ABOUT US & LUXURY CAR GARAGES
GARAGES OF AMERICA
If you love cars as much as we do, then you already understand that they aren’t simply tools to get us from Point A to Point B. They have character and personality. They are works of art. They are part of us.
At Garages of America, we didn’t set out to make a glorified storage facility, instead we wanted to create the ideal atmosphere for motor vehicle owners. Our luxury garage suites are the optimal place for their car and themselves… the perfect place for both man and machine.
OUR STORY
Longtime friends Fred Gans and Jack Griffin had a meeting in 2008 to discuss a concept. Fred had recently learned of a real estate storage idea developing out of state with condo ownership and sized for large items such as RVs and cars. Fred, with many years’ experience in the self-storage industry throughout the country, was intrigued. Very coincidentally, Jack, as well as several others around the country, had recently conceptualized an idea for car enthusiast communities. Jack had a lifetime of car collecting and motorsports experience, as well as a real estate background. Thus, the synergy of ideas that began the discussions between the two led to the formation of Garages of America. Jack honed his thoughts and ideas to researching the best sizing for cars, amenities, and locations. His concept was even written about in publications such as the N.Y. Times and other car magazines. Car enthusiasts might finally have a real estate home that would allow them to enjoy their cars in concert along with their fellow car buddies.
Jack grew up around cars and with a dad who was an auto mechanic. As quickly as finances allowed, he bought his first Porsche at age 32; a blue 914-6 he still owns today! He then followed quite a various number of cars, mostly Porsches, and experiences such as driving race cars at venues like LeMans, Daytona, Sebring and many other tracks around the world. Along with the racing, Jack participated in touring events around the country such as the Colorado Grand, Copperstate 1000, and the California Mille. Jack’s experience in the car hobby was significant, as was his Porsche collection. While Fred had created a career of developing self-storage facilities around the country, Jack was highly involved with cars and motorsports, and enjoyed his love of the automobile and making memories with fellow Gearheads. Together, co-founders Fred and Jack had the ideal skill set to create Garages of America—with construction and development in Fred’s wheelhouse, and marketing and conceptualizing by Jack. Jack was well aware of what car enthusiasts wanted, while Fred could develop and build it in the best possible manner!
With no similar examples of this product type in Dallas-Fort Worth, the two set out to forge a niche in the car hobby. The market demand was unknown; however, the early projects have sold out entirely by the completion of construction! This led to the development and construction of four other locations in the Metroplex. Additionally, projects are being planned in Houston, Austin and San Antonio. Since their first meeting back in 2008 to discuss this incredible concept, an entirely new real estate type has emerged. This garage community has reshaped the car collecting and motorsports hobby to an entirely new level that could have never been imagined. Alongside Fred and Jack, Fred’s son Sean Gans and Mark Scott joined the team and have played a significant role in the expansion of the concept. Everyone on the Garages of America team is now, like Jack, a dyed in the wool Gearhead!
OUR TEAM
Fred Gans
President & Founder
Fred A. Gans has been involved in the real estate industry for thirty years, having participated in brokerage, acquisitions, management, consulting and the development of income producing properties. He currently owns Cornerstone development Corporation (CDC), which is a full service real estate firm in Dallas, Texas. CDC is/or has been involved in the acquisition, development, build-to-suits, leasing and management of single and multi tenant office and industrial, office warehouse, retail, self-storage, and boat/RV storage. CDC has developed over 1,000,000 square feet of office and industrial buildings, and 4,000,000 square feet of self-storage with 80 facilities in 13 states.
After Mr. Gans sold his partnership interest in over 1,600,000 square feet of Security Self Storage facilities he and CDC developed a 32 property self-storage portfolio of 1,900,000 square feet in five states and was in the 50th largest owners of self-storage in the United States. CDC sold 10 facilities individually and the 1,400,000 square feet in 22 facilities in June, 2006, to a REIT.
Gans earned a bachelor degree in business from the University of Kansas. He is a member of the National Association of Realtors, Texas Association of Realtors, The Greater Dallas Association of Realtors, North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors and Texas Mini Storage Association. He is married with two children and resides in Dallas, Texas.
Jack Griffin
Co Founder
Mr. Griffin has over 40 years experience in real estate development, brokerage and motorsports. For twelve years, Mr. Griffin was partner in charge of developing suburban office building properties in the Dallas, Texas area for the Trammell Crow Company. During his partnership with the Crow organization, he developed approximately 2,000,000 square feet of office buildings.
Motorsports has always been a passion of Mr. Griffin. Over the years, he has participated in virtually every form of motorsports activity including racing, touring, collecting, and restoring sports cars on an international level. He is well known in the motorsports world as having raced for several years at venues such as Daytona, Sebring, LeMans, Mosport, Road America and many other tracks around the world.
Sports cars from his collection have won concours events, both regionally and of national stature. His collection has been featured in magazines and television shows. He is a past Board Member of the local chapter of the Porsche Club of America. For the past eight years, he has produced and organized Autos in the Park, the area’s premier car show held at the Cooper Aerobics Center, as well as organized several other car events in the area.
Mr. Griffin attended Baylor University, Waco, Texas, earning his BBA in Finance in 1967. He has three sons and 8 grandchildren, all residing in the Dallas area.
A partial list of Mr. Griffin’s automotive event participation is as follows:
Sebring 12 Hr. endurance race (1983-’86), Porsche- Daytona International Speedway (1984, ’86)-Daytona 24 Hr., Porsche; eight other races, also Porsche)
- 24 Hrs of LeMans, France (1984, ’85), Rondeau/Cosworth)
- Miami Grand Prix (1984, Porsche)
- Mosport Raceway, Toronto, Can. (1983, Porsche)
- L.A. Times Grand Prix, Riverside Raceway, Ca. (1983, ’85, Porsche & Mazda)
- Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.,(1983, ’84) Porsche)
- Colorado Grand vintage touring event (1993- ’99, Porsche Speedster)
- Copperstate 1000 vintage touring event (1992-’96, Porsche Speedster)
- California Mille vintage touring event (1993, Porsche Speedster)
- Porsche Parade, National Porsche event (1996, ‘2004, class wins in concours)
Sean Gans
Sales, Marketing & Business Development
After graduating from Texas Tech University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts, Sean began his career in commercial real estate. He joined Cornerstone Development Corporation (CDC) in 2014, which involved the construction and development of self-storage facilities in multiple states. Areas of focus were feasibility due diligence, site analysis, zoning, city entitlements, sales and marketing of self-storage. That same year, CDC ventured into the condo storage development with Garages of Texas and has successfully sold out their first two of six total projects in DFW prior to completion of construction.
Sean has been an integral part of the sales and marketing/development through completion of our Willow Bend and Dallas locations. With the success of this unique platform, CDC will continue developing both self-storage and condo storage facilities on a multi-state program.
Cornerstone Self Storage and Garages of Texas provides an opportunity to expand a highly successful self-storage brand with “Extra Space” as the third-party management and the exclusive Garages of Texas identity. Both brands offer regional and national expansion opportunities.
Mark Scott
Sales, Marketing & Business Development
Mark Scott joined Cornerstone Development Corporation / Garages of Texas in 2016. He was brought in to join the team because of his skills and experience in marketing, sales, and development. Combine that with his love for cars and Mark embodies the Garages of Texas brand.
Mark began his professional and successful career immediately after graduating school by partnering with Time Warner Cable. While at Time Warner Cable for 9 years, he was promoted over 4 times and received well over 22 awards in sales. As a successful B2B Sales Professional, he has generated new profit streams and built very strong business relationships along the way. His expertise and passion about cars made him an easy choice to add to the Garages of Texas team.
Mark has extensive knowledge of salesforce CRM, voice, video, data, networks, LAN/WAN, ATM, and MPLS. To further his education and knowledge, he is currently attending Champions School of Real Estate in Plano, TX and is working toward getting his Commercial Real Estate License. Mark believes that one should never stop learning and continue to add to their bag of tricks.
Bruce Johnston
Construction Management
Mr. Johnston has over 40 years’ experience in commercial and hotel development. Mr. Johnston developed hotels throughout the United States, Hawaii, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Cost Rica for Criswell Development, Rosewood Hotels, Omni Hotels and other companies. The size of the projects range from $35,000,000 to $400,000,000.
Mr. Johnston has a 1975 911 Porsche and a 1939 Ford. He is a member of the PCA Maverick Club.
Mr. Johnston graduated from Kansas State University in Construction Management in 1974. He is married and has 3 grandchildren and lives in Plano, Texas.
Chase Tehan
Sales & Marketing
Chase grew up in Dallas and attended Baylor University, receiving a double major in Entrepreneurship and Management. While at Baylor, he spent his summer vacation selling textbooks door to door through Southwestern Advantage, eventually moving up to a manager position after his first successful summer. He touched multiple markets during this time and upon graduation completed over 12,000 cold calls, gave over 2,000 product demonstrations, and closed over 400 leads. This made him the most experienced undergraduate in sales at Baylor University.
As a car lover with a natural expertise in sales, Chase joins our Dallas team to learn the business as a project coordinator and will eventually join our sales team.
Joe Greer
Sales & Marketing
Joe has been a trial lawyer for nearly 30 years. With his last law firm Greer & McGill P.C., he fought for the rights of abused senior citizens in nursing homes throughout Texas and Oklahoma. These days, he’s having a blast helping our car enthusiasts in Austin and San Antonio find the perfect solution for their too many cars, not enough room problem! When he is not selling our man cave garage condos, he can be found playing music with his band “The Greers” around the Austin area.
Operations Manager
CFOCraig Harris
Sales, Marketing and Business Development
Craig F. Harris has over forty-five years of experience as an entrepreneur with an emphasis on industrial sales, marketing, business development and consulting. Craig began his career in the waste management industry where he founded five companies as he utilized his operational skills to oversee the management of landfills, recycling centers, commercial and residential waste collection, and commercial equipment rentals. Selling his last business in 2012, Craig began consulting and worked in business development for several commercial enterprises. In 2021, Craig joined the GoA team after a life-long enthusiasm for cars, including as a former President of the Houston Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America, and his industry skill sets have now come together.
