Survival Storage Lockers

[JeepHammer]

While I don't give customers names or locations,
I recently visited a facility I hadn't been aware of until now.

It 'Looks' like the average storage locker facility from outside, with a couple differences you wouldn't notice without using an eye toward defense...

The usual high chain link fence with barbed wire top,
but a 'Dog' or Vehicle run just inside the fence, and a second wall/fence made of either split face stone or steel slats edgeways. (Like slat armor on vehicles).
Its quite decorative.
The split faced block is backed up by 2' of reinforced concrete.

There is an inner parking area (stand off distance), and then the usual rows of storage lockers, these surround a central 2 story building with a 'Turret' type tower that's about 4 stories. (Really nice look out post & high ground)

All internal storage lockers have electricity, a water pipe & toilet drain capped off... This piqued my interest, and it turns out there is a sink & toilet for every unit stored inside the building.

A solar power grid distribution issue is why I got called, and complete solar power is going in, it's both grid intertie & battery back up power capable.
Almost every roof with direct sun access had mounts for solar panel racks, and wiring connectors (capped off) for expansion of the solar system.

As I got to know the owners (a CO-OP as it turns out) this was actually an idea the government had come up with and published, these guys needed it to pay for itself while constructing it, so they went with a 'Mini-Storage' design instead of privately owned.

The two big questions I still have is water source & storage for a big group. I would *Assume* the tower might be a gravity feed storage if there were tanks I wasn't aware of, but water source wasn't apparent...
(there is plenty of ground for wells, and plenty of potential solar capacity for well pumps, just wasn't apparent, as they shouldn't be for this sort of thing)

 

[dudley0]

So in the case of a SHTF scenario do the tenants get to keep their storage bunker or is it lost to the co-op owners?

 

[Vigilant]

Government, double fence, tower, multiple rooms? Sounds like prison to me?

 

[JeepHammer]

I don't know the specific details, but the guys in the know all have lockers inside the main building.
With a sink, toilet, and at least 8'x10' it sounds like private quarters to me.
Put 100 or so guys in a defensible position with supplies & water, and that's a pretty good position to be in.

Since it's a CO-Op, they get to pick & choose your members and I have to assume being a member means you're 'IN'.
The junk people store in the outer buildings is just that, junk... I can't imagine it would be good for much.

I guess it might be a 'Prison' if it were government, but the government plans were for emergency support personal & supplies without standing out.
Hide in plain sight...

One suggestion I had was for laundry. If you have water & power, no sense in not having some washing machines.
Since it's a public business already, a public laundromat would pay for itself and give you industrial machines, and air dry to keep energy consumption down.
An income stream, even if it only broke even, wouldn't hurt.

With the out buildings being end-on to the main building, it would keep anyone trying to get to the main building.
That's a really confined field of fire, and a window on the second story lined up with about every driveway separating buildings.
The term 'Murder Alley' comes to mind between those buildings... With doors closed there is no place to hide...

The idea of a MAG or CO-OP wouldn't appeal to the paranoid, but a group that got along BEFORE things happened it makes really good sense.

 

[Alamo]

A co-op bugout facility. Cool.

I manage a storage facility...traditional non-TEOTWAWKI design. The owners built a new one down the road a couple years ago, so they're not in the market right now for a another one, but if business picks up I'll suggest this one to them. Would love to see a plan.

 

[stormryder]

piqued my interest.

 

[JeepHammer]

I'm 'More Or Less' sitting on a co-op, simply letting select people leave 'Cabins' (yard barns) on the property.
They pay for water/sewage & electric hook ups for travel trailers or yard barns sized 'Cabins', and in turn they will be support/security in a big event.
Im all about gardens, renewable energy, and I have the space (land) WAY out of town by Indiana standards.

I have a large lake, river front access, and I'm a mile off the nearest county road...
As self sufficient as I can be without being uncomfortable or driving the wife away.

This interested me simply because it was built with a real eye towards security in numbers, would be a long way from 'Luxury' accommodations, but it would provide reasonable support & security, with room for supplies,
And it's paying for itself!

I sure can't say my place paid for itself...