Plans for Royal Oaks space are shifted to self-storage
Plans for converting a retail building to medical office use in west Houston’s Royal Oaks neighborhood have been shelved in favor of self-storage.
The owner has tapped Houston-based Right Move Storage to develop and manage a 345unit, climate-controlled selfstorage facility at 12121 Westheimer. The 44,000-square-foot project is on the eastern edge of the Phoenicia Specialty Foodsanchored shopping center along West Houston Center Boulevard.
The property, to be branded Right Move Storage-Royal Oaks, will have wide roll-up doors in a variety of sizes, and 20 executive suites for small businesses. Work will start in April, with opening planned by the summer.
“The cost to convert to build out self-storage is definitely lower than medical office,” Right Move Storage president Darren Kelley said. The profitability is as good or often better, he said.
It can be easier to convert a property than to find land and start from scratch, Kelley said. Other Houston-area buildings, from bowling alleys to big-box stores, have been converted to self-storage.
Growth in apartments, homes and businesses from Westchase to the Energy Corridor will drive demand for the units, Kelley said.
Across the Houston market, occupancy of self-storage properties rose to 86.6 percent in February from 80.5 percent a year earlier, according to data and analytics firm STR. Rents meanwhile dropped 3.6 percent to an average of 97 cents per square foot.
Right Move Storage, which is developing the project with its partner LandPark Advisors, manages 24 self-storage properties. The company is on target to own or manage close to 30 properties by the end of the second quarter, Kelley said.
Elsewhere in Texas, the Jenkins Organization of Houston is expanding in the Hill Country. New locations for ATX Storage, at 6901 N. Interstate 35, and Lakeline Storage, 11000 Lakeline are among 10 planned facilities in the Austin region. The facilities represent an investment of $125 million and more than 1.2 million square feet.
Near Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood, a partnership of Passco Cos. and Patriot Self Storage Management acquired a the 54,000-square-foot Private Mini Storage at 4217 San Felipe. The property, which has 1,000 square feet of wine storage, was acquired from Clarion Partners/Private Mini Storage and will be renamed Patriot Self Storage. NKF Capital Markets’ Aaron Swerdlin negotiated the deal.