Leon Capital Group, a Dallas-based real estate development and investment firm, has launched a capital platform for developers of class-A self-storage facilities. The company will provide “high-leverage,” nonrecourse construction financing up to 99 percent of the total project cost and will purchase the property upon completion, according to a press release.
“Our experience in the storage industry has shown us that traditional financial institutions are failing to meet the needs of storage developers,” said Jake Walker, managing director. “We are offering a one-stop-shop solution by financing nearly all of a project’s cost and providing a clearly defined exit.”
Leon Capital principals have led the acquisition, development, financing and management of more than 60 self-storage facilities across the United States, the release stated. It launched its self-storage investment platform and acquired its first facility in 2015 in a partnership with Move It Management LLC, a Dallas-based self-storage management company that also owns facilities. It opened its first ground-up storage project last year in Round Rock, Texas, near Austin and has completed two other storage developments in the Austin metro area. The company has eight projects under development that will comprise 790,000 rentable square feet of storage space.
“Because we’re a private lender and make loans with our own capital, we don’t have the regulatory constraints of banks or other financial institutions,” Walker said. “This allows us to be extremely nimble and hyper-focused on providing as smooth a transaction as possible.”
Leon Capital has more than $3 billion in completed real estate transactions and assets worldwide. Its portfolio includes acquisitions, land development and existing building infrastructure in the multi-family, mixed-use, office, retail and self-storage categories.
