New Life: U-Haul Repurposing Sudbury Building that Sat Empty for 5 Years

SUDBURY, Ont. (Aug. 23, 2023) — U-Haul® will soon apply its ecofriendly Adaptive Reuse program to provide more than 650 indoor climate-controlled self-storage lockers in Sudbury to meet growing customer demand in the region.

U-Haul Moving & Storage of Sudbury now occupies the building at 943 Barrydowne Road that last housed a RONA® home improvement store. U-Haul acquired the 16.5-acre property on July 13.

Customers already have access to needed residential mobility services like moving van rentals, trailers, boxes, moving supplies, towing equipment and more out of a temporary showroom.

Reserve equipment on the U-Haul app or contact Reservations at 1-800-GO-UHAUL.

Adaptive reuse of the 36,804-square-foot facility will lead to a variety of climate-controlled storage units with high-tech security features at affordable price points. Storage customers will have extended-hours access.

Acquisition of the vacant property was driven by U-Haul Corporate Sustainability initiatives: U-Haul supports infill developments to help local communities lower their carbon footprint. The 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 building has been sitting vacant since the RONA store closed in 2018,” said Wayne Curtis, U-Haul Company of Central Ontario president. “Empty buildings are blight on our communities and hurt property values. It takes a special type of business to use a large space. We are a perfect fit because U-Haul can convert and utilize the entire space for a product that is in high demand.

“Bringing the U-Haul Adaptive Reuse program to Sudbury is important because we can breathe life into an existing building without the environmental impact of building a new facility,” Curtis added. “We’re excited about this project. We encourage other businesses to follow our lead and invest in Sudbury.”

Curtis intends to hire at least 12 Team Members to staff the new store. U-Haul will look to hire locally to promote job growth within the Sudbury community. Find U-Haul careers at uhauljobs.com.

U-Haul dealers in and around Sudbury continue to be available to serve DIY movers. U-Haul has partnered with independent dealers to provide communities with accessible mobility since 1945. During these challenging times, more than 21,000 small businesses across the U.S. and Canada are generating supplemental income by partnering with U-Haul. When customers rent from their local U-Haul dealers, they are directly supporting small businesses in their community. Because there is no financial investment from dealers, they are not U-Haul franchises. They are simply small businesses with enough lot space to park U-Haul equipment and enough time to welcome more customers while meeting the mobility needs of their neighbors. Learn how to partner with U-Haul at uhaul.com/dealer.

About U-HAUL  

Founded in 1945, U-Haul is the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers with more than 23,000 rental locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The enhanced U-Haul app makes it easier for customers to use U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 to access trucks anytime through the self-dispatch and self-return options on their smartphones through our patented Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to 192,200 trucks, 138,500 trailers and 44,500 towing devices. U-Haul is the third largest self-storage operator in North America with 959,000 rentable units and 82.3 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities. U-Haul is the top retailer of propane in the U.S. and the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry. We were recently named one of America’s Best Large Employers (Forbes, 2023); a Best for Vets Employer (Military Times, 2022); and one of the Healthiest Workplaces in America (Healthiest Employers, 2022). Find careers at uhauljobs.com. Get the U-Haul app from the App Store or Google Play.

Contact:

Andrea Batchelor

Jeff Lockridge

E-mail: publicrelations@uhaul.com

Phone: 602-263-6194

Website: uhaul.com