For Hans Hardisty, self-storage literally runs in the family.
As a youth, he used to work odd jobs at the family-owned Guardian Self-Storage, a Hudson Valley firm founded by his grandfather and later run by his mother and aunts.
“I swept unit floors and I’ve done construction at various sites,” says Hardisty, who later as an adult helped the 14-facility Guardian Self-Storage with various financial and development matters.
So it should come as no surprise that Hardisty, who holds an MBA degree from George Washington University, has now founded his own self-storage brokerage firm, National Storage Partners, launched earlier this month with any eye on future national expansion.
Hardisty, 41, who previously was managing director of SVN Hardisty Commercial Realty in New York, has already signed up two self-storage veterans and former SVN colleagues, Nicholas J. Malagisi and Connie Neville, as national directors and members of the firm’s executive team.
In an interview, Hardisty made clear National Storage Partners will be structured as an affiliated-broker operation, serving both big and small clients with brokerage, advisory and market-research services.
“It’s a new venture and I’m very excited,” he said.
Hardisty recently talked with SpareFoot about National Storage Partners’ future plans, why he chose an affiliated-broker model for his firm, and how he sees the self-storage industry faring in 2025.
Why did you start National Storage Partners in the first place?
Hans Hardisty: “I guess I should start by highlighting that I have been in the self-storage industry all my entire life. I was also fortunate enough to be a broker with a national firm (SVN) where I was the national co-director of the self-storage council for that company. … My term at (SVN), along with other storage brokers with whom I’ve worked with a lot in the past, specifically Nick Malagisi and Connie Neville, was coming to a sunset at similar times. We all focus very highly on self-storage, with a lot of experience there, and we wanted to emphasize our services. So when Nick and Connie also committed to being a part of a team, we launched our own self-storage specific (firm), National Storage Partners.”
What is the big opportunity out there, as you see it, for your firm?
“While National Storage Partners is new, Nick, Connie and myself are not new to self-storage, so we are already working with a lot of top operators and we have pre-existing relationships that present opportunities on that front. But I believe the biggest opportunity for National Storage Partners is the chance to grow a great team at the core. This is really intended for self-storage brokers who want the flexibility of being outside of one of the more institutionalized brokerage firms — and for brokers who have real industry experience and have a good reputation and who want to be with a qualified team. Ultimately, I think that having a great team brings opportunities, and at the same time they’ll bring great value to our clients.”
How big do you see your firm getting in future years in terms of the number of broker affiliates?
“Well, long story short, I think that in a short time we will hopefully be one of the largest brokerage groups out there. I think that the opportunity is to be truly national. We’re going to only bring on people that we really believe have great experience and great reputations. The goal is to grow a sizable team that will have national coverage.”
So you plan on signing up brokers from different parts of the country? Right now, you seem to be focused on people with experience on the East Coast.
“Yes, we will (look around the county). We are currently looking at the East Coast, but we have people interested all the way out to the Des Moines, Iowa region as well. We will not limit our geography to just the East Coast.”
What’s the biggest challenge facing the self-storage industry right now?
“I don’t think there’s one specific challenge. There are a couple that are hitting the market collectively. According to our third-party data friends out there, we’ve seen now 26 months in a row of street rental rate decline. And as everybody knows, at the same time we’ve had higher interest rates than we’ve seen in the past—and there’s not truly a clear answer on where rates are going and when. So this has led to kind of two big challenges. Particularly for us as brokers, developers are having a hard time projecting their pro formas because there’s not clarity around the market rents. Also, there’s a gap sometimes between the bid ask price when selling a facility. So buyers and developers are adjusting their expectations due to these market conditions.”
What is the lay of the land for the self-storage industry for 2025? What’s the outlook?
It’s a great question and it’s great timing. I just got back from the New York Self Storage Association’s investment forum, which has many of the industry’s top leaders there to give us their opinions just on that issue. Luckily, we heard from data companies that there’s a lot of promise (ahead). As I mentioned, we’ve seen 26 months of declining posted rental rates, but they’re seeing a trend change there and they’re actually expecting rental rates, posted rents, to climb this year. We’re also seeing a new political landscape and hopefully lower interest rates later in this year. I do believe that we will see some modest rate cuts later this year. When we do there will be an increase in transaction volume and some development projects that were tabled or put on pause will be revisited.
Lastly, what’s one of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the self-storage industry during your somewhat long career in the sector?
That’s a great question. We’ve seen the self-storage industry continuously change and become more sophisticated. I think that has to do with both our veterans becoming smarter, but also outside industry members joining the self-storage venue. We’ve also seen changes from non-climate to climate-controlled facilities. We’ve seen ancillary income changes like tenant insurance be added. We’ve seen solar panels (installed at facilities). And I think one of the largest and most talked about changes that’s operationally going on is more and more use of technology and remote management. I think that operational savings will continue to be at the forefront. I think that we will see more technology and more remote management.
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Jay Fitzgerald
Jay Fitzgerald has more than 20 years of experience covering business and economics for publications and online sites, with a growing emphasis on blogs, social media and podcasts.