Climate Control Self Storage Development - Design & Cost

[Joey Stelly]

Looking into ground up development for single story climate control self storage facilities in my market and looking for some general guidance on design & cost rule of thumbs - any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Currently working through some (very) preliminary due diligence with the goal of creating a template for 150 & 250 unit climate control buildouts in order to dial in an acreage size to focus in on for land acquisition, and to try and determine the most cost effective & scalable footprint to build as a "test" that can be scaled. 

Couple of questions & assumptions that I'd really appreciate some critiquing/input on:

Building Layout:

- Right now I'm assuming 1 acre (43,560ft) will yield about 60% (+/- 26,190ft) of climate control NRSF. 

- What is a good rule of thumb yield/acre, and how many sq ft of slab/building should i assume for every 1 ft of climate control NRSF?

Building Cost: 

- I've heard varying estimates $/ft for capex related to building a climate control facility, but what can I expect generally in total $/ft for an assumption when building 150 or 250 unit building. I've heard $50, 35, 40, etc for turnkey rule of thumb - shell, utilities, foundation, M&E, paving, etc, basically everything but land. 

Opex ratio: Is 35% of revenue a solid assumption for operational expenses - insurance, maintenance, etc? 

Right now my cost assumptions look something like this: 

25,000 ft to yield 250 units 

Acreage needed for 250 units = about 1 acre (Depends on local municipality requirements for detention, setbacks etc but for now this is my assumption)

25,000*$50 = total buildout cost less land 

revenue $ *.35 = opex cost 

thanks! 

[Henry Clark]

Quote from @Joey Stelly:

Quote from @Henry Clark:

OP do you have $600,000 cash on hand?  If you don't, I would start with a smaller Self Storage project.  I would not use any assumptions.  All the info you need you can get and validate.  See below.

Example:

A.  An acre.  Depends on the shape.  Rectangles are better than Squares, Squares are better than triangles/circles/etc.  Lay out on a piece of paper.  Find your setbacks.  We use 50 foot at the front and back for turn arounds even though setbacks can be less.  Sides ???   Lay this out.  Then we use 25 foot driveways.  Lay this out.  Use 10 wide units.  How many do you get?  That is with no Storm retention pond or easements.  How many units did you get?

B.  Don't use 35% or any other factor.  Make a list of expense line items and validate.  Property tax rate you can get.  Insurance you can get.  Electricity if you're doing climate control, temperature control, humidity control, you can get.  Depends on where you're at. Example:  if you want to maintain 78 degrees are you in the north or south?  Average highs of 90 with an average low of 40; versus a location average high of 85 with an average low of 70.

C. You can do both drive up access single story climate control or and enclosed building.  

You need to do a line item business analysis.  Recommend you pick a piece of land in your area and do a line item analysis and post on here.  You will need that anyways for a lender to move forward.  Keep doing about 5 deal analysis to refine your logic and understanding.

Thanks Henry; working on many of these items. 

why $600k? With an 80% LTC the DP on 25000 square ft @ $50/ft to build out would be more in the $200-300k range right? Land cost included in the loan. 

 Validate your  1acre model as far as units and NRSF.

 Assume no storm pond.

Model 1:
We use 50 foot at both ends for turnaround.

25 foot driveways.

Side Setbacks use 25 foot.

Pick a rectangle since that is the most efficient shape.  

With 10 foot wide units.  Use a mixture of 30 and 40 wide units.   How many units did you come up with?

Model 2:

Build a one roof facility. 
No driveways. 
Just setbacks in the 3 sides.

50 foot parking up front.

Single story.  No elevator or stairs.

ADA compliant hall ways and doors.

How many units did you come up with?

Validate your footprint and NRSF first.  Then work on cost.