About

Citadel Development Partners is a new company in the self-storage business aiming to change industry norms with a business model that handles everything from site selection, construction, and management. With years of commercial real estate expertise across a team of five, finding time to scout new sites for development becomes a bit challenging. Based in the heart of the south, the team never expected that PropRise would identify an ideal trade area right in their backyard. 

Problem

It takes hours to find good trade areas that meet key measurements such as square foot per capita, demographic data, and rental rates. Citadel’s current process involves looking at satellite images of possible vacant land and checking them against their criteria of a three-mile trade area that is under a sq ft of 8, population of at least 50,000, and an average climate-controlled unit above $150. Using the current standard industry tools, they are in a perpetual cycle of verifying addresses given to them and performing an analysis to figure out if they meet their buy box. This often leads to missing potential new sites and spending days without finding a single suitable location. 

Solution

PropRise changed Citadel’s process. Alex Clark could input his criteria and within seconds, find hundreds of potential trade areas for self-storage development. 

Key data points included rental rates, median household income, and zoning codes for existing self-storage facilities. Using this information, Alex found a vacant land parcel in the heart of Texas. 

According to Rice University, the Texas Triangle is an "economic powerhouse" that has become oversupplied with new self-storage developments and other commercial assets. His colleague, Tyler Peterson, checked out the area. After Tyler's analysis and talks with local brokers, he sent a letter of intent just two weeks after using PropRise’s tool. 

Looking Ahead

The first step in the process has been completed. However, the journey to find new sites continues, with an ambitious goal to have a new site under contract every quarter. PropRise has made it possible to find twice as many deals in a fraction of the time it normally would in their status quo. We look forward to growing alongside and seeing more LOIs in the coming weeks.