When the first location you look at for your new business ends up being a perfect fit, it’s not hard to believe in serendipity. Vance and Christie Evans were seeking a business opportunity that would allow the couple to work together, as well as incorporate ideas that they hope will become a new trend in the self-storage industry.
They first scouted an eight-acre property with an existing 98,000-square-foot ware-house on Lisle Industrial Avenue off Leestown Road in May 2016. They considered several other properties online and in person, but “we couldn’t quit looking at this one,” Christie Evans said. The couple closed the deal in late August 2017.
Christie and Vance Evans, owners of the Urban Squirrel, have outfitted the 98,000-square-foot facility with self-storage units, as well as to include office and event space as well, potentially, a brewery or distillery.
The industrial warehouse was built in the 1950s and was empty when Evans first saw it. “It was a shell when we got it; the bathrooms had even been taken out,” she said. After a six-month fit-up process, the Urban Squirrel opened in mid-March.
The couple describes the Urban Squirrel as a self-storage facility with a twist. Geared toward business professionals, the Urban Squirrel is now set up for event space rental, meeting rooms, open co-working space and private offices for lease, in addition to 302 self-storage units. The Bluegrass Dive Club is one organization that has already made the Urban Squirrel its monthly meeting venue.
Christie Evans has a degree in interior design with a minor in art from Eastern Kentucky University and has worked for an interior design firm and an exterior hardscape company. She put her artistic skills to use sketching lay-outs for the empty warehouse to repurpose it into different storage and office areas. Roughly half of the warehouse is dedicated to indoor self-storage units, the majority of which are climate controlled.
“We think being a locally owned small-business operation will allow us to serve clients much more personably and with a higher level of service.” —Christie Evans
The public spaces feature reclaimed wood salvaged from barns throughout Kentucky and purchased through Longwood Antique Woods. Vance Evans is still part owner of Longwood, where he worked full-time for 13 years. Longwood craftsmen also made most of the furniture, including meeting tables, coffee tables and a desk.
“I’m also now offering for lease an additional 9,000 square feet with the opportunity of a conversion to a bourbon distillery, brewery or restaurant venue,” she said. “I’ve already done plans and drawings for them, if someone is thinking of opening a distillery.”
The Urban Squirrel is less than a mile from the Distillery District on Manchester Street. “If anybody were wanting to do something here, I think Lexington would work with us on zoning,” she said. “They’re wanting to see places like this come alive instead of sitting abandoned like this one was for a couple of years.”
So far the Evanses are doing everything themselves, from paperwork and bookkeeping to maintenance and picking up trash.
“We are very excited to be a part of the small-business community in Lexington,” she said. “We think being a locally owned small-business operation will allow us to serve clients much more personably and with a higher level of service.”