American Storage of Delaware opens near Lewes

After years of planning, American Storage of Delaware on Route 1 north of Lewes opened its many doors to the public just before Labor Day weekend.

The facility was established by the duo of Alex Pires and Nate Graulich, who have been business partners for many years. Pires said the two had discussed the need for storage in the Cape Region, and they looked together for sites, first purchasing a site on Route 24 along with a site on Route 1 near Lewes. The Lewes site has been built first; it took about five years from the purchase of the land to actually building the facility.

In addition to the storage facility, the complex also houses the offices of Graulich’s construction company, Graulich Builders.

Pires said of its appearance, “We tried to make the building soft-looking, so it doesn’t look like an office building.”

Graulich, whose company designed and built the complex, said after studying the market, it was determined that a fully climate-controlled building was the best way to go. He said the complex includes 650 units on three floors, with sizes ranging from 5-by-5 to 10-by-20, complete with gated security, a service elevator and 25 parking spaces for RVs and boats.

“We designed it to fit into the community more, rather than being big-box storage,” Graulich said.

To rent a unit, users can go to the company website, americanstoragede.com, and pick the unit based on what they will be putting in. Graulich said a feature on the website is that users can see a rendering of what the unit will look like with the items in it. From there, he said, users can reserve the unit and will receive a text with a link to an app that will give them access to the facility. 

For people who don’t want to use the website to reserve a unit, American Storage of Delaware has an on-site leasing office where staff can walk users through the process and give a guided tour.

Graulich said rentals run month-to-month, but specials are offered to encourage long-term renting.