The company, which earned $5 billion last year, is moving from Glendale to Frisco, Texas

Public Storage, the world’s largest self-storage company, is leaving its Glendale home of more than 50 years and moving its corporate headquarters to Frisco, Texas. The company operates more than 250 million square feet at 3,500 locations in 40 states.  

In-N-Out Burger has plans to split its management between Baldwin Park and Nashville, and the Lone Star state seems to have wooed away SpaceX and John Paul Mitchell hair products, which have also announced plans to leave L.A. Dallas-Fort Worth was recently ranked the fastest growing headquarters market in America, gaining 100 companies between 2018 and 2024, while L.A. lost 106.

Public Storage announced the deal to move into a newly constructed building in the Dallas suburb of Frisco at the same time as a stable of new leaders came on board. When current CEO Joe Russell retires next month, he will be replaced by current CFO Tom Boyle. “The opportunity ahead for Public Storage has never been stronger,” Boyle said in a press release. “This Company has a proven ability to outperform through cycles, deliver industry-leading margins driven by digital and AI advancement.” We’re going to guess that translates into less humans working for the company.

Public Storage in PasadenaCredit: Photo by Vanhoozen

The parents of Public Storage founder B. Wayne Hughes fled Dust Bowl Oklahoma in the 1930s, settling in El Monte, just east of downtown Los Angeles. He won a scholarship to USC and was a lifelong supporter of the school, donating some $400 million over his years. Until he died in 2021, the billionaire could still be seen in old jeans, hanging out at fast-food joints. He loved the races at Santa Anita and owned a Kentucky Derby-winning horse named Authentic.

Hughes worked for developers gobbling up undeveloped land at the edge of L.A. for new housing in the 1960s before starting his own investment company. His pal Kenneth Volk spotted a self-storage operation in Texas, and the two realized it was a far easier and cheaper way to build investment properties than commercial development.

Public StorageCredit: Photo by Ed Chambliss

Back in L.A., the two hatched a scheme to put up cheap cinder block structures and build a real estate empire starting with the first Public Storage in 1972. “I saw a method of holding prime land with income,” Hughes told the Los Angeles Times. “The warehouses–unlike apartments or offices–have no carpets, drapes, furniture or ventilating equipment that need cleaning or replacing.” One of Hughes’ first Public Storage locations was back in El Monte, where units started at $12 a month.

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Today, Public Storage is a member of the S&P 500 and earned some $5 billion last year. Their market capitalization of some $50 billion is higher than that of Target, Honda and Occidental Petroleum. By the way, Oxy left Westwood for Dallas over a decade ago, while American Honda remains headquartered in Torrance.