Updated: Pecos Road storage facility raises eyebrows

To Jim Jochim, Pecos Storage, the R.V. and boat storage yard under construction on the south side of Pecos Road at 32nd Street looks like a dump.

"The storage facility looks horrible. It's like something you'd find in the backwoods of Georgia," said Jochim, who lives in The Foothills.

Made up of used steel shipping containers, some still painted with shipping company names, and large concrete blocks made up of recycled concrete, it does look like a mess.

But hold on, says the developer.

"It's nothing to worry about," said Randee Leonard, developer of the 27-acre, $3 million project on Gila River Indian Community land.

The walls to his R.V. and boat storage facility are made of recycled concrete blocks and the interior is made up of steel shipping containers. But within weeks he said the shipping containers will be sandblasted and covered in stucco to look like the typical Ahwatukee Foothills home.

"It's going to be nice," said Leonard. "You won't be able to look at it and say, ‘That's a container.'"

And the reason for the heavy duty materials, especially the concrete blocks that make up the fence? Security.

A storage facility on Desert Foothills Parkway was broken into several years ago when thieves drove a vehicle through the chain-link fence and cleaned out several storage units.

"Unless a crook comes with a Sherman tank they will not get through my fence," said Leonard. And when he's done, the wall will look like it's made of adobe instead of concrete.

For several years Leonard, who lives in Ahwatukee Foothills, has been working to develop the site as an R.V. and boat storage facility.

And apparently for good reason.

He said that it will be at 50 percent occupancy when he opens up in the next few months.

"I can't keep up with the number of calls I'm getting," said Leonard.