Model City Storage comes together in most opportune way

New business opening in Lewiston with emphasis on security, privacy

Article and Photos by Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

It might seem serendipitous to find a dream property that perfectly fits a business plan.

But that was just the beginning of a series of events that came together in a most unexpected way for Ron and Tricia Argona, owners of the new Model City Storage.

For starters, the Lewiston-Porter Class of 1987 graduates – high school sweethearts who went their own way, with Ron staying and Tricia moving to California – reunited thanks to an email thread looking for classmates to attend a 30th reunion. Despite not having spoken in years, Ron and Tricia immediately fell right back into a comfortable communication groove. Following a series of events, they reconnected in person, were married, and invested in a Village of Lewiston residence.

When that site became profitable, the Argonas set sight on a second spot. A vacant Model City property became available in 2023 and went to auction. Ron thought it would be an ideal space for self-storage units.

“She gets us all signed up for the tax assessors, and we’re bidding on it. We had a number in mind that we were going to go up to. Then we’re like, ‘If we go past this number, we’re done. We’ve got to draw a line in the sand,’ ” he said. “So, I’m at work on my phone, watching it. She’s at home on her computer, making the bids. I says, ‘All right, go a little more. All right, enough.’ Well, I says, ‘All right, go up to this price, and then we’re done.’ So, it went all the way right up to that price. I says, ‘All right, we can only put in another one more bid.’ I says, ‘Put the bid in, we’ll see what happens.’

“So, what happened, she puts our last bid in; it adds 60 seconds; and I’m watching it,” Ron said. “And another bid came in. I’m like, ‘Oh, we lost it.’ I’m like, ‘All right.’ I mean, you start thinking of all these ideas and things you want to do. I already have it half-built in my head and I don’t even have the property yet! I put the phone down, and I said, ‘All right.’ I says, ‘We’re done,’ and I’m like, ‘Man.’ ”

As he was scanning his phone, Ron was notified he and Tricia won.

“I go, ‘Did you put another bid in?’ She goes, ‘I had to! I couldn’t help myself.’

“We won it with that one bid. She put in one more bid over what we wanted to go to, and we end up winning it for that one bid. I was blown away. It’s fate.”

Tricia said, “The clock was ticking down to the last minute. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to lose this; this has been too much of a process already’ (laughs). So, I’m like, I’m going to do one more bid, $100 more.”

Ron began to demolish the existing building. When it came time to start on the storage units, the Argonas were initially delayed in finding a concrete company.

But, “by some grace of God, I found someone – and it was a total fluke how I found this guy,” Ron said. “Somebody got stuck in an elevator. That’s how I found this guy. … I work on elevators, and I live in Lewiston. A friend of mine who lives in Darien (John), he was on call, and we have to respond to entrapments. Well, he got a call for this place in the Falls. He said, ‘Hey, Ron, there’s an entrapment there. I’m an hour away. Can you take this?’ …

“They got the person out. Later in the day … he called me up and said, ‘Hey, Ron, how’d you make out on that call? I said, ‘Oh, it was this, that.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you, how you coming along with your building?’ I said, ‘Not good. I’m having trouble getting the concrete in.’ Now, this was beginning of December. I says, ‘Every person I’ve talked to, they says they can’t do it now. It’s too cold,’ or to get them in, it was through the roof – what they wanted for price. …

“He goes, ‘Oh, I got a concrete guy.’ I says, ‘Yeah, yeah; I know everybody’s got a concrete guy, John.’ He goes, ‘No, no, no. This guy’s really good. I’ll call him.’ He goes, ‘What was your best price?’ So, I gave him the best price I got. He calls me back 15 minutes later and he says, ‘Hey, I just talked to him. He says he’ll do it for that price, and he’ll do it now.’ I’m like, ‘It’s December.’ He goes, ‘Just call him.’ I said, ‘OK.’ ”

The company came out the next day, immediately started trenching, and wound up pouring concrete on Dec. 26.

“They got here at 6 in the morning, and they didn’t leave till 10:30 at night,” Ron said. “They poured this entire pad of concrete in one day and polished it. And he was $10,000 cheaper than the guy that was ‘my cheap guy.’ ”

When erecting the storage units, Ron contacted the company that shipped the materials.

“I said, ‘Hey, listen, I want to see if I can get you to come out and finish my building. I got three bays left.’ He goes, ‘Man, that’s weird you’re calling me.’ He goes, ‘I have a team … but I have no work for them.’ He goes, ‘The material didn’t show up for our next job. I have no work for them tomorrow.’ He goes, ‘I’ll be there tomorrow morning.’ I was blown away. So, the next morning, they were here at 6 a.m. By the time they left, the building was completely done.”

The Argonas also found and acquired privacy fencing from someone who purchased materials, never used them, and was moving south. A five-hour drive offset almost $20,000 in expected cost.

“It’s been a great adventure,” Ron said.

Shown are some of the new units available at Model City Storage, located at 4612 Model City Road, Lewiston.

••••••••

Model City Storage is now set to open this month at 4612 Model City Road, not far past the Town of Lewiston Town Hall. It will start with 20 available units, with a goal to reach 40.

“If you look inside all the units, they’re all clean and brand-new,” Ron said. “The other thing is that, what’s nice, is that back wall – it moves. So, we can rent a 5-by-10 or 10-by-10 or 15 or 20 or 30 – whatever they want; and then we just rent the other side.”

What makes Model City special, Tricia explained, is “The security of it.

“We’re offering cameras with alarms for anybody who comes in and rents, if they want to take a camera just for their unit. They also have live access that we can give them for the whole property, if they want to check. Especially if they have an outdoor vehicle or something stored, or if they just want to check on the property. We’re going to give them that peace of mind, as well as fenced-in property.”

“We live five minutes away,” she added. “We’re here locally; so, if anybody has a problem, we can be down here in a couple minutes.”

“The big thing is it’s peace of mind. We want people to know their stuff will be safe here,” Ron said.

Model City Storage units can be rented (monthly or yearly) by visiting www.modelcitystorage.com or by calling 716-343-7544.