A third self-storage facility is under construction at Four Corners, joining two existing facilities in what is rapidly becoming the Gallatin Valley’s most concentrated repository of things people bought but no longer have room for.

The new facility, operated by SecureBox Montana, will offer 340 climate-controlled units ranging from 5x5 closet-sized spaces to 10x30 units large enough to store a boat, a marriage’s worth of furniture, or the optimistic purchases of someone who believed their garage would always be sufficient.

“The demand is there,” said SecureBox regional manager Phil Barton. “People in this valley are acquiring at a rate that exceeds their square footage. That’s our business model.”

Gallatin County planning records show that the Four Corners area has added approximately 180,000 square feet of storage capacity since 2021, a period during which the area also lost three hay fields, a horse pasture, and what longtime residents describe as “the last open view of the Spanish Peaks from Huffine.”

“It used to be you could see the mountains from here,” said Norma Kessler, 71, who has lived at Four Corners since 1988. “Now you can see a Taco Bell, two storage facilities, and the sign for the third one. Progress.”

The cultural implications of the valley’s storage boom have not gone unexamined. “We live in a place people move to because of the open space,” said sociologist Dr. Amy Reeves of MSU. “And then they fill the open space with buildings to store the things they brought from the place they moved away from. It’s not ironic — it’s just American.”

Unit prices at the new facility will range from $89 to $349 per month, which several Bozeman renters noted is less per square foot than their apartments.

“I could live in a storage unit for cheaper than my studio on Main,” said college senior Jake Pettway, 22. He clarified that he was joking, then paused. “Mostly joking.”

SecureBox expects to open by August. The company is already evaluating a fourth location.