New venture seeks to build the next $1 billion self-storage portfolio

A growing self-storage operator has announced a strategic partnership with a global real estate company to build a $1 billion portfolio of storage facilities.

QuadReal Property Group, a Vancouver, BC-based firm with more than $67 billion in assets under management, is committing the majority of capital to the venture with Winter Garden, FL-based Store Space Self Storage.

Store Space is a “vertically integrated” storage operator that owns or operates more than 100 properties in 20 states. It was founded in 2018 by Chris Harris and Rob Consalvo, both who previously grew iStorage until it was sold to National Storage Affiliates in 2016.

‘A significant milestone’

Store Space CEO Chris Harris said the deal is a significant milestone for the company:

“We’ve found an alliance that will help us grow our brand and bring our best-in-class platform to new markets at a rapid pace. QuadReal understands the significant value in our team’s ability to quickly drive outperformance across a growing portfolio and this investment will fuel even more rapid expansion across the country.”

Jefferies LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Store Space.

“Together, we are very uniquely positioned to invest at scale in a highly fragmented sector,” said QuadReal’s Jameson Weber, managing director of international real estate in the Americas.

First deal

The partnership already has its first deal in the bag—a $200 million recapitalization of 13 properties totalling 9,000 units and 1.1 million square feet. The mix of new and stabilized properties are located in seven states.

“This was a recapitalization of 13 existing assets in our portfolio. They were originally acquired from multiple ownership groups over a period of two to three years,” said Rob Consalvo, COO and President of Store Space.

As for the remaining $800 million, Consalvo said they expect to place the equity through 2023 across 20 to 40 self-storage properties.

“We have more flexibility with our criteria than most institutional buyers and will look at properties across the country.” Consalvo said. “We anticipate doing value add projects and light construction with the QuadReal venture.”

Consalvo also said Store Space will continue to do deals with existing partners outside of the deal with QuadReal.

“Store Space is also actively building a development pipeline with other ventures,” Consalvo said.