A Conversation With Extra Space Storage CEO Joseph Margolis About Company Growth, Self-Storage Sustainability, Technology and More

Extra Space Storage CEO Joseph Margolis (Photo courtesy of Extra Space Storage)

Joseph Margolis recently marked his eighth year as CEO of self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) Extra Space Storage Inc., which posted revenue of more than $3.2 billion in 2024. He also helped the company celebrate a milestone: Extra Space reached 4,000 facilities across the U.S., having more than doubled its store count since 2021.

In this interview, we asked Margolis what this powerhouse self-storage operation is doing to expand its portfolio of owned and managed properties. Read about the company’s growth plans, commitment to sustainability, technology use, approach to a challenging economy and more.

Editor’s note: This article has been lightly edited for length, style and clarity.

The Extra Space portfolio recently surpassed 4,000 facilities. What does this achievement mean to the company, its employees and you personally?

I’m really proud of the work that the team put in that is inherent in being able to grow the way we grew. But I think what’s even more important is that we maintained our company culture and values as we did so. I first got involved with Extra Space Storage when we had 12 stores. Now we have 8,000 employees.

As companies get bigger, they tend to insert bureaucracy and layers. I’m really happy that as we’ve grown over the years, we’ve tried really hard to maintain some of those small-company values where every teammate—whether it’s an assistant store manager or a member of the C-suite—is treated with the same amount of respect, has a voice at the table, is valued as a person and has a career path. The fact that we’ve been able to do that while growing quickly is really a testament to everyone in this company, and how they’ve protected those values and lived those values. So, I’m more proud of that than any particular number of stores.

Extra Space is focused heavily on its sustainability practices. What are some of these initiatives and their impact?

We spent just a little over $30 million putting solar panels on roofs last year. And that has a great win-win result of reducing energy consumption, which is good for the environment, and it reduces our utility bills and gives us certain tax and other economic benefits. All of our own properties have energy-efficient lighting or will have within a few months of purchase. We’ve been replacing older HVAC systems with new energy-efficient systems. So, we try to be good stewards of our community, of the environment, while continuing to make a good return for our shareholders.

Technology is a major focus in the self-storage industry today. What innovations is Extra Space implementing at its sites and what have been the results?

For one, digital leasing, which came out of COVID, is pretty widespread now. And a high percentage of our customers choose to interact with us on their computers or phones and not in person. Still, 30% of our customers walk in the door and want to talk to a store manager, so we have to serve that customer as well. There’s other technology, things like sensors in our garbage bins so the garbage company knows when they're full, and various security features that we’ve had mixed success with. We continue to innovate and experiment with technology.

How is Extra Space addressing today’s challenging economy?

We have a very conservative balance sheet, so that gives us comfort that we are well-insulated from many economic shocks. We are in a business that has demand through positive and negative economic cycles; so, a good economy is better for storage than a bad economy, but a bad economy isn’t terrible. We have good demand during good and bad economic times. Our systems track that demand, literally on a daily basis, so we don’t have to guess what’s going to happen. We have real-time pricing so that we can react to what’s going on at every store across the country.

What’s on the horizon for Extra Space this year and next?

We’re going to continue to grow the company and consolidate the industry, given our advantage over the smaller owners. We’re going to strive to use our data and research to maximize performance at our stores. Regardless of the economic condition we’re in, we’re going to continue to be innovative and flexible allocators of capital into different investment structures. And we’re going to continue to strive to maintain our core values.

John Egan is an Austin, Texas-based freelance writer and content-marketing strategist who specializes in health and wellness, personal finance and real estate. He’s the former editor-in-chief for SpareFoot (now owned by Storable) and the author of “The Stripped-Down Guide to Content Marketing.” His work has been published by outlets such as Bankrate, Experian, Forbes Advisor, Investopedia, Nareit, Urban Land, U.S. News & World Report and Wealth Management. To contact him, visit https://johnegan.net.

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John Egan

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