Why Mission: Stor It

 When his corporate sales job lost its luster, Jerry Clark and his wife Becky decided it was time to find something more exciting. Entrepreneurs at heart, the Clarks had already been investing in local real estate with 35 rental properties they had amassed one by one.

“We knew the rental business; we were renting square footage there.” says Clark. “Then we looked at the self-storage model, and again renting square footage, the model was very attractive and that’s what got us started.”

Where some landlords may not see the progression from rental houses to self-storage, Clark took the “apples to apples” approach building the foundation for what would evolve into a diversified commercial real estate strategy spanning California’s Central Valley and into Arizona.

The Clark’s first Stor It self-storage property opened in 2007 in Porterville. In the last 18 years the company has grown to seven locations with 650 thousand square feet of rental space, stretching from Sacramento to Bakersfield, and serving 7,000 customers.

But that’s not all. The Clarks have continued to expand, from self-storage to commercial real estate with medical buildings in Scottsdale and Phoenix, retail space in Porterville, gyms and even car washes. Through it all the Clarks have been able to rely on Mission Bank Regional President Dustin Della.

Della was in his first years of his banking career, working as an intern when he met Clark. Through the years the two have grown together and Della is always impressed by the strategy and insight Clark brings to the table.

“I love working with Jerry, he comes up with some crazy ideas, but he sees the vision. He’s able to see the horizon beyond the horizon for what a property can become,” says Della. “I have seen him take properties that have been underperforming in a market, and they’ve been able to create value for their customers which in turn has made these properties into great performing assets for them.”

 While vision is important the mechanism for execution is also a key component to success. For Clark, Della is that mechanism, but he doesn’t operate alone. “Dustin gets the job done, but he has to have a bank that backs him and that’s Mission. They are problem solvers and they offer customized solutions. Very often I’m coming to them with a request that is not standard. But Dustin knows our businesses well, and he knows our needs. He’s able to make deals happen and Mission is there to support him and us.”