A Denver businessman and real estate developer believes he has found a niche market for self-storage by developing environmentally friendly facilities in growing urban residential neighborhoods. Bahman Shafa currently has one facility open near downtown Denver with two more in development, and he envisions his company eventually growing into a national brand.
My vision is to have a nationwide brand of urban, sustainable self-storage facilities, Shafa said. He believes the urban market has potential for self-storage across the nation because he says storage space has not necessarily kept pace with the influx of people moving into modern urban developments. In Denvers case, available storage space has lagged behind a 60 percent rise in Denvers downtown population since 2000, he said.
Shafa has one $5.5 million Greenbox Self Storage facility in development in Denvers trendy River North neighborhood. The site will be 65,000 square feet and offer 690 storage units. Scheduled to open in December, the facility will be constructed using recycled materials and energy-efficient insulation, as Shafa wants to meet criteria to earn LEED certification.
A second 65,000-square-foot Greenbox facility is scheduled to open in January in a former warehouse.
Denvers downtown area features at least five other self-storage facilities.
Shafa has been successful turning around and redeveloping old properties in the residential areas near Coors Field, including bringing in small merchants to serve those communities. He also owns souvenir shops in the downtown areas of Boulder, Colo., New Orleans and Chicago, as well as a yogurt shop in Spain. In addition he owns or manages eight parking lots.
Sources:
- Denver Post: Denver businessman Filling Self-Storage Demand
