The "L" Shaped Garage: Park Place Storage Condominiums

15 years ago I purchased a storage condominium in Loretto, MN from Paul Jorgenson. The Loretto facility was his first foray into the Minneapolis/St. Paul market for "large, heated, storage you own". Park Place Storage has since expanded to five sites with plans to add a sixth in Cottage Grove. In the time I've been Paul's customer I've not only expanded the amount of space I own but also moved from the Loretto to Minnetrista locations.

The Loretto facility is located just north of Highway 55 on County road 19. The property has something like 320 units spread across 17 buildings.

A standard unit in Loretto is 18’ x 45’. I (eventually) owned three units… A “double” (two standard units without a wall in-between) and the “single” next door. Each unit has a 16’ wide by 14’ tall overhead garage door. The interior height is 16’. Each unit includes a 40,000 btu forced air furnace and a 60 amp electrical service. The buildings are well insulated and surprisingly inexpensive to heat in the winter months.

I “customized” the space by adding a mezzanine to the “double” unit and installed a four post lift. The 2,430 ft² easily accommodates our fifth-wheel trailer, 3 boats, a couple cars, and working area. the mezzanine provides ample additional storage space.

Although I absolutely enjoyed my time as an owner in the Loretto association… I always wanted to own one of the 6o’ deep units Paul began building well after I originally bought in. In Late 2012 Paul offered me the opportunity to trade away my Loretto units for a pair of 24’ x 60’ units in their new Minnetrista facility. Even though I did not relish the thought of moving all the stuff from one place to the other I decided to do it. Paul has changed his “formula” significantly in the years since building in Loretto. The Minnetrista buildings are steel construction and include many more 60’ units.

The Minnetrista facility will eventually house more than 400 units spread across 10 (or more) buildings. The grounds are fenced and the facility includes a meeting room, wash bay, and RV dump station.

The two facilities are almost 16 miles apart and even though Minnetrista is nearly 5 miles further it usually takes no more time to travel there from our home.

Fortunately Paul allowed me to take all the time I needed to make the move. We… Sam, William, Bjorn, Jane, Mara, Anna, Helen, Deb, and anyone else I could cajole, blackmail, etc… set about moving. The move took all summer!

So… Comparing the the two spaces using (Google/Trimble) SketchUp shows off a couple advantages to the 60’ Minnetrista unit. First… the extra depth easily accommodates parking a vehicle in front (or behind) a trailer. Second… The Minnetrista units are 24’ wide and include a man door. This is especially nice because you don’t have to open the garage door to get inside. The Minnetrista “double” is also 450 ft² bigger.