280 more storage units.

Developer Bernard Frogel, president of Frogel Properties Inc., said Monday he will soon begin a $2 million expansion of the CubeSmart into what is now a Dollar General store in the former Hill's Department Store shopping center near Brainerd and East Brainerd Roads. The Dollar General is slated to close at the end of August and is currently running a liquidation sale.

"Chattanooga has really taken to the CubeSmart brand," said Frogel, a former Chattanoogan who now lives in Los Angeles. "I think being near the airport and on a road where more than 40,000 motorists a day pass by, this is still a good location. Unfortunately, the retail appeal went down when the airport tore down the properties near the end of the runway (across Brainerd Road).

The shopping center, which was built 35 years ago, includes a loading dock in the back. Built originally to house a Hill's Department store and several smaller retail tenants, Frogel bought the shopping center in 1995 and used it for a Big Lots store for two decades. The retail center continues to also house a U.S. Money store.

Local CubeSmart storage facilities

* 5952 Brainerd Road, which is about to be double in size* 5056 New Country Drive in Hixson, scheduled to open in September* 600 Commercial Lane at the foot of Signal Mountain* 1346 Hickory Valley Road in Chattanooga

photo The Dollar General store in Brainerd will close at the end of August to make room for a doubling of the self-storage CubeSmart facility in the former Hills Department store shopping center.

Frogel installed all new LED lighting for the first phase of the CubeSmart storage facility, which opened in April.

CubeSmart is the third largest operator of self-storage facilities in the country with nearly 800 facilities in the United States, including two other locations already open in Chattanooga and the biggest CubeSmart facility yet in the market - a $5.5 million facility scheduled to open by September in Hixson on New Country Drive along Highway 153.

In addition to the climate-controlled storage space, CubeSmart offers a range of services, including package receipt, free Wi-Fi, workstations, printing copying and fax services, shipping and storage boxes and affiliated service providers such as the on-site Penske Truck Rental.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.

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