Denver firefighters “cut the lock” on the new self-storage building along Colorado Boulevard on Tuesday. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
With the help of a chain saw and a couple of Denver firefighters, the lock was broken on Jacob Vanderslice’s new self-storage facility Tuesday morning.
Vanderslice and partners Aaron Westphal and Wade Buxton run Denver-based VanWest Partners, which specializes in self-storage facilities. The company spent a touch under $25 million to build the 93,000-square-foot project at 2425 S. Colorado Blvd. on the edge of University Park.
It was a brief moment of celebration in an industry that like other real estate assets has struggled lately.
“Between a softening job market, slowing population growth, and a lack of residential transaction velocity, people simply aren’t moving as often — and movement is what drives self storage consumer demand,” Vanderslice said in an email to BusinessDen.
Four of the largest publicly traded self-storage companies – Public Storage, CubeSmart, Extra Space Storage and NSA Storage – all reported same-store decreases in net operating income of between 1% and 7% in the fourth quarter of 2024, Vanderslice added.
The exterior of the new self-storage building. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
The Colorado Boulevard project has progressed nicely in contrast to the market, however. Already over 100 units in the 1,135-unit building are leased, although Vanderslice acknowledged some of that is because of deeply discounted rates. A 100-square-foot unit costs $42 a month, and a 300-square-foot one goes for $106 monthly.
That’s well below market, according to Vanderslice.
“In the self-storage development business, your primary objective in the first year of operations is to drive physical occupancy. As you reach physical stabilization, you then start pushing rents over time — it’s a constant balancing act between physical occupancy and economic occupancy,” he said.
Waner served as the general contractor on the project. ClearHome Self Storage, a wholly owned subsidiary of VanWest, will manage it. The company bought the land, slightly more than an acre, in April 2023 for $4.25 million. Wintrust Financial provided a $13.7 million construction loan for the project.
Vanderslice said in 2023 that he plans to keep the property for five to six years.
VanWest’s self-storage portfolio spans 41 properties across 15 states. Vanderslice is eyeing deals in Arkansas and New Mexico but steering clear of doing much in his own backyard for now.
“Self storage is a five-mile business. … Denver has not yet recovered from the supply shock that we saw back between 2016-2020. Back then, up to 20% of existing supply was either in planning or under construction – but now that number is less than 2%,” Vanderslice wrote.
Denver firefighters “cut the lock” on the new self-storage building along Colorado Boulevard on Tuesday. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
With the help of a chain saw and a couple of Denver firefighters, the lock was broken on Jacob Vanderslice’s new self-storage facility Tuesday morning.
Vanderslice and partners Aaron Westphal and Wade Buxton run Denver-based VanWest Partners, which specializes in self-storage facilities. The company spent a touch under $25 million to build the 93,000-square-foot project at 2425 S. Colorado Blvd. on the edge of University Park.
It was a brief moment of celebration in an industry that like other real estate assets has struggled lately.
“Between a softening job market, slowing population growth, and a lack of residential transaction velocity, people simply aren’t moving as often — and movement is what drives self storage consumer demand,” Vanderslice said in an email to BusinessDen.
Four of the largest publicly traded self-storage companies – Public Storage, CubeSmart, Extra Space Storage and NSA Storage – all reported same-store decreases in net operating income of between 1% and 7% in the fourth quarter of 2024, Vanderslice added.
The exterior of the new self-storage building. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
The Colorado Boulevard project has progressed nicely in contrast to the market, however. Already over 100 units in the 1,135-unit building are leased, although Vanderslice acknowledged some of that is because of deeply discounted rates. A 100-square-foot unit costs $42 a month, and a 300-square-foot one goes for $106 monthly.
That’s well below market, according to Vanderslice.
“In the self-storage development business, your primary objective in the first year of operations is to drive physical occupancy. As you reach physical stabilization, you then start pushing rents over time — it’s a constant balancing act between physical occupancy and economic occupancy,” he said.
Waner served as the general contractor on the project. ClearHome Self Storage, a wholly owned subsidiary of VanWest, will manage it. The company bought the land, slightly more than an acre, in April 2023 for $4.25 million. Wintrust Financial provided a $13.7 million construction loan for the project.
Vanderslice said in 2023 that he plans to keep the property for five to six years.
VanWest’s self-storage portfolio spans 41 properties across 15 states. Vanderslice is eyeing deals in Arkansas and New Mexico but steering clear of doing much in his own backyard for now.
“Self storage is a five-mile business. … Denver has not yet recovered from the supply shock that we saw back between 2016-2020. Back then, up to 20% of existing supply was either in planning or under construction – but now that number is less than 2%,” Vanderslice wrote.
