South End, One Of The Nation's Hottest Multifamily Submarkets, Getting Wine-Infused Self-Storage

Development Management Inc. plans to start work later this year on a 120K SF self-storage facility in the South End. Like any other property type, self-storage has to meet the needs of its market to succeed and this facility may have a unique edge.

"We're introducing a modern self-storage facility to the South End, which is one of the nation's hottest submarkets for multifamily development," DMI vice president Ivon Rohrer III said. The facility will feature 98K SF of rental storage space in a building characterized by an industrial chic aesthetic.

The building's design will allow customers to access its lower level from the front of the property, and its upper level from the back of the property. The development will thus not need stairwells or elevators, reducing construction costs. That will be one of the factors that allows DMI to offer rental rates as much as 40% lower than other self-storage properties in the region, while generating similiar returns, Rohrer said.

Another factor in keeping rates low at the property is that DMI acquired the site at 536 West Tremont at a bankruptcy sale last year for a discounted price of $1.5M. 

One unusual amenity: the property will include a wine cellar. "Although it won’t be a profit center for the project, we felt that a wine cellar would be a meaningful amenity that would meet a need in South End,” Rohrer said.

The property will be the company's sixth self-storage facility in Charlotte and its ninth in the Carolinas. For Charlotte-based DMI, self-storage is an expansion from its primary specialty, which is shopping center development and ownership. The 536 West Tremont property is expected to open in 2018.