A local business, Main Street Storage, is on the cusp of a major expansion. Currently operating out of 226 Main Street in Niverville, the business offers heated, climate-controlled storage lockers.

The owners, Ray and Cara Dowse, say that the 18 lockers on site—each of which are 10-by-11 feet with roll-up doors—have been in high demand since the business first opened in 2013, with new customers having to join a waiting list.

That’s why they began planning a few years ago to expand to a new location—a time which has finally arrived.

The expanded facility, which is about to begin construction, will be located at 299 Main Street. When finished, the site will include a new 5,400-square-foot building offering 50 individual storage lookers, varying in size to fit customers’ needs. Approximately half of these new lockers will be climate-controlled.

Main Street Storage will also have 60 designated outdoor parking stalls for vehicles and trailers. The stalls will be up to 12 feet wide and 38 feet long.

The Dowses say the site will be accessible 24 hours per day, seven days per week, and will be safe and will-lit. An automated gate will give customers key fob entry. Video surveillance will also be in effect.

“Cara and I have been working on the plan for a couple of years, as our goal is to provide the community with a high-quality, secure facility providing most of the options and features that would be found at a self-storage facility in a major centre,” says Ray Dowse. “We recently finalized our site and building plans and have been working with Von Ast Construction.”

Dowse says construction is projected to begin in mid-July, with the building foundation going in next week and the steel structure and framing starting as early as July 15. The tentative completion date falls in early September.

He adds that they will continue to operate the current mini-storage space at 226 Main Street. The new facility will merely provide additional lockers for customers.

“Cara and I are really excited for the finished product and to be able to offer this service to businesses and residents throughout the region,” Dowse says. “As the community and region continue to grow, having 1.5 acres on our site will allow us the opportunity to expand as needed.”

Dowse says he and Cara first purchased 226 Main Street as part of a larger ownership group in 2008. The 8,000-square-foot building was vacant at the time, and over the course of a few years they gutted it, removed an old freight elevator, and installed two residential apartment suites on the second floor.

The ownership group then found a tenant for the ground floor commercial space, Anya’s Hair Studio, which still operates there. After leasing the remaining office space on the second floor, they were left with 3,000 square feet of unused real estate.

“At that point, in 2010, we decided to try installing a few self-storage units there to see of there would be an uptake, installing a few lockers at a time,” Dowse says. “In 2013, Cara and I bought out our other four partners in the building, who all had other aspirations, and we finished out the remainder of the back open area into more storage lockers.”

The Dowses were also part of a separate group of shareholders that owned 299 Main Street. Originally it was part of the same property as the old Puratone building immediately to the west. The Progressive Group purchased the building in 2017, but didn’t have any interest in the 1.5 acres of vacant land at 299 Main Street.

“Cara and I then decided to purchase it with our mini-storage company for potential long-term expansion of the storage business,” says Dowse. “Ever since, we have been planning for this day.”