WORCESTER, Mass., March 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- U-Haul® will soon
offer a 1,200-room self-storage facility at 44 Hammond St. thanks
to the recent acquisition of the historic Melville Shoe Corp.
U-Haul Moving & Storage at University Square will open
its retail showroom in April and offer truck and trailer sharing,
U-Box® portable storage containers, moving supplies and more.
U-Haul acquired the vacant 180,480-square-foot four-story
building in 2018. When renovations are done, the property will
feature about 1,200 indoor self-storage units with high-tech
security features, climate-control options and affordable
pricing.
Contact U-Haul Moving & Storage at University Square at
(508) 762-1257 or stop by to see our progress. Hours of operation
will be 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday
and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Reserve
equipment at uhaul.com or contact Reservations at
1-800-GO-UHAUL.
"This building is full of history and character," said
Jerry Ouellette, U-Haul Company of
Western Massachusetts and
Vermont president. "We are honored
to clean up the property and bring our services to this side of
Worcester. Preserving the history
in this area is important to us. We know the community will love
the finished product."
Ouellette expects to hire a staff of 15 or more Team Members
when the store is fully operational. U-Haul will look to hire
locally to promote job growth in Worcester. U-Haul always encourages local
contractors to bid on renovation work.
The building was constructed in 1928 and served as the Melville
Shoe Corp. manufacturing plant. Melville Shoe Corp. was once the
country's largest shoe retailer. More than 600 stores were supplied
with shoes from the Worcester
warehouse.
"This building has sat vacant for 18 years, and U-Haul is
excited to breathe life back into it," Ouellette added. "This is a
prime location. The city doesn't deserve to have it sit empty and
become an eyesore. Renovating this property will benefit the entire
area."
Acquisition of the property was driven by U-Haul Corporate
Sustainability initiatives: U-Haul supports infill developments to
help local communities lower their carbon footprint. Our adaptive
reuse of existing buildings reduces the amount of energy and
resources required for new-building materials and helps cities
reduce their unwanted inventory of unused buildings.
This is the third U-Haul-owned and -operated store in
Worcester (and the 58th U-Haul
store in Massachusetts). There are
also two independent small business operating as U-Haul dealers in
Worcester: Metrowest Auto Sales
and Service, and Worcester Self Storage Downtown.
The arrival of U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 is revolutionizing
the moving industry through its more convenient, more secure way to
pick up and return a truck. U-Haul live verification technology
allows rental transactions to be carried out entirely on a
smartphone at any hour – day or night. There are no membership
fees. Simply visit uhaul.com to create an online account.
About U-Haul
Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of
do-it-yourself movers, with a network of more than 21,000 locations
across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul Truck Share
24/7 now offers customers access to U-Haul trucks every hour of
every day through the self-service options on their
internet-connected mobile devices. U-Haul customers' patronage has
enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to 161,000 trucks, 118,000
trailers and 42,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers nearly 632,000
rooms and 55.2 million square feet of self-storage space at owned
and managed facilities throughout North
America. U-Haul is the largest installer of permanent
trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry and is the
largest retailer of propane in the U.S.
Contact:
Andrea Batchelor
Jeff Lockridge
E-mail: publicrelations@uhaul.com
Phone: 602-263-6981
Website: uhaul.com
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SOURCE U-Haul