New industrial spaces make room for the Maserati
Not far away on Old 41, Private Development Corporation’s Bill Corace is about to break ground on Biz Park #1, offering 40,000 square feet of rentable flex space with a man cave twist.
New industrial spaces make room for the Maserati
When Andrew Carnegie needed a place to store his vintage autos, the Gilded Age owner of Cumberland Island, a retreat the size of Manhattan, simply built a barn.
The fact that many of today’s collectors can’t do that in gated Southwest Florida is making business boom at industrial sites on the Lee-Collier county line.
“I get calls from Connecticut to Colorado asking about doing this concept in other markets,” says Naples real estate consultant Phil Pugh, who divined the need for luxury storage space that’s mushrooming here.
“It's not like we created the market. We found out about it.”
Phil Pugh, Naples real estate consultant
While Pugh talks with The News-Press, a guy pulls up to the My Other Place facility in a yellow Porsche Boxster.
The owner, a seasonal Pelican Bay resident, has six cars racking up monthly storage costs of $165 to $225 in unconditioned spaces, and wants to buy two more.
At that monthly run rate, buying a storage condo for under $200,000 is cheaper today, and an investment tomorrow if he wants to sell, Pugh says.
Gated community residents within a five-mile radius of the Old 41 North Naples location, where most My Other Place owners live, seem to agree. The 19 storage condos under construction are already reserved, and a third phase of 32 units is about 30 percent subscribed to.
"Please don’t call them man caves"
Naples real estate consultant Phil Pugh shows what the next luxury storage units will look like when completed at My Other Place on Old 41 in North Naples. A niche market created by gated community residents with lots of toys and little space has created demand for high-end storage units. (Photo: Patricia Borns/The News-Press)
The 1,000-square-foot conditioned units with fire walls and sprinkler systems are highly customizable with lifts for rack car storage, lofts for extra space, and epoxy flooring.
But please don’t call them man caves, Pugh says.
“They’re not like New York flex spaces with gourmet kitchens and basketball courts. Most of the customers just can’t find a place to put the $800,000 Maserati,” he says.
Basic phase 3 units cost under $200,000 or under $200 per square foot. A few customers are investing in and renting the units, but most just want a huge garage.
Please don’t call them storage units, either
Private Development Corporation’s Bill Corace is about to break ground on Biz Park #1, offering 40,000 sq ft of rentable flex space for those who want an office in front and a toy box in back. (Photo: Courtesy Bill Corace)
Not far away on Old 41, Private Development Corporation’s Bill Corace is about to break ground on Biz Park #1, offering 40,000 square feet of rentable flex space with a man cave twist.
“It's an interesting time, and I'm glad to be part of it.”
Bill Corace, Private Development Corporation
Corace was doing flex space in the northeast when his brother, Moraya Bay developer Dick Corace, asked him to come take a look at the commercial market.
“I did a 250-page market study, and the complete surprise was this whole idea of high-end storage,” Corace says.
Like Pugh, he found “guys who own nice cars want a space where they can work on them on weekends.” But instead of for-sale spaces, his units will rent to the small company owner who wants to put a toy box behind the office.
“I don’t want to use the word storage or warehouse,” says Corace, who bought the well-located parcel already entitled from CRE Consultants partner Stan Stouder.. “We’re offering Class A office space in front with flexible space in back for the car, workout facility, shower and large-screen TV for as little as $1,200 a month.”
Biz Park #1 will have 23 units in five buildings. Other target users include businesses like medical or home building suppliers that need a rear service area.
More on tap
Two more large high-end facilities are in the proposal stage on Radio and Airport-Pulling roads, while Pugh just took over marketing Vehicle Fortress, another option near the airport for luxury car/RV/boat storage, that could build out to 179 units.
“It’s not like we created the market. We found out about it,” Pugh says.
He and Corace agree it’s definitely a niche, driven by the local market.
“It’s an interesting time, and I’m glad to be part of it,” says Corace.