Our History
Our founder and CEO, John Gilliland, didn’t set out to work in self storage. Believe it or not, he grew up 18 miles from Penn State University, milking Holstein cows on his family’s dairy farm. After graduating high school, he moved to central California, where he received his degree in dairy science from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly).
After college, John worked as a commercial real estate broker in Orange County, California. When he came back to Pennsylvania, John settled in central Pennsylvania to work for Bennett Williams and subsequently High Associates, where he was referred to a self storage listing in Hanover, Pennsylvania. This triggered his infamous “Holy Smokes!” moment, and Investment Real Estate, LLC was born.
During its 25 years in business, the Investment Real Estate (IRE) brokerage division transacted over $1 billion in sales and cemented its role as a leader in the industry nationwide.
The first Moove In Self Storage location was built in the village of Bald Eagle just outside of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and opened in 1998 with 54 units. Properties in Huntingdon and Lancaster counties followed two years later in 2000, with additional locations added in New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa in subsequent years.
Timeline
- 1998 – IRE Brokerage and Moove In Self Storage Formation
- 2000 – IRE Management Formation
- 2002 – IRE Construction Formation
- 2019 – Joined National Storage Affiliates (NSA) as a PRO
- 2022 – Retirement of IRE Brokerage
