Case Study: Magellan Storage - Duarte
Acquisition
Magellan purchased this former Rose Parade float preparation warehouse, consisting of approximately 29,767 square feet on 1.437 acres of land, in March of 2013 from the Tournament of Roses. The business plan was to convert the Tournament of Roses warehouse into a state-of-the-art self-storage facility.
Market Opportunity
With over 550 feet of frontage along E. Duarte Road astride a rail line targeted for conversion from industrial to commuter uses, Magellan was attracted to the site’s exposure, local demographics and conversion potential. Magellan Storage Partner, Kevin Staley, commented that “the site presented a unique challenge and opportunity to employ our development experience in extending our brand with sensitivity to the historic use within the context of the local community”.
Duarte is a densely populated suburb of Los Angeles, with housing, light industrial and extensive retail close by. The existing building located at 1727 Buena Vista Street fronts the tracks of the MetroLink Gold Line, which is now being used by commuters seeking an alternative to the traffic of the neighboring 210 freeway just two blocks to the north. Prior to the design of the site the City of Duarte had a moratorium on self-storage. However, project architect Bruce Jordan was able to convince the City that self-storage would benefit the area and that the Magellan Storage brand and expertise were uniquely appropriate given the site’s particular challenges.
Value Creation
Construction of the facility officially broke ground in July of 2014 and was completed in August of 2015. The original single-story warehouse building on the property was outfitted with a 2nd floor mezzanine deck, thus doubling the original footprint of the warehouse to provide nearly 60,000 square feet of converted storage space. The mezzanine was engineered to act independently of the existing structure, allowing for seismic isolation of the two structures. Tying this conversion to a new, state-of-the-art 3 story building presented a challenge for the design team and contractors alike.
The project is served by a total of 3 elevators with one elevator dedicated to the converted two story portion, one centrally located to serve both the new and old buildings, and one elevator solely servicing the new 3 story building. This ensures that even on busy weekends, clientele will be able to access their unit quickly.
The City of Duarte also required exemplary design considerations along the MetroLink/Duarte Road frontage, causing the design team to recruit the help of Mr. Rick Skalak of Vita Nova Mosaic, Inc. to design a train-themed mosaic tile mural that measures approximately 9 feet tall by 14 feet wide. Complementing the train mural are eight additional ceramic mosaic pieces evenly distributed along the Duarte Road frontage.
Results
The project was completed in August 2015 and sold in March 2016 as part of a six-property portfolio sale to a major self-storage REIT.