Investing in self storage gives you the fundamentals and growth you need to grow your portfolio. But skip the opportunities from golf buddies and gurus—invest in a real track record. Started by John Muhich in 1993, AAA Storage has delivered 19% IRR across 90 deals, totaling $450M in exits. Listen to our expert insights on investing from the AAA Storage team. See more at aaastorageinvestments.com.
Welcome to the AAA storage podcast,
your integrated real estate and
development partner, exploring all
things, self storage investing to
bring you diversified success.
Let's dive in.
Brandon Giella: Hello and welcome back to
another episode of the AAA Storage podcast
I have with me as always, Paul Bennett.
Thank you so much for joining.
So today we are gonna be talking about
single story, drive up self-storage.
So the reason we're talking
about this today is there are
lots of different self-storage.
Types out there formats.
Uh, when you think about investing in this
real estate asset class and you guys, AAA,
storage, specialize in self storage, that
is single story and a drive up, those two
things being a part of, uh, what this.
What these units actually look like.
And there are reasons for that.
There's operational reasons for that.
There's construction reasons for that.
And obviously all of that
impacts the investment returns
on this particular format.
So today, Paul, you are gonna talk to
us about why this type is so important.
When you think about the way
that you guys invest in these.
Build these and how you
create this process, um, for
the returns for investors.
And of course, it, it, it has some
benefits for, for consumers as well.
So I'll let you give us, uh, give us a go.
Start us off.
Paul Bennett: Yeah, I thought it'd be
fun today to kind of compare the two
major, uh, different property types in
the self storage industry today you're,
we're seeing people, um, buy all big
box stores and divide them up and that
sort of single story, but a different
product, you know, all climate control.
But the two main property types
are multi-story cell storage.
And, um, and drive up self storage.
Single story drive up.
I'm gonna try to do something Brandon,
I've never done on the podcast before.
For those that are, that are, uh, watching
this and not just listening to it, uh,
I'm gonna pop up a couple pictures because
when, when somebody hears the term self
storage, if you're my age, more than
likely what you're gonna think of is, is.
The product that we build.
However, if you're 30 years
old today, you might think of
something totally different.
So I quickly grab some pictures.
This is just a Google search, but
this is multi-story self-storage.
Um, and there are several
examples here on the page.
I think that's a five story building here.
The larger picture, the most common
is three to four stories, but
they're usually brick exteriors.
Uh, they obviously have
elevators and sprinklers and,
and kinds of all other things.
And this is a quick look
at the product we build.
Uh, which is a single story drive up.
This is actually phase one of, uh,
a project in SLO Texas that has
been developed by our growth fund.
One.
You can see the vacant land there
inside the fence behind that facility.
That's where phase two is actually
under construction right now.
This picture's from
about eight months ago.
Uh, but that just gives you a
quick visual, uh, single story.
Drive up is.
Uh, the traditional, original
version of the product.
Um, these buildings that you see, uh, the
larger buildings actually have climate
control units on the interior and ex
and the exterior doors that you see are,
are drive up non climate control units.
And then there's some more, uh,
non climate control units right
there along the, the fence, uh,
with their back to the road.
But, um.
Go.
Go back to our normal screen here.
So what I wanna do is walk through
four different aspects of these
two product types and talk about
why we've chosen to exclusively do
single story drive up self storage.
The first category is in design
and construction, and I wanna
be really clear about something.
Land cost is what drives the decision to
do multi-story or single story in almost
every case, uh, the product we build,
we develop in, in city skirt markets.
So for example, when we say we've
got projects in Austin, Texas.
Almost none of them
have an Austin address.
We're in Hu Texas.
We're in Dripping Springs, Texas.
We're in Georgetown, Texas.
We're in all the suburban bedroom
communities that feed Austin
and are supported by Austin.
Um, if you're gonna build a self
storage facility in downtown Austin,
it's almost got to be a single, I
mean, a multi-story building because
land cost is so extraordinarily high.
A project like we build would
never make economic sense.
So there certainly is a
place for multi-story.
Um, however, as an investor,
we think there are numerous
reasons to choose to invest in.
M single story drive
up versus multi-story.
So let's talk about them for a
minute, but I, I just want to cover
at the outset, I'm not saying that
multi-story product is a bad idea.
Um, it just has some disadvantages
that we think from an investment
standpoint make the drive up
product that we build a little more.
Uh, the first thing from a
design standpoint is unit mix.
In our facilities, like the one I showed
you a minute ago, we have a mix of
climate control and non climate control
units, um, in a multi-story facility.
They're all climate control.
However, I will guarantee you if you
went to any multi-story facility in the
country today, they are renting some of
their units at non climate control prices.
'cause they can't fill it with all
climate control oriented customers.
Um, but you can't create a unit
mix, uh, in a multi-story building
between the two, the two types.
Um, the other thing is seismics.
We build everything from
a five by five to a a.
20 by 30 size unit in our facilities.
And by the way, the bigger
units almost always rent first.
Um, not sure quite sure why that is.
Maybe it's business units, users
who want a little bit more space.
But in a, in a multi-story building,
the unit mix tends to trend smaller
more, five by fives and five by tens
and 10 by tens and less larger units.
Um, so you, you get some flexibility
with a drive up product in terms of how
you design it, that you don't get, uh,
in the, in the multi-story building.
Um, the, the two most
important differences.
Three most important differences.
Number one is a, the multi-story buildings
are much more complex construction.
They're usually brick,
exterior, they're multi-story.
So the fire marshal's gonna require
sprinklers, they have to have elevators.
Um, they, they are significantly
more complex to build.
And what that means is that the.
Instances in which there is a
significant deviation from your budget
of construction costs and, and that
those deviations are also far more likely
to be larger to the point where they
can impact returns, um, significantly.
So there's a lot more construction risk
in developing a multi-story facility.
Uh, second aspect is that there's
significantly higher construction cost.
We're building our single story drive
up at about a hundred dollars a foot.
The average multi-story project
probably cost in the 150 to $160 a foot
range, so they're much more expensive.
Uh, and we'll talk about that a little
bit more at the end of the podcast,
but that's a significant difference.
The other thing that's that.
Is is pretty different.
Uh, is the ability to phase projects.
The picture I showed you a
minute ago, we built phase one.
We're now building phase two
because phase one is about 70%
leased in a multi-story building.
Obviously you can't do that.
You gotta build a whole thing at one
time and you might ask why that matters.
Self storage lease.
Takes about three to four years in total,
including construction along the way.
Um, and so if we're building an
80,000 square foot facility, we know
the second 40,000 square feet isn't
gonna be touched for two years.
In a multi-story building, you gotta
build it all and carry that cost.
For two years until you get the
first two floors filled up and
then you're working on leasing.
You know, floors three and four
we're able to phase our project,
so we build 40,000 square feet.
We don't incur the cost, we don't
have the carry with the bank.
We don't have all the added costs until
we've got phase one leased up to a
point where the next units that start
to lease are gonna be in phase two.
So, um, it, it really does make a
difference in the working capital
that's required to fund a project.
Uh, when you can do it in phases.
And so those last three
really have to do with cost.
The complexity of construction and
permitting, the obvious higher cost,
and then the inability to phase
it and control the working capital
needs all affect the amount of money
that has to go into the project.
And I think.
Unless you're talking about building
in a, you know, inner city or a very
high density market, um, which we can't
do because we need four acres of land.
And if the land's a million dollars
an acre, that alone destroys
the economics of a project.
So there are places where the
multi-story project makes perfect
sense, but as an investor, you
get the opportunity to choose.
The next area to talk
about is operationally.
Uh, multi-story buildings have
significantly higher maintenance costs.
They have elevators that
have to be serviced.
They have sprinkler systems
that have to be serviced.
Um, they have, you know,
interior, um, finishes.
They're not fancy.
They're very durable, but,
but it's a different product.
Um, also have higher CapEx
expenses during ownership.
Things that get damaged, things
that have to be replaced,
things that have to be upgraded.
Um.
And overall the drive up product is
a much simpler product operationally,
um, you know, we're building
slab on grade metal buildings.
Uh, the worst that can happen for us
is somebody cuts a corner too close
and hits the corner of a building.
Um, and even that's not a
terribly expensive repair.
It's, you know, metal panels
that can be, you know, replaced.
So, um, operationally, I don't
think there's any doubt that
the drive up product is, is
just a simpler, easier product.
Product to, uh, to, to operate.
Um, the next category is one
that is not as absolute, but um.
Drive up is more user friendly.
I, I tell our director of property
management for, uh, for self
storage, David Lutz all the time.
I wanna see him do a billboard,
particularly in the markets where
we're competing with some of the REIT
owned multi-story facilities, which we
compete with on really regular basis.
I wanna see a big billboard with a
picture of a guy kind of buried under a
sofa trying to stuff it on an elevator.
To get it up to his third floor unit.
Uh, and with AAA storage and an arrow
pointing to our facility, you know,
on the other side of the billboard.
Um, I, I, I, unfortunately, I don't know
that a lot of consumers think about that.
But they certainly think about it when
they start to move their stuff into
a multi-story building and they gotta
wheel a cart out into the driveway and
load the stuff and then push it in the
building and jam it on the elevator.
And, and it's a, the drive-up
product's just more user friendly.
Um, and there's just no doubt about it.
Another thing that's interesting, as
I thought about this podcast today,
it, it occurred to me we have a
tremendous amount of business users.
Uh, businesses that store
inventory in a storage facility.
Um, we have landscapers and, and
other types, similar types of
businesses that actually operate
their business out of a self storage.
They keep their lawnmowers in
the self storage facility, maybe
the fertilizer, other stuff, and
they come in and out every day.
A multi-story facility is
not getting those customers.
It's too inconvenient to
go in and out every day.
Um, so there's a whole segment
of the market that's actually
a very valuable segment for us.
'cause those are long-term tenants.
They don't, they, they're not, they
don't have a unit in your facility
because they're renovating their
house and they're gonna be done
with a renovation in six months.
They're running a business.
Uh, and you know, we have tenants that
have been with us for years that run their
business out of a self storage facility.
Brandon Giella: My brother does that.
He owns a, uh, Christmas decorating
business in Tampa, Florida, and
he's got a big storage unit and
he drives up every day and runs
his business outta that thing.
Paul Bennett: yeah.
Ex perfect example, Brandon.
Um, the, the, the other thing that's
developing in the marketplace,
um, although I really don't have
any data on this, but we're seeing
younger families really use.
Self-storage is an extension
of their garage or their home.
If you think about the affordability
issue that everybody's been talking
about, you know, for the last year, um,
houses have have gotten really expensive
and the result is they've gotten smaller
and they have less storage space in an
attempt to make them more affordable.
So what you're, what we're seeing
is millennials and Gen Xers, and
you know, people younger than I am
are buying a house and they don't
have room to store their toys.
So they're renting a
self storage facility.
Put their skis in their jet ski, their,
you know, their motorcycle, their, all the
stuff that they don't have room to store.
And those, again, are users that
are in and out more frequently.
So a multi-story facility just
wouldn't work for them at all.
It wouldn't be convenient at all.
Um, I, I, I will say this about
multi-story, and that is, it's generally
closer to density, population density.
It's generally, um, you know, closer
to the rooftops and where people live.
Um, and, and therefore it has a
convenience edge in terms of location,
um, because it is, like I said, by
nature, typically built in higher density
markets where land is more expensive.
Um, but.
But the, the reality is, um, there are
some very real consumer facing advantages
to the drive up self storage product.
Um, I, I'll mention this a minute ago,
but also when you've got an all climate
control facility, not everybody, we are.
Typically about 60 40.
Uh, it kind of depends on the
market in Florida where the
weather's so terribly humid and hot.
We tend to build more climate
control units in one of our
facilities than non climate control.
Um, in Texas it's pretty balanced.
60 40, 50 50, uh, depending on the market.
Uh, but it's also one of the advantages
that we get from phasing our projects.
We will design a project with that
mix based on what we think the market
is, and then we'll watch up what
leases up during phase one lease up.
And that gives us a lot of real data, not
guesses on what the market is demanding.
And we can always tweak the design in
phase two before we build it to make sure
that it's delivering the mix of climate
control and non climate control units.
Uh, that the market it really wants.
So those are the three sort of
practical differences, um, in
multi-story and drive up sale storage.
And like I said at the beginning,
multi-story is a valid product.
It's it, and it's works
very well in some markets.
But here's where it really separates for
me, and that's on investment returns.
And you know where I'm gonna go, Brandon.
Uh, I'm gonna go to yield on cost.
Um, and, and because our, our focus
is to develop projects that have the
highest possible yield on cost because
they create the most incremental
value in the development process.
And as I've said a hundred
times, we underwrite to a 9.5%
yield on cost, um, in the multi-story
world because they, they do get
a rent premium over what we.
Charge.
Um, it really depends on the market.
If the market is competitive, they're
probably not getting any rent premium.
But in a more mature market that's doing
really well, they can get as much as a
20, 25% rent premium on their climate
controlled units over what we get.
It's interesting to me that it's less
convenient, but they charge more for it.
But anyway, somehow or another
that they're able to do that.
But, um, but the, yeah, but, but
when we're building at $100 a foot.
It, and they're building on the low
end at $150 a foot to $180 a foot on
the high end, so call it $160 a foot.
So when their costs are 50% greater
than ours, but their rents are
only 20 to 25% greater than ours.
We're at a 9.5%
yield on cost.
They're somewhere between 7.5
and 8 Um, and so there's 100 to 200 basis
point difference in that yield on cost,
um, and it produces a very significant
difference in the amount of value that's
created in the development process.
Um, I, I jotted down some numbers,
that's why I'm looking down.
But, um, you know
that alone.
Is sufficient to justify from an
investment standpoint, focusing
on single story drive up product,
which is, it creates higher returns.
Um, and to be honest with you,
I don't think there's a material
difference in the lease up.
Um, it's all gonna be market driven, as
we've talked about on an earlier episode.
It's a hyper-local market issue in
terms of the speed of lease up and
how much demand and how much supply
there is in that hyperlocal market.
So, uh, it, it, at the end of the day.
You could argue on both
sides for either product.
Um, yeah, from a design construction
basis, from an operational basis, from a
consumer marketing basis, but from a pure.
Investment return standpoint, um, while
carrying less construction risk, which
is what you get the risk premium in
development for, is the construction risk.
Um, while carrying less construction
risk, drive up self storage generates
consistently higher returns to investors.
And that's why we've stayed focused.
We built one multi-story project
in our 32 year history, and I think
when we got through with it, we said,
well, we'll never do that again.
And we've stick stuck to our city
skirt market strategy around major,
major metro areas and the the drive
up single story product that we, we
build and have made lots of money with.
So.
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Interesting.
It makes me think of, uh, the, the images
that you were showing, uh, just down the
street, half a mile from my house is a
big multi-story, you know, two or three.
Four story, um, uh, storage facility,
but then down we've been down to, uh,
dripping Springs and uh, and Georgetown
and some of these markets that you're
talking about outside of Austin.
And you do see a lot more of those,
those, uh, single story drive up.
But there, to me, that doesn't seem like
there's a big difference between the
type of folks that might be customers.
Um, because you know, here in
Fort Worth, you've got a lot
of folks that use that big, um.
You know, the big multi-story, but
down in Georgetown and Dripping
Springs, you got these beautiful homes,
beautiful neighborhoods and people
driving around with their boats and
things like that, putting their, all
their stuff in those, those markets.
So yeah, it's kinda interesting.
Um, that can be same markets,
but much better investment
returns on, on one of 'em.
Paul Bennett: Yeah, the,
the, the returns are better.
And, um, I, if, again, I'm not gonna pull
the picture up again 'cause I know most of
our listeners are listening, not watching
the podcast, but, you know, we build, uh.
There, there are mom and pop drive
up facilities out there that have
gravel driveways and, um, you know,
they're not, the, the buildings are
old, they're not well maintained.
I mean, we build a class, a
product, uh, if you noted.
And, uh, our drives are all concrete.
Uh, it's more expensive,
but it holds up better.
It looks better than asphalt
does, certainly better than stone.
I mean, we build a quality product.
Um, but it, it just from a return
standpoint, um, the multi-story product
just can't compete and as evidence
of the fact that they're aware that
they're at a disadvantage from a
convenience standpoint, we're starting
to see a number of drive through.
Multi-story self, uh, storage projects,
which is basically, they've created
a tunnel in the middle, middle of the
building on the first floor where you
can drive in and then unload your stuff
into the lobby and then go park the
car and then jam it in the elevator
and you know, take it up three floors.
Brandon Giella: Anybody who's
ever moved into an apartment
knows that's still terrible.
Paul Bennett: Yeah, it's horrible.
Um, yeah, and, uh, and
so yeah, again, fun.
Uh, obviously a little bit of a
selfish perspective because we have
focused on the signal story, drive
up product, but as I said, I, I think
everything I just laid out is factual.
Um, and, and I think if you put
all of that on the scales, um,
give it a choice as a developer.
I would choose drive up every time.
But there are situations where if you have
a piece of land that's, you know, very
expensive and, and you can build a single
story, I mean a multi-story project on one
to one and a half acres, pretty easily.
Um, 'cause it doesn't require a lot
of parking, doesn't require, you
know, just a building footprint.
Basically.
We need four acres to, you know, up
depending on the size of the project.
So there are absolutely instances
where multi-story makes sense.
But as an investor, you have the
ability to choose which you invest in.
You're not a developer.
And from a return perspective
for investors, multi-story
will never outperform.
Drive up single story, drive up
self storage because of the basic
economics and yield on costs.
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah.
I mean, here, uh, I think it is gotta be a
million dollars an acre or more, you know,
um, maybe, maybe 2 million an acre here.
So, yeah, I can't imagine that
that working out very well.
Paul Bennett: Yeah.
A million dollars an acre is
going to, gonna equate to about
$24 a square foot in land cost.
Um, you know, and.
And depending on the size of the
building, the footprint, our land
costs vary between two and $6 a foot,
Brandon Giella: Oh wow.
Okay.
Okay.
Good to know,
Paul Bennett: you know, so six
bucks a foot's about a quarter
of a million dollars an acre.
Um, and, um, and that's about
the high end of, of where our
land costs will generally be.
We've got projects in fund two,
uh, Gastonian North Carolina.
Our land cost is $2 a square foot.
It.
Brandon Giella: Okay.
Okay.
This is
Paul Bennett: 80, 80,000.
$90,000 an acre.
Brandon Giella: I love, uh, you mentioned
the, the other episode we've done on
hyperlocal markets and because you're
very, very particular about which
markets you enter into and looking at
traffic data among many other things.
Um, you know how people are
moving in and out of this.
The, the, the city or the, the town
in, in which the facility's operating.
Um, yeah, it's just, it's fascinating how,
of course there's a land cost and all of
that, but how are people actually using
that space or moving around that space?
And you guys do really, really
detailed work on, um, you know, just
all the, the demographic data and
demand data and all that kinda stuff
that goes into each of those markets.
So that's definitely a great episode
to listen to that would help correlate
how, um, how the economics work
out for these single story units.
Paul Bennett: I was on a
call yesterday with Logan.
We were looking at a piece of land
in Texas and the, the land we were
looking at was, um, outside the city,
sort of where the city is growing.
Uh, and the direction it's growing,
but all of the competitors and there
were a number of competitors, were
closer into the city and along a
major thoroughfare, highway two 90.
Um, and when we looked at the
site, it could be a good site.
In five, six years.
But it is not a site that's ready to
be developed with self storage today
because the, the main density in the
population, your existing competitor,
sit between you and that density,
and they're not gonna drive by your
competitor to come rent a unit from you.
Um, and, and so unless those guys
are all a hundred percent occupied.
You've gotta fight on your hands.
If you go, in this case it was north,
if you go north of where they are,
'cause now they're in between you
and where all the rooftops are.
And, um, and that's hard to overcome.
That's a a, that's a market.
You, you know, you just have to
sidestep or buy the land and sit on
it for four or five years for you
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Which you guys often do that land
banking the land and, and, and kind
of sitting on it for a little while.
Is
Paul Bennett: yeah, but we try to
avoid markets where it is that long
a timeframe before we feel like
the, the really what we do is absorb
the, um, the pre-construction, the
pre-development timeframe, all the
site design, permitting, all the stuff
that ha, which takes a year and a half.
So we try to buy land that we feel real
good about developing in two years.
That's really sort of
how we think about it.
Brandon Giella: Okay, great.
Awesome.
Okay.
Anything else that you want listeners
to take away on why this product is,
is, uh, is just a great investment
opportunity in this kind of, in
the mix of self storage assets.
Paul Bennett: No, I, um,
I, I think we covered it.
Hopefully I covered it fairly well.
Um, a little bit of a shorter
podcast today, but that's fine.
Um, but at the end of the day, there,
there are advantages in all the,
the categories that I mentioned.
And the final sort of knockout blow
to me is the yield on cost and the
ability to generate incremental
value through development.
And, um, and that's our focus.
It is been our focus for 32 years.
It's our focus in growth fund two.
So, um, if, if this has gotten you
interested in investing in self storage,
I would recommend you go to our website,
aaa, a a a, storage investments.com.
There's, uh, other information there.
There's some information on the fund.
Um, there's also, uh, a, a, an information
tab where we links to all our podcasts
and blog posts and newsletters and, um,
a lot of stuff you can dig around in and,
uh, in a way that you can contact us if
you'd like to schedule a call or get some
offering material on growth fund too.
So, um, the websites sort of the hub
of the universe from our standpoint.
And then invite you to go there
and, uh, check out that information.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
And do sign up for the newsletter after
every episode, we, uh, distribute the
newsletter on the summary of the episode.
That way you don't, if you don't
wanna listen to the whole thing,
you can get the, the gist of
Paul's arguments about, uh, to
Paul Bennett: The the Cliff note version.
Brandon Giella: the Cliff note version.
Yes.
So I, and then there's often, uh, live
webinars that Paul's a part of that leads,
and, and if you have investor questions
or anything like that, uh, please, uh,
look at the events tab on the website
and you can go register for an upcoming
webinar to, to hear directly from Paul.
Paul Bennett: Yeah, we, we, we did
a really fun webinar yesterday.
I know we need to go, Brandon,
but we did a really fun webinar
yesterday that I was so excited about.
We're gonna probably do it
again in about two weeks.
We did, um, a, a, a, a lot of research
on allocations within real estate
investment portfolios and, and the, the,
the impact of not allocating all of your
real estate dollars to existing assets,
which is what most high net worth.
Investors tend to do either because
the cash flow they produce gives
them comfort or they just perceive
it as less risky than development.
And we make a pretty compelling case
not to only invest in development,
but to strategically balance the
portfolio with some development
and some existing properties.
Um, and really fun stuff and I had
a bunch of fun doing the research
and doing the webinar yesterday.
Um, just keep an eye out 'cause
I think we're gonna probably redo
that webinar in a couple weeks.
Had a huge crowd, um, and, and several
people that, that wanted to be there,
but were, were otherwise tied up.
So I think we're gonna do
it again in a couple weeks.
And, uh, so keep a lookout for that
on the events tab, or if you're on our
mailing list, uh, we'll send you a,
an invite with a, a link to register
for the webinar in a couple weeks.
So.
Brandon Giella: Yeah, that's great.
Okay.
Awesome.
Yeah, I'd love to see round
two of that, how that goes.
Well, Paul, thank you very much.
Uh, as always, I love your expertise
and your wisdom in doing this.
I know you guys have been very
focused on this for 30 years
and it's been a great strategy.
Provide a lot of returns to your
investors over time, so I know it works.
Uh, so it's, it's cool to see
how you guys break this down.
So thank you very much, and we
will see you on the next episode.
Paul Bennett: Thanks a lot buddy.
Have a great day.