Extra Space Storage will buy your self-storage outfit for cash, or give you “ operating partnership units in Extra Space Storage’s REIT [Real Estate Investment Trust].”

$5B in closed transactions in the last 5 years.

https://www.extraspace.com/acquisition/

That explains why there's half a dozen self storage buildings within 5 feet of my apartment.

I am trying to imagine what kind of lovecraftian geometry you have the misfortune to live in

I'm barely even exaggerating. There's literally 5 within walking distance.

“And although the space they occupy isn’t like normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. Not a cubic inch there but is filled by a padlock, a garage door, a wheeled cart, the tip of a key code pad, so the effect is like one of those trick drawings and your eyeballs eventually realize that the space between each self-storage is, in fact, another self-storage.”

Adapted from Pratchett, “Guards, Guards!”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7949916-and-although-the-sp...

>The real business of car washes is real estate.

What I see in both car washes and the storage business suggested by one of the child posters is low-labor cash flow. I can't speak for all geographies, but locally what I observe is car washes are built on low-value land where these new heavily automated car washes have got to be a cash cow once they are paid off, especially with monthly subscriptions. I do unfortunately see a lot of storages built on what could be much higher value land, which does cause me to wonder what kind of financial engineering I'm not seeing on the surface.

One pattern I have seen in the UK is temporary manual car washes operating in former gasoline stations.

Firstly, the location, visibility and site layout are obviously perfect.

Secondly, the old brown-field gas station has sludge-filled underground tanks that cost a lot to remove, and do a full environmental clean-up. There are long delays to wait for a deep-pocketed developer, or for the site value to rise. In the meantime, lease it out to a bunch of enterprising migrants (in UK, often E.Europeans).

There are stories about the UK being overrun with sketchy businesses like manual car washes and sweets shops

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/26/more-than-90...

> much higher value land

getting a building permits for a car wash is much much much easier than for something higher value, and in absence of LVT ...

Probably Mister Carwash (the franchise organisation) is leasing out locations to its franchisees, in which case the whole business is absolutely about real-estate.

Except they don’t do franchises and the financial statement says they’re paying rent not receiving it.

https://ir.mistercarwash.com/company-information/faq

Who are they renting from, though?

A company I previously worked for did rent 4-5 office buildings at ripoff prices, to a company belonging to one of the board members.

Maybe REITs?