Stash your rolling treasures
High-end storage for boats, motorcycles, cars, trucks and RVs
Special vehicles need to be parked somewhere warm, dry and secure. If they are left outdoors, the elements can quickly wreak havoc on them.
Ask anyone who has a garage if it’s large enough to hold their fixing and collecting interests and you’ll find more room is always welcome.
“We’ve got a four-car garage and I park my daily driver outside now,” said Larry Stadnick of Corey Homes. His company builds custom acreage homes in the Municipal District of Foothills, an area of land that butts the southern edge of Calgary and includes the communities of Okotoks and High River.
Stadnick likes to collect vehicles, and his collection includes a 1955 Chevy half-ton, a 1967 Chevelle Malibu and a 2000 SLP Trans Am Firehawk.
About five years ago Stadnick and his wife, Leslie, visited Phoenix. While there, the pair were invited to a function at a special “car condo” facility.
“It was just a cool community scenario where guys would open up the doors to their condos and you could see all of their treasures,” Stadnick explained.
“We started dreaming about building something similar in Alberta, because we’ve never had a large enough place to put all of our stuff, or, literally, a place to stash it.”
Welcome to The Stash, a large development just east of Highway 2A at the midpoint between Calgary’s south city limits and the community of Okotoks.
Solidly constructed using insulated concrete forms (ICF), the walls are 342 millimetres thick and offer an R28 thermal value.
The structural concrete slab floor features in-floor heating and the ceiling is rated R40.
Designed by Leslie Stadnick, the Stash is built in the shape of a U. Access is gained through a set of security gates located centrally under the second-storey member’s lounge.
One drives under the lounge onto a concrete courtyard. To the left and to the right are the arms of the ‘U’ — each with 18 bays; there are two additional bays in the front building, for a total of 38. The bays are 116 square metres each and feature an overhead door 4.2 m high by 4.9 m wide. It’s expected one bay will hold six cars, or more if lifts are installed.
Buyers can purchase up to six bays in a row, and it’s up to the owner to finish the space to their liking. Some have constructed overhead mezzanines complete with display shelves, comfortable couches and large screen televisions.
“When we were planning this development I thought we’d get guys out here running lathes, building a helicopter or restoring a tractor,” Stadnick said. “So far, that’s not the case; everybody who has purchased in here is looking for a place to store their toys and perhaps do a little tinkering.”
High-end storage for boats, motorcycles, cars, trucks and RVs in Alberta seems to be big business. About five years ago, a development in Springbank called The Dens opened. Each storage condo in The Dens is 112 square metres with a private two-piece bathroom and in-slab heating and climate control.
There’s also a development called The Vaults. Ground was broken in late March on phase one, with expected move-in dates starting in October.
“The luxury storage condo concept has been around in North America for about 10 years,” said James Murray, vice-president of marketing and business development for The Vaults.
“The storage of automobiles is our central focus,” Murray said, “and the concept works well for those downsizing into smaller living spaces but who still want to keep all of their toys — cars, RVs, boats or motorcycles.
“Our bull’s-eye is the auto market, but there are so many different uses for this kind of space,” he said, “including art collections, clothing or even a hobbyist woodworker building furniture.”
Murray noted, however, that a business can’t set up shop in The Vaults.
Since 2004, Gary Shapiro’s Auto Vault Canada has offered prestige-auto storage, and also offers a valet delivery service.
“There seems to be nothing east (of the Alberta market) in this luxury storage-condo development,” Shapiro said. “However, we’re in the early stages of putting something together here in Toronto.”