Bluebird Self StorageĀ is capitalizing on the growing consumer demand for storage space as it continues building and buying assets to expand its portfolio across Canada.
Reade De Curtins, principal of the Toronto-headquartered company, said Bluebird currently has 28 locations. It plans to grow to 50 locations within 18 to 24 months as the firm builds what he considers Canadaās first nationwide āpremiumā self-storage concept.
āWithin the last year weāve gone coast-to-coast with locations now in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,ā De Curtins told RENX. āThen, weāve got a location thatās opening in probably 45 to 60 days in Vancouver.ā
The current portfolio includes 2,540,00 gross square feet and 21,440 units. Over its 40-year history, Bluebird has developed over 10 million square feet of self-storage facilities.
āYouāve got a lack of self-storage supply across Canada as a whole and in particular the opportunity weāve identified is the lack of institutional-quality, class-A self-storage facilities in Canada,ā De Curtins explained.
āIf you compare Canada to the U.S., in the U.S. youāve got over nine square feet of self-storage per person in the top-25 most populated markets and here in Canada weāve got a little over three square feet per person.ā
De Curtins said Bluebird is focusing on that premium market.
āIf you dig down to quality class-A product, thereās even greater disparity. . . . Thereās not an existing supply of class-A storage to be acquired in Canada.
āEven if an institutional player wants to come along and consolidate and spread a class-A premium brand across Canada, that opportunity does not exist.
āWe are developing what we believe to be the first class-A portfolio coast-to-coast.ā
De Curtins said the company believes innovation sets it apart in the industry because it provides a consistent customer experience no matter where they are located in Canada.
Bluebird and investment partner Harrison Street have recently acquired two self-storage assets.
One is in Mississauga and is currently under construction. It will be 155,770 gross square feet with 1,074 units. The other is an operating 46,400-square-foot facility in Cochrane, Alta., on five acres of land with room for future expansion.
The company is also opening its new Sheridan store in June in Mississauga, a state-of-the art facility of 169,000 gross square feet with 1,246 climate-controlled units.
āBluebird strives to be the first national storage company focused on the customer experience. We want each customer to feel secure about their storage decision no matter where in Canada they are located,ā said James Bennett, De Curtinsā business partner.
De Curtins said people traditionally have looked to self-storage space as places where they can store possessions if they are in transition in their lives and moving to a different home.
āThatās changed and what weāre experiencing right now is this post-pandemic consumer. We believe that we are seeing a younger demographic these days. We believe younger generations are not prioritizing larger homes and larger mortgages,ā said De Curtins.
āYour younger consumer, especially many times in the urban locations where we locate, theyāre moving into smaller apartments and condominiums and they need a place to store their stuff, basically.ā
People now working from home may have converted spare rooms or areas into offices and therefore need space to store furniture or other items theyāve moved out of those spaces.
āI think thereās some trends right now post-pandemic that are creating an even greater demand for self storage,ā added De Curtins.
Bluebird is leveraging its ownersā significant experience in the industry to capitalize on those changes.
De Curtins said the ownership team, including Bennett and his father Richard Bennett, have developed more than 100 self-storage locations in North America since 1983 under various strategies and brand names.
āPrimarily we had worked in the Southeastern United States, mostly the Carolinas and Florida and Ontario, throughout our history and weāve had different brand names, different concepts,ā he said.
āIn 2016, when we rolled out Bluebird Self Storage, thatās when we decided that weāre going to try and get coast-to-coast (with) this premium concept.ā
Originally the companyās focus was in the Greater Toronto Area.
āWe pretty quickly expanded out West. I moved to Calgary in 2019 and weāve grown very quickly here. Particularly in Calgary, weāve got a very strong pipeline right now.
āWeāve got six new locations coming up in Calgary and theyāre all very high-profile retail locations.
āWeāre really excited about that. The big news for us is our coast-to-coast growth, but thereās still a lot of filling in to do in the middle.
āWeāre already working on some sites in the Prairies as well.ā
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