NAWILIWILI — Since 2015, Guardian Self Storage and Managing Partner Thomas Lambert have been building on the company’s second facility in Nawiliwili. At the end of this year, the second phase of construction will be complete.
“We opened a location in Puhi in 2006, and that’s been successful, and we’ve been looking for other locations, so when this building became available we decided to build storage in this location,” Lambert said of the old sugar storage building the company now resides in. “It’s where Kauai housed its sugar in the olden days. There were five or six plantations. They all used this as their storage until it was exported off island.”
Guardian Self Storage purchased the building in 2015, and has been making interior and exterior modifications, including removal of asbestos and improvements transforming the interior into a labyrinth of modern storage facility units.
It is not considered a historic site.
“It took us about two years to repair and do the site work,” Lambert said. “Last year we finished the first phase of storage. Essentially we have three phases of storage. Each third of the building approximately is one phase. We have two elevators and were able to go up four stories.”
The unique features of the old sugar-storage building gave the company the ability to take advantage of the vertical space that exists within it.
“We have 660 storage units in the first phase and we are going to add almost 600 in the second phase, and then we have a third phase,” Lambert said. “We are going to wait on the third phase and see whether it is worth pursuing.”
The second phase is expected to be completed at the end of this year, according to Lambert, with the third phase still not determined until the opening of the second set of units.
At the Puhi location, which was opened in September of 2006, the company offers 700 units, giving them 1,330 storage units for rent on Kauai and making them the largest self-storage company on the island.
Despite the addition of the new building in 2015, Lambert says there are still a fair amount of individuals who are not aware the old sugar-storage building has been converted into a storage facility.
“There has always kind of been a demand for storage, we under-supply on Kauai, so this will help with that,” Lambert said.
“We’re going to have more available in the future. As far as what people say, a lot of people remember how the building looked, so people are very complimentary of how we restored the building. It was an eyesore before, so a lot of people are happy that it looks better. Some people probably would have liked it if it had been torn down.”
Instead of tearing the building down, Lambert and Guardian Storage have converted the building into a modern storage facility that is clean and inviting.
That’s Lambert’s main goal for his customers — to have a clean space where people feel comfortable with storing their stuff there.
And by the end of the year, 600 more units will join the already biggest storage company on island, providing patrons with even cleaner, affordable storage options.
