Self-storage developer Get Space continues to expand its pipeline in the Portland, OR area with new plans to build a 130,000-square-foot facility in the up and coming Slabtown neighborhood.
Hillsboro, OR-based Get Space plans to start construction on the project at 2211 NW York Street in the second quarter of 2016, one of several projects the developer will be working on next year in Portland and beyond.
Meanwhile, Get Space has set aside plans to operate its own facilities, opting instead to partner with a third-party management companies.
Development skills
“When we set out to come here to Portland to build several facilities we were going to do our own operational model,” said Daniel Lyman, co-founder and principal. “As we got into learning how good we became at development for self-storage, we decided to just focus on that.”
The original concept was to operate the facilities using 24-hour kiosks with off-site area manager on call.
Instead, the company selected Extra Space Storage to manage its first two facilities that opened earlier this year in Hillsboro.
Lyman said the company is talking with several potential management companies to operate its upcoming facilities, and is considering the option of branding some of the new facilities under the Get Space banner.
Big pipeline
The company currently has two projects under construction; one in Portland and another in Vancouver, WA. Next year the company will start work on at least seven projects located in the Pacific Northwest, as well as two across the country in Nantucket, MA. All together the company is set to bring nearly a million square feet of space online.
The Nantucket projects were an opportunity that came from one of Get Space’s investors, Lyman said.
“One of our investors had an interest in some land out there,” Lyman said. “We were consulting on it and then he wanted us to just come in as a partner.”
Lyman said one of the facilities would be a satellite site for the primary facility.
Ticking clock
Get Space’s main focus remains on Portland and nearby areas, where it wants to develop up 10 to 15 facilities in a two-year span.
And the clock is ticking.
“Up here in Portland the biggest challenge is municipalities and zoning requirements,” said Lyman.
Those restrictions are about to get much tougher. Lyman said in 2017 the city is removing storage as a permitted use in about 90 percent of its current permitted areas—including the site of its new project in Slabtown.
“We are staying active to make sure to bring our projects to fruition before those dates,” Lyman said.
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