About Us
Lauricella Land Company and Al Gardes, Director of Project Management, knew that they didn’t want to build just any self-storage facility.
They wanted to offer the finest self-storage facility in the New Orleans area … one that would elicit a Wow! response from everyone who saw it.
And that’s what they did.
Opened in February of 2004, Elmwood Self Storage and Wine Cellar is New Orleans’ largest and most unique climate-controlled storage development, featuring the latest in cutting edge technology. A stunning, first-class self-storage center, it combines traditional storage with an elegant wine cellar and state-of-the art, high-security vault and gun storage for gun collections, artwork, jewelry, heirlooms, precious metals and valuable documents. Its custom-built mahogany gun cabinets are access-controlled by biometric sensors, and stainless steel fireproof safe deposit boxes with dual keys are available in larger hard-to-find sizes.
The facility’s exterior portrays a beautiful glass wall, which shows off the stairway behind it — one that is incredibly accentuated by interior and exterior lights at night. Also lit at night and adding to the beauty of the building are glass windows strategically placed at the end of each corridor in the 200-by-280-foot, three-story building to allow natural light to penetrate each level.
Breaking up the long, horizontal appearance of the site is a clock tower at the southeast corner of the building — a focal point for the adjacent shopping center as it can be seen from four blocks away. Additionally, the design character of the tower was carried through to the opposite side of the building and forms an anchor for the retail side.
The Cellar, the only public wine storage facility in the city servicing commercial and residential clients, was built “because New Orleans is such a famous city for food, wine, and good times, that having a wine cellar made sense,” says Gardes. The wine cellar features custom-built mahogany cabinets in 3 different sizes. It has a redundant mechanical system with a back-up generator for continuous control of proper humidity and temperature.
Louis Lauricella, Director of Development, says, “The idea of a first-class storage experience unique to our metro New Orleans market was our motivation. All of our storage clients from the Cellar to the Vault to the climate-controlled storage rooms will enjoy the latest technology and the industry’s foremost products and services as well as features specifically designed for small business owners including use of a free conference room, workstations with free high speed internet access. Additionally, managers are able to accept packages for certain customers as well as coordinate other needed services.”
The entire storage facility contains over 100 interior and exterior digital cameras connected to digital recorders, motion detectors and intercom/call boxes wired to the management office. These cameras are also tied to the facility’s central monitoring station and controlled by keypad access codes to allow entry during, before or after regular office hours. These keypads contain cameras to verify the identity of the entering party to help control unauthorized access.
Centrally located within 15 minutes of Old Metairie, Uptown, Mid-City, Downtown, Metairie, Lakefront, Harahan/River Ridge and the Westbank in the Elmwood Shopping Center, the Elmwood Self Storage facility contains about 215,000 total square feet with over 1,530 rentable units of various types and sizes. Standard climate control units come with individual door alarms. A unique inside drive-through entry aisle provides covered access to all storage areas and four elevators to further enhance the comfort of all clients.
- Built around a New Orleans theme, the Elmwood Self Storage facility is divided into local neighborhoods that customers will easily recognize, such as the French Quarter, Uptown, Downtown, and Mid-City. Each corridor is aptly named after a well-known street marked with custom-made metallic street signs at each intersection. Found in the “French Quarter”, for instance, are Bourbon Street, Canal Street, and Royal Street; while St. Charles Avenue is located “Uptown”, and Girod Street can be found “Downtown”. Large floor plan maps in light boxes are also located throughout the facility, guiding customers to their units with ease. Continuing the theme, custom-made metallic numbers and the facility logo identify each unit.
- A 280-foot interior drive-through access is located in the one-story portion of the building. Once inside, customers can securely load and unload out of the weather. This area has access doors at both ends with multiple cameras, is extremely well lit, climate-controlled, and well ventilated with a carbon monoxide detector. Restrooms for customers, a water cooler, and a beverage machine are also conveniently located here.
- The facility’s 1,700 square foot office, strategically designed to look more like the reception area of a luxury hotel than a self-storage facility, includes tri-colored marble flooring, and a curved, custom-crafted mahogany check-in counter. Beautifully papered walls, leather seating, exquisite lighting, and a mahogany hutch that houses a 36-inch television and kid-friendly video games add to the facility’s wow factor. For manager convenience, a supply room/kitchenette/break room is incorporated into the office, as well as a data wiring closet.
- Adjacent to the office is a professional conference room, offered as an added perk for business tenants who make up 25 percent of the facility’ s customer base.
- Tractor-trailer loading bays are available for customers with tractor-trailer deliveries so trucks can back right up to the loading bay where hydraulic lifts can lift pallets right off their truck.
- Climate-controlled units are perfect for pharmaceutical reps with the added convenience of the conference room, individual workstations with high-speed Internet access, and a phone system that allows them to call their corporate office anywhere in the world and receive a bill once the call is completed.
- More than 100 digital cameras, individual door alarms on every unit, two Bioscript Biometric Readers for the wine cellar and vault storage areas, 20 PTI Apex Keypads with proximity readers and intercoms, and two additional keypads that have color cameras provide security.
- Additional security is provided by seven digital video recorders at the self-storage site with three flat panel monitors, and a 42-inch plasma screen for graphics display in the office.
Customers are allowed access from 6am to 10 pm, 7 days a week; business clients can be given 24-hour access if they meet certain criteria.
Elmwood Self Storage is perfect for small businesses, pharmaceutical sales reps, retailers with excess inventory, doctors, dentists, attorneys, accountants, insurance/mortgage companies or any other business/professional who needs to store records they are required to keep for an extended period of time.
Our New Orleans area self storage facility is also perfect for residential clients who need to store extra furniture, clothes, holiday decorations, etc. or are moving to or from a new home or apartment. The Elmwood Self Storage facility is centrally located in the New Orleans area within 15 minutes of Old Metairie, Uptown, Mid-City, Downtown, Metairie, Lakefront, Harahan/River Ridge, Kenner, and the Westbank.
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One of the oldest and largest real estate developers in New Orleans, the Lauricella Land Company started developing residential properties in the 1940s. The third-generation, family-owned business moved into commercial real estate when it built a shopping center near one of its early residential subdivisions. Since that time, the company’s list of achievements includes four major retail shopping centers, two office buildings, an Airborne Express distribution center, and five multi-screen movie complexes that were recently sold to AMC Theaters. Inc. Its developmental holdings also include two hotels and three multi-family complexes with joint-venture partners. The Elmwood Self Storage facility is another top quality project.
