Methuen, Massachusetts
Adaptive Reuse & Self-Storage Development
99 Pleasant Valley Street & 145 Milk Street
The Opportunity
U-Haul acquired the 13.32-acre Methuen property in February 2019, creating the company’s first full-service location in the city.
The property included a 27,566-square-foot former Verizon fleet-maintenance facility at 99 Pleasant Valley Street and an adjacent 172,000-square-foot former Parlex manufacturing building at 145 Milk Street.
Rather than demolishing the existing buildings and starting over, the project centered on adaptive reuse — preserving the existing structures while creating a substantially different use for the site.
From Industrial Property to Storage Campus
The Methuen redevelopment was completed in phases, allowing the property to evolve while operations continued to grow.
The former industrial space was converted into modern self-storage with climate-controlled rooms, exterior-access units and drive-in loading areas designed to improve customer access and make moving and storage more convenient.
The project also expanded the site beyond storage alone, creating a full-service moving and storage operation with truck and trailer rentals, moving supplies, U-Box portable storage and related services.
Adaptive Reuse & Project Impact
Rather than replacing the existing structures with ground-up construction, both Methuen properties were repurposed for new uses.
The 99 Pleasant Valley Street building, originally constructed in 1966, had operated as a Verizon fleet-maintenance garage. The 145 Milk Street building, constructed in 1970, was formerly occupied by Parlex Corporation before being acquired for adaptive reuse.
Reusing the existing buildings allowed the project to preserve substantial amounts of existing concrete and structural materials while returning previously developed commercial property to productive use.
13.32 ACRES
Two-property Methuen campus
~200,000 SQ. FT.
Existing buildings repurposed
8,097 TONS
Construction & demolition debris prevented
9.4M+ LBS/YEAR
Estimated greenhouse gas emissions prevented
The Finished Campus
Today, the Methuen development operates as a two-property moving and self-storage campus serving both residential and business customers.
The completed site combines climate-controlled storage, drive-up units, drive-in loading, truck and trailer rentals, moving supplies, U-Box portable storage and related services across 99 Pleasant Valley Street and 145 Milk Street.
What began as two older commercial and industrial properties was repositioned into a modern, multi-service operation designed around convenience, access and long-term use of the existing real estate.
Community Connection
The completed Methuen development was celebrated with the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce and members of the local U-Haul team.
The ribbon cutting marked more than the completion of another storage project. It reflected the transformation of two older commercial and industrial properties into an active moving and self-storage campus serving the Methuen community.
My Role
Identifying the Opportunity
My involvement in the Methuen project began with identifying a need for expanded moving and self-storage products and services in the market.
I first identified the former Verizon property at 99 Pleasant Valley Street because of its visibility along a busy commercial corridor, but the site alone did not provide enough building area or land to support the larger opportunity. When 145 Milk Street came to market, it offered the space we needed but lacked the visibility and frontage of Pleasant Valley Street.
I worked to bring the two properties together as one opportunity, including structuring a deal that allowed the owner of 145 Milk Street to acquire 99 Pleasant Valley Street and ultimately sell the combined properties to U-Haul. I then presented the opportunity internally and secured approval to move forward with the acquisition and redevelopment.
Navigating the Development
The project faced significant local opposition, and I spent nearly two years meeting with city officials, including the mayor, listening to concerns and working through the approvals required to move the project forward.
That included zoning variances, business licensing, site-plan approvals and the challenges that came with merging and redeveloping two separate properties.
The development itself required a substantial investment of both time and capital while the operation was being built, opened and gradually filled. Adaptive reuse also brought its own challenges. The former Parlex building had been expanded in phases over several decades, with different construction methods and building systems throughout the property. Converting a building like that can feel a lot like peeling an onion — each phase reveals the next issue that has to be understood and solved.
The Result
What I am most proud of is seeing the two properties become a modern self-storage facility and regional U-Haul campus that is now part of the community we serve.
The project brought underused buildings back into productive use, created a long-term operating asset and did so through redevelopment rather than unnecessary demolition and landfill waste.