With a mission to serve tenants with excellence and integrity along with a company culture that welcomes diversity among staff and customers alike, the operator plans to upgrade its newly acquired facilities with a significant capital plan, according to cofounder and CEO Matt Garibaldi. “We are a fully integrated operation that does everything from construction to accounting, operations, acquisitions and development,” he explains.
This business structure gives Storage Star the in-house talent necessary to move quickly and confidently, so it can identify, close, operate and elevate new properties. Planned improvements include upgrades to roofs, drives, doors and offices. The company also intends to convert parking areas to additional units, transform traditional to climate-controlled space, and reposition assets.
“We intend to rebrand and improve each asset in a way that we ultimately believe will improve the onsite experience and generate value for our customers, front-line employees and investors,” Garibaldi says.
Garibaldi knew he wanted to be in real estate long before he invested in the self-storage industry. Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, he bolstered his knowledge while working summer jobs as a carpenter’s assistant at development sites.
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2006 with a degree in economics, Garibaldi went into private-capital investing, where he cofounded and later sold a manufactured-housing business alongside Storage Star cofounder Matt Follett. The two of them launched their storage business in 2016 using internal funding, though the principals’ roots in self-storage investing stretch back to the mid-90s, putting decades of market knowledge behind every deal evaluated.
In the beginning, Storage Star kept the name and brand of the facilities it purchased. Two years in, there was a pivot. “We decided to brand all of the historic and future properties as Storage Star beginning in 2018 and, at that time, we developed the branding customers see at our stores today,” Garibaldi says.
Storage Star likes the growth and density of the East Coast markets, where the company recently acquired 50 properties from Maine to Florida. Garibaldi appreciates the value and efficiency of clustering operations in this way.
“Purchasing one property at a time into a new segment of the country is challenging and inefficient. This portfolio provided the opportunity for us to enter the East Coast in a large way and allowed us to enter several markets and build an operational infrastructure along the East Coast, giving the company coast-to-coast coverage.”
The company’s acquisition decisions chase growth, of course; but there’s a very pointed strategy. Storage Star looks to invest in markets with density and some barriers to entry. “We invest in great properties that meet our quality standard or that we can improve to meet our quality standard. This underwriting philosophy is grounded in fairness and long-term value creation for sellers, investors and the communities Storage Star serves,” Garibaldi explains.