Former Data Center REIT CEO Is Betting Big On RV Storage With $800M To Invest
Former CyrusOne CEO Gary Wojtaszek is coming out of retirement with a multibillion-dollar REIT focused on recreational vehicle storage.
Wojtaszek has raised more than $800M for RecNation Storage, the REIT he founded in October 2020, just months after stepping down from CyrusOne, CoStar reports.
His business proposition for the REIT is simple: storage space for RVs and boats, because many neighborhoods have ordinances on what residents are allowed to store.
Wojtaszek plans to deploy $2.3B, expanding RecNation Storage by 350 properties with a focus on the Sun Belt and the Mountain States.
“I have grown RecNation faster in my first two years starting this company than when I first started growing CyrusOne,” he told CoStar. “I'm planning to build a $7B company in five years.”
Two large data center REITs were already in operation when Wojtaszek joined CyrusOne, with around 40 smaller companies jockeying for third place. But there are no big players in the RV storage space at present, experts said, while RecNation Storage already has 53 locations in six states after starting to make purchases early last year.
“RecNation is quickly becoming the 900-pound gorilla in the industry, with them being the biggest boat and RV storage company out there,” Dave Knobler, Marcus & Millichap senior vice president of investments and director of the brokerage firm's national self-storage group, told CoStar.
RecNation Storage’s growth so far is promising, Wojtaszek said. It has grown from 1,300 customers to 13,000 within six months, with hopes of having roughly 140,000 customers in five years. It now has a revolving credit facility of $500M, led by Truist Securities and backed by seven banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Typical RV owners only use their vehicle for between 20 and 25 days a year, CoStar reported. The homes on wheels also found a new audience during the pandemic. In 2020, the median age of a buyer was 41, but it dropped to 33 one year later.
Although rising interest rates may be behind the dip in sales seen since 2021, the trade group RV Industry Association predicts sales will pick up again in 2024. RecNation Storage expects a potential uptick in sales, coupled with a scarcity of land near major U.S. cities and rising rents due to demand for storage, will set the company up for success.
“I saw an unmet need and built a large platform in data storage, and I see a similar unmet need to RV and boat storage in this industry,” Wojtaszek said. “I used to rent space for computers, and now I just do it for RVs.”
